Elizabeth Forward Dominates Greensburg Salem

Tagged under: District 7, Gameday Hub, News, pfn

Phil Myers | September 27, 2025

Scoring in every quarter, the visiting Elizabeth Forward Warriors downed Greensburg Salem’s Golden Lions 49-7 at historic Offutt Field in Greensburg Friday night before a large homecoming/alumni crowd.  Offensively, the Warriors were led by QB Ryan Messina, RB Rocco Thompson, and WR Logan Rider.

Elizabeth Forward scored twice in the first five minutes of the game, but then had to weather a storm as the Golden Lions scored a touchdown to cut the lead in half plus they were in position to score two more times, missing a couple of field goal tries. 

Elizabeth Forward’s head coach, John DeMarco said, “Greensburg Salem has some tough kids.  They got a younger coach (Tyler George) and I really like what he’s doing with their program.  So, I knew they weren’t going to roll over and die.”  

DeMarco’s team then shook off some complacency and tallied two more times in the last 3:45 of the half to take a comfortable 28-7 lead into the half.  “It’s a good lesson for our kids,” stated DeMarco, “when we get up like that we can’t take our foot off the gas.”

The positives for Elizabeth Forward in the first half was freshman running back Thompson and senior quarterback Messina.  Thompson carried the ball just seven times, but he scored two touchdowns and ran for 107 yards.  Messina threw for 175 yards and a touchdown, completing 10 of 15 passes with an interception. 

Elizabeth Forward freshman running back, Rocco Thompson.

“Ryan definitely makes our team go,” said DeMarco, “He worked his tail off all winter.  He wants this.  He seizes the moment.  He wants to be that guy.”  Coach DeMarco was very happy with his freshman running back also, “The running back (Thompson) is a special player.  He’s big.  He’s strong.  And you saw the speed he has tonight.  He plays linebacker for us too.  He’s going to be a great player there’s no doubt about that.”

Messina is in middle of picture with ball after being tackled.

Greensburg Salem had a positive also in the opening half of play.  Freshman Chris Berger did well at quarterback filling in for the injured Brody Chismar.  Berger completed 3 passes for 106 yards including a 22-yard touchdown pass to Tyrese Lewis for the Golden Lion score.  He also ran for 19 yards on 5 totes.  Berger was the offense for Greensburg Salem, not only in the first half, but also for the game.

Greensburg Salem’s Chris Berger on far left trying to regain his balance after picking up a bad snap. #17 is LeTrey Derry.

The second half was all Elizabeth Forward Warriors as they scored twice in the third to go up 42-7 and invoke the running ‘Mercy Rule’ clock.  They scored another time in the fourth quarter to increase their lead to 49-7 which ended up being the final.

The Warrior ‘D’ held Greensburg Salem to 156 total yards including 26 on the ground on 25 carries.  They intercepted 3 passes with freshman Aiden Hicks getting two of them.  Landon Honick had the other.  Coach DeMarco commented by saying this about the defense, “Coach (Michael) LeDonne runs the defense.  He and I have coached together for so long.  I tell everybody, I think he’s the best defensive coach in the state.  He prepares the kids.  He spends a lot of time with the kids.  We got 6 or 7 underclassmen on defense.”  (I counted 8 at times.)  “We got Stroschein in the middle and he really controls everything.  He’s a great team leader and a hard worker.”

Part of Elizabeth Forward’s defense: L to R: #21 Geo Thompson, #23 Rocco Thompson, #65 Walt Ward, #9 Brendon Stroschein, #52 Tyler Scott, #55 Dillon Cummings, and #50 Jaydyn Clark.

Meanwhile, the EF offense was quite offensive, accumulating 468 yards.  Messina passed for 248 yards and two touchdowns.  Thompson rushed for 107 and the two scores all in the first half.  Then there was wide receiver Logan Rider’s contribution.  Rider latched on to 7 passes for 137 yards.

The game marked the 100th anniversary of the Greensburg Salem band.  On September 19, 1925 the band made its football debut against Mt. Pleasant Township.  It is one of the few bands that still parade through town before home football games.

Elizabeth Forward upped its record to 5-1 while Greensburg Salem dropped to 2-4.  The EF Warriors take on Derry at home next Friday, and the GS Golden Lions take to the road, travelling to Mt. Pleasant.

Score by Quarters:

Elizabeth Forward – 14 14 14 7 – 49

Greensburg Salem – 0 7 0 0 – 7

Scoring Summary:

First Quarter:

EF – Rocco Thompson 6-yard run, (Luke Holdren PAT), 11:21

EF – Travis Dusi 6-yard run, (Holdren PAT), 7:24

Second Quarter:

GS – Tyrese Lewis 22-yard pass from Chris Berger, (Alex Swatchick PAT), 5:41

EF – Brendon Stroschein 37-yard pass from Ryan Messina (Holdren PAT), 3:45

EF – Thompson 16-yard run, (Holdren PAT), 0:43

Third Quarter:

EF – Dusi 2-yard run, (Holdren PAT), 8:11

EF – Aaron Ulmer 7-yard pass from Messina, (Holdren PAT), 4:29

Fourth Quarter:

EF – Noah Curran 19-yard run, (Holdren PAT), 8:33

Individual Stats:

Rushing: Elizabeth Forward – Rocco Thompson 7-107, Noah Curran 5-42, Kaden Spochacz-Allen 3-22, Ryan Messina 4-19. Others 9-16, Team 1-(7), Totals: 29-199.  Greensburg Salem – Chris Berger 9-28, LeTrey Derry 8-14, Anthony Matthews 7-0, Team 1-(16). Totals: 25-26.

Passing: Elizabeth Forward – Ryan Messina 13-20, 248 yards, 2 touchdowns, 1 interception; Kaden Spochacz-Allen 1-1, 21 yards.  Team 14-21-1, 269 yards, 1 touchdown.  Greensburg Salem – Chris Berger 6-18, 130 yards, 1 touchdown, 3 interceptions.

Receiving: Elizabeth Forward – Logan Rider 7-137, Aaron Ulmer 3-37-1, Brendon Stroschein 2-42-1, Brayden Kollar 1-39, Landon Honick 1-14.  Totals: 14-269-2.  Greensburg Salem – Tyrese Lewis 2-61-1, Akheim McCreary 2-57, Jackson Stevey 2-12.  Totals: 6-130-1.

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