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By DON SHAFFER Record-Argus Sports Writer SHARPSVILLE - “The best thing that happened to this team all season was losing to Greenville,” stated Reynolds High School Head Coach Frank Amato following Friday night’s 41-6 District 10 Division II championship game win over I^akeview “I think the kids knew that we had a good football team, and that loss got them working and they haven’t stopped working since. I just think that loss really helped everyone,” Amato asserted, adding, “The kids said that they weren’t going to lose another game, and thev didn t.”The Raiders’ victory — a season record 11th straight — gave Amato his first District championship after losing 40-7 to Northwestern in the ’85 title game.Lakeview Head Coach Bernie Davis termed the loss, “a disappointing end to a great season ’ The Sailors finished 8-2 overall.Reynolds’ specialty teams, which hadn t generated a touchdown all season, tallied a pair of scores and Raider senior safety Marc Fiedler returned an errant Dave Campbell pass 56 yards for a third score “We got some breaks tonight on specialty teams, that’s something that we have never had,” Amato stated.“(Reynolds) had those three big plays, but other than that I felt we played them pretty well,” Davis said, continuing, “I talked with several (KFL) coaches from this area and they all told me two things: one, you can’t stop (Raider tailback Ron) Park, and two, you can’t run on (Reynolds), and I thought we did both fairly effectively. We kept Park from breaking a long run, and we moved the ball (a season-high 165 yards against Reynolds) on the ground pretty well. I didn't think we played tnat poorly.”“Nobody has run the ball on as like that all season,” Amato admitted, adding, “not since the Titusvillegame.”Though he didn’t catch a pass and ran the Dali only once, Fiedler tallied , a pair of scores. With just under three minutes remaining in the first half and Reynolds leading 7-6, Fiedler fielded Rodney Wright s punt at his own 44-yard line, cut to the right sideline and raced 56 yards for the score Greg McLaughlin upped the Raider advantage to 14-6 witn his successful conversion kick After a scoreless first period, Wright gave the Sailors a surprising 6-0 lead on the sixth play of the second quarter, as his 19-yard scoring dash capped a 58-yard, 10-play drive that consumed nearly seven minutes. A bad snap botched the conversion attempt.“For their class (just three students in excess of the Division .enrollment limit) Lakeview is a great football team (Lakeview) could beat some of the teams that we . play on our schedule, and I’m talking about Class AA and AAA teams, Amato praised, adding, “We beat agood football team. My hat is off to Bernie and his team. (Lakeview)had a great season.”Reynolds answered back on it’s next possession, marching 69 yards in just 11 plays. Park, who finished the game with 151 yards on 24 att-mepts, carried on all but three of the drive’s plays, picking up 34 yards A I^akeview penalty for grabbing the facemask gave the Raiders a first-and-goal at the LHS 4-yard line, before Park scored the first of his three touchdowns two plays later The Raiders marched 51 yards on their first possession of the second half and added to the lead with a drive Amato felt may have been the difference in the contest.“When we came out and scored in the third period, I thought that was crucial,” Amato stated, adding, “That was a big score. When (I^akeview) got the ball back and started moving it, I thought ‘Oh. Boy!’ But we stopped them and things just sort of took off for us after that.”Park’s touchdown set of a series of four Raider scores that occurred in approximately 12 minutes “We didn’t try and build up the lead,” Amato stated, “We just wanted to go out and do our thing (The lead) just sort of mushroomed Things just happend, and we scored a couple of quick touchdowns — bing, bing, Ding — just like that.”F oil owing a Park fumble, Lakeview moved to the Reynolds 12. A big third down play by defensive tackle Barry Roscoe, who caught Wright for a three-yard loss, forced the Sailors’ Bill Beith to attempt a 32 yard field goal, but Reynolds right defensive end Marty Miller broke through the line and blocked the attempt Junior linebacker Dale Mc-Crignt then picked up the loose ball at the 19, side stepped a pair of would-be tacklers and sprinted 81 yards down the sideline for the score. Beith blocked McLaughlin’s extra point attempt, setting the Raider lead at 27-6 with 3:15 left in the third period.Alter picking up a first down on their ensuing possession, the Sailors had all realistic chances of a victory dashed by Fiedler.Making a beautiful over-the-shoulder interception of a Campbell pass intended for Beith, Fielder picked up some blocking and was able to return the ball 56 yards to the end zone.Park added the Raiders’ final touchdown with a three-yard drive over the middle “We haven’t played a team like (Reynolds) all season,” Davis admitted, adding, “I knew we couldn’t stop them completely ... no one has. The specialty teams, which have playea so well for us all season, had a couple of breakdowns tonight.” Wright was able to eclipse the 1,000-yard barrier, and became the fourth Mercer County back this season to do so Wright finished his senior season with L042 yards in 10tames, and he and Greenville’s Jim lells were the only backs to rush for
Newspaper Details
Greenville Record Argus
Greenville, Pennsylvania, US
Sat, Nov 15, 1986
Page 6
Full Page
Clipped by
Oil R.
PA, USA 17 Sep 2023
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