South Park wins high scoring affair over South Allegheny

Tagged under: District 7, Gameday Hub, News

Andrew Schaffer | September 21, 2024

It was certainly a high scoring game on Friday Night between South Park and South Allegheny. It was South Park that prevailed with a 48-38 win.

The first four minutes of the game featured 2 touchdowns by each team. South Park got the ball first and started at their own 30 yard line they marched right down the field. Eventually Robert Lenzi scored on a 36 yard touchdown run by Robert Lenzi which made it 7-0 South Park with 9:05 in the first quarter.

South Allegheny got the ball on their 15 yard line and on the first play Ryan Cortes connected with Drew Cook for an 85 yard touchdown pass which tied the score at 7.

South Park got the ball for a second time and on the first play the ball was fumbled and recovered by South Allegheny. South Allegheny wasted no time capitalizing on the turnover when Ryan Cortes connected with Tyreeke Chatman for a 25 yard touchdown pass. That score gave South Allegheny a 14-7 lead with 8:21 in the first quarter.

Thanks to a big kick return South Park started their next drive at South Allegheny’s 20 yard line on the second play Robert Lenzi scored his second rushing touchdown of the game on a 1 yard run. That tied the score at 14 all with 7:59 in the first quarter. “It’s like a roller coaster, ride the roller coaster action, we don’t like to get in those types of situations we made a lot of sloppy plays, we gave up big plays early, I think our defense regrouped and settled in, it was just real sloppy for this point of the season, but we did regroup well, and I’m proud of our effort all the way through” said Coach Abbey.

After that score the game calmed down a little and late in the first quarter South Park took a 21-14 lead with 4 seconds left on a 10 yard run by Eric Doerue.

Doerue played a key role in the win for South Park he had 73 yards rushing on 18 carries. “He’s something ain’t he, he’s a special kid, he gets it done, obviously he’s not 100 percent healthy right now, but he’ll keep going, he’ll keep going until he can’t” said Coach Abbey.

The first part of the second quarter was uneventful for the most part but later on South Park extended their lead on a 2 yard run making the score 28-14 with 3:53 in the second quarter.

South Allegheny needed a response and they did just that it took one play to get into South Park territory and eventually Camden Lewis scored on a 4 yard run making the score 28-20 with 1:36 left in the first half.

South Park got the ball back but didn’t do much and on the punt the kick was blocked and the ball rolled out of the end zone resulting in a safety which made the score 28-22 with 30 seconds in the first half. That would be the score at halftime.

South Allegheny got the ball to start the second half but went three and out. Later on in the quarter South Park extended their lead when Robert Lenzi connected with Kenyan Brown for a 68 yard touchdown pass. That made the score 35-22 South Park with 7:14 in the third quarter.

Lenzi played a major role in the win. He had 184 yards on 14 carries and was 7 of 10 for 181 yards passing and also had an interception “Rob’s a tremendous athlete, he has a good head on his shoulders, he runs our offense very well, and tonight he made great reads, we get him out in the open field, he’s just a tremendous athlete that can make plays for us, great game through the air, great game running the ball, fantastic effort by him” said Coach Abbey.

The score at the end of three was 35-22 South Park. On the first play of the fourth quarter South Park extended their lead on a 5 yard run by Kenyan Brown. That made it 42-22 South Park.

Brown also played a big role in the win. He had 37 yards on 5 carries and also had 4 catches for 134 yards, an interception, and a big kick return which setup South Park’s game tying touchdown. “Kenyan Brown is a tremendous safety, he doesn’t get enough credit as a safety, and he’s playing a different role for us on offense, he’s been a receiver for us, but we also have him in the backfield a little bit asking him to do those things for us, he’s really stepped up, just try to get the ball into our playmakers hands” said Coach Abbey.

In the second half South Allegheny had their opportunities to get back into the game but twice in the red zone the ball was intercepted. “Just a couple adjustments we made after we got off to the poor start, we made a few changes up on defense, got an extra safety in the secondary they have great athletes, the message was to make them earn it, don’t let them make big plays, make them earn it going down the field, and I think we were able to accomplish that” said Coach Abbey.

South Park would again add to their lead on a 72 yard run by Robert Lenzi. That made the score 48-22 South Park with 8:51 in the fourth quarter.

Before the game ended South Allegheny added 2 touchdowns making the final score 48-38. Next week South Park travels to Washington and South Allegheny travels to Ligonier Valley.

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