Sharon earns first opening week shutout since 2001

Sharon – Sharon earned their first opening week shutout since 2001 with a 26-0 victory over visiting Neshannock Saturday night at Sharon Tiger Stadium.

Not since a 38-0 whitewashing of Cornell in 2001 had Sharon shut out an opponent opening weekend – but the Tigers did convincingly 22 years later.

“If I told you I was expecting a shutout, I’d be lying to you,” said Sharon’s head coach, Jason McElhaney. “They’re a talented team, and they were replacing skill at the quarterback and running back positions like we were, and they have some solid guys, especially with the way they played during their scrimmage. We needed to answer the bell tonight, and I think we did that.”

Last season, Neshannock beat Sharon 45-28 on opening weekend; it was a much different story Saturday night. The Tigers controlled both sides of the football, racking up 356 yards of offense while limiting the Lancers to 159.

Despite losing nearly 2100 rushing yards to graduation last season from former quarterback Mikey Rodriques and tailback Jayveerh White, Sharon ground out 247 rushing yards.

“None of these backs this season have been the feature back before, said McElhaney. “Cortez (Nixon) has played a lot, Labron (Wilder) missed the entire season last year, and Ike (Friday) has done different things for us over the last couple of years. Last season, Jayveerh was a speed guy, while these backs are more bangers. I thought those guys and the offensive line held up well and played great against a physical team.”

The Tigers scored on their opening possession, driving 85 yards in nine plays, with Ike Friday scoring on a 3-yard run. Cortez Nixon and Ethan Englemore ran 28 and 36 yards on the drive.

“That sequence was a big deal; they were getting going on their opening drive, but we were able to get them behind the sticks and off the field,” McElhaney said. “Then it was a great response by us. We did take a bad penalty, but Ethan came off the bench and did a great to help get us downfield to open the scoring.”

Midway through the second quarter, Sharon took control with two touchdowns in 15 seconds.

Quarterback Mister Ham threw a 26-yard touchdown to Bryson Roberson following a 52-yard drive. On the Lancers’ next snap from scrimmage, Bishop Root intercepted a Jino Mozzocio pass and returned it 32 yards for a touchdown.

Neshannock would turn around and put together one of their best drives of the night, marching into the red zone at the Sharon 14-yard line. However, facing a fourth-and-four, a busted play resulted in Mozzocio being sacked for an 8-yard loss, ending the drive.

“Other teams practice hard too, and they’re going to make plays, McElhaney said. “High school football is about not giving up the play. They had us reeling a couple of times, but we got a no-gain or a negative play, which was huge for us. We didn’t want one bad play to turn into another one tonight.”

Sharon led 20-0 at halftime.

“To be quite honest, we just got our but kicked,” Neshannock head Frank Mozzocio said. “They came out and took it to us from the opening snap. We couldn’t recover when they came out and smacked us in the mouth. We have a bunch of young guys in key positions right now, and you saw the growing pains out here tonight – but things will get better.”

The Tigers then put the game away on the initial drive of the second half, scoring in 11 plays covering 84 yards, and Ham connected with Nixon on a 24-yard touchdown pass on a fourth-and-four.

Mister Ham rushed for a game-high 93 yards on 11 carries while completing 9-of-13 passes for 109 yards; Nixon rushed for 63 yards and added one reception for 24 yards and the score.

“I’m proud of Mister’s play tonight, said McElhaney. “He took the not-great penalty early in the game, but he responded, came back in, and did a great job tonight. He’s been one of our players that has waited a long time; he got his chance and took care of the football tonight, which was the biggest thing.”

Neshannock would venture inside the Sharon 40-yard line twice more before the end of the contest but to no avail, as the Lancers turned the ball over on downs both times.

“I give them credit; they played an outstanding ball game on both sides tonight,” Mozzocio said. “But we also contributed to the demise with our lack of mental toughness and making mistakes at crucial times.”

Jino Mozzocio led Neshannock by rushing for 42 yards, Anthony Eakin added 41, and Dom Cubellis chipped in with 36 rushing yards. The Lancers only passed for 26 yards.

Neshannock will attempt to bounce next week when they travel to Laurel.

“The kids kept fighting; we held them to one touchdown in the second half and had drives where we moved the football and looked good at times; we just couldn’t piece anything together, Mozzocio concluded. “That was contributed to our youth but also them playing a great football game tonight.”

Sharon will look to keep things rolling when they head up to Warren County to play the Dragons.

“The obvious thing we need the clear up as we move forward is penalties,” McElhaney said. “We need to figure out what’s going on there; most of them are procedures and things we can take care of and get fixed.”

Stats Courtesy of Ryan Briggs