Steel Valley wins 21st in row
Steel Valley found that there are layers to adversity Friday night. Battling an opponent is one thing, but watching a teammate being carted off the field after a crushing hit is quite another.
But the Class 2A No. 1 Ironmen handled everything that came their way, winning a Three Rivers Conference clash with No. 3 East Allegheny, 34-13, to extend their winning streak to 21 games in a row.
With plenty of game left — 10:53 remaining in the third quarter — Steel Valley’s starting center, Jarrod Tomasic, was on the receiving end of a big hit during a punt return. He was stretched out on the field for a significant amount of time while he was attended to by paramedics. His coach, Rod Steele, said he lost consciousness and his limbs became numb in the moments immediately after the hit. As he was being transported on a stretcher to the ambulance, Tomasic gave a thumb’s up to the cheering crowd.
“Our guys understand the game is played physical like that,” said Steele. “We have a physical group of guys ourselves. That’s the game our team signed up to play. As far as trying to keep their heads into it, you have to bring them in and regroup.”
On Steel Valley’s next possession, freshman quarterback Ronnell Lawrence tossed a pick six to Ambre Hunter to give the Wildcats their first score and cut the Steel Valley lead down to 20-7.
The ensuing possession saw the Ironmen fumble twice, but recover both times.
“But our guys are resilient,” said Steele.
The defending WPIAL and PIAA champion Ironmen (6-0, 5-0) were able to regroup and rally with two second-half touchdowns that put the game out of reach. Kameron Williams capped a drive with a 6-yard run late in the third quarter. Early in the fourth, Williams hauled in an 8-yarder from Lawrence to build a 34-7 lead and erase any chance of an East Allegheny (5-2, 4-1) comeback.
Lawrence completed 6 of 15 passes for 102 yards. He had three touchdown passes and two interceptions. Williams rushed for 83 yards, while Trevon Adams added 79 more on the ground.
Adams was a two-way standout, as he held the Wildcats’ T.J. Banks, an FBS prospect, to five catches and 83 yards. Banks had just one catch for 5 yards through the first three quarters. Adams, who stands 6-foot-3 and weighs 215, was able to jam the 6-5, 240-pound Banks at the line of scrimmage and throw him off his routes.
“We wanted to be physical because receivers don’t want to bothered,” said Steele. “They want to run clean routes. We were beating him up a little bit.”
East Allegheny’s Tamaine Underwood connected on 14 of 32 passes for 206 yards. Dan Kasmier was his leading receiver with four catches for 98 yards.
The big hit that took Tomasic out of the game was by Davon McDougold, who was ejected.
“I don’t think it was an ejectable hit,” said East Allegheny coach Dom Pecora. “First and foremost, the young man being injured is my first concern. I just don’t think it was an ejectable penalty. If it happened to my team, I would say the same thing. He didn’t duck his head, he didn’t target. It was a block to spring the run.”