The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Lake Catholic takes care of VASJ in Week 2
Lake Catholic rebounds from its season-opening setback to Kirtland and defeats Villa Angela-St. Joseph, with Joe Malchesky accounting for three TDs in a 28-0 win, Jay Kron writes.
Coming off a tough loss Aug. 28 against Kirtland, and facing an old rival for the first time in 11 years, one adjective best described Lake Catholic against VASJ at Sparky DiBiasio Stadium in Euclid on Sept.5: Hungry.
The Cougars parlayed a dominant second quarter offensively with a solid defensive effort for the whole 48 minutes to whitewash the Vikings, 28-0, and improve to 1-1 on the season.
Senior QB Joe Malchesky carried 21 times for 162 yards and two touchdowns and completed 6 of 13 passes for 83 yards and another to pace the Cougars’ 357-yard offensive attack.
“I think we were really hungry, coming off of a tough loss against Kirtland,” Lake Catholic coach Marty Gibbons said. “I think we got a lot better for playing that game and were really hungry to get the win tonight.”
The Cougars’ defense limited VASJ to 235 yards and thwarted a pair of scoring
THE SCORE LAKE CATHOLIC 28, VASJ 0
threats in the first quarter and another in the fourth on an interception by Malchesky in the end zone.
After a scoreless opening stanza, Lake Catholic (1-1) employed a no-huddle hurryup attack to keep the VASJ defense on its heels for three scoring drives in the second. Malchesky capped a nine-play, 78-yard drive with an 8-yard scoring run and then sprinted 28 yards for another score to finish a seven-play, 61-yard drive to make it 14-0.
Three punts later, it appeared the Cougars might be content to go into halftime up by 14. But with five seconds left in the half, Malchesky found Charlie Vincent open along the sideline, and Vincent made the catch and took it into the end zone to complete a 34-yard scoring play and give Lake Catholic a 21-0 lead at the break.
“That’s a coaching thing that they talk about-the middle eight,” Gibbons said. “The last four minutes of the first half and the first four minutes of the second, and how important that is for momentum.
“For us to go into halftime with a big score and then come out and do an OK job in the second half, I think that was good for our momentum.”
Malchesky thought the speed with which his team was able to play, especially in the second quarter, greatly helped their cause.
“We were just trying to control the game and play our game,” Malchesky said. “They didn’t adjust to us.”
VASJ (0-2) put together pass plays of 35 yards and 69 yards from senior Kevin Eiseman to senior Jordan Dean in the first quarter to move into Cougar territory, but came up short on a fourth-down completion and then again on an incompletion to end both threats.