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BUCKTOWN >> Owen J. Roberts let Conestoga hang around in its season opening win two weeks ago. The Wildcats’ defense showed some cracks down the stretch that coach Rich Kolka said needed to be shored up.
Kolka’s defense has not let much of anything through in the two weeks since. Owen J.’s defense pitched a second-half shutout for the second consecutive game in Friday’s 33-7 non-league victory over Avon Grove.
The Wildcats paired the stifling defense in the second half with an offensive explosion to improve to 3-0 on the season.
“We knew they were gonna run heavy, so we just brought the house and made sure we finished tackles and all 11 of went to the ball every time, making sure we tackled and didn’t let them gain, any yards, finishing backwards,” said OJR senior defensive lineman Andrew Calamaro, who had a sack in the game.
After the Red Devils rushing attack gashed the Wildcats defense in the first half to the tune of 120 yards rushing, Owen J. held Avon Grove to 64 total yards (52 rushing) in the second half and forced three turnovers. Linebacker Lorenzo Satiro ripped the ball from the arms of a Red Devil rusher on the second play of the second half and the Wildcats’ offense did the rest after that, turning a tight 14-7 game at halftime into a rout.
Senior dual-threat quarterback Derek Hinrichs led the Wildcats’ offensive charge once again, completing 7-of-13 passes for 224 yards and three touchdowns and running for another 89 yards and a score. Freshman receiver Mekhi Graham continued a sensational start to his career with 98 yards and a score through the air and another one on the ground to go with a defensive pick. Senior running back Logan Brower led the rushing attack with 10 carries for 98 yards.
“We’re starting to work together a lot better now that we’ve got some practices under our belts,” Brower said. “We figured out our blocking scheme and what plays work and what plays don’t and it’s working out really well so far. We’re 3-0.”
Both teams came into Friday night unbeaten and looked to be set up for a back-and-forth tilt after the first 30 minutes.
The Wildcats got their first points of the game on their second drive when Hinrichs connected with Graham for a 75-yard TD with 6:06 left in the first quarter. The freshman wideout has five touchdowns in his first three career games.
Avon Grove had its ground game going in the first half carrying 20 times for 120 yards. Lucas Lanelli and Harrison Watson helped the Red Devils respond as Lanelli punched in from three yards out to even the score 7-7 with 3:50 left in the first quarter.
The only other score of the first half was a one-yard QB sneak by Hinrichs, who had 117 yards passing and 77 yards rushing and two total TDs to help his team to a 14-7 first-half lead. Another promising Avon Grove answer on the ensuing drive was halted by penalties and a sack from Calamaro. That’s when things started to unravel for the Red Knights offensively with some unforced errors.
“They wanted to stop buck sweep and they did that, so we ran it right at them,” Avon Grove coach Joe Coffey said. “It was going well for a while then self-inflicted penalties, bad snaps and you can’t win doing that. They’re a good football team and you can’t win helping them.”
The Wildcats couldn’t capitalize on the Satiro forced fumble to start the second half but with good field position on their next drive, they went up 21-7 with 4:52 left in the third quarter on a 13-yard run by Graham.
OJR got a quick stop on the next drive before Hinrichs tossed to Justin Daubert for a 65-yard score making it 27-7 with 2:23 left in the third. The game was out of reach early in the fourth after a Graham INT was followed by an eight-yard TD toss from Hinrichs to Jack Yurick to make it 33-7 with 11:26 to play.
“Defense made the plays and the offense finished it with a touchdown,” Calamaro said.
“We just started punching the ball down their throat and tiring them out,” Brower said.
The Wildcats’ defense allowed 22 points against Conestoga in its opener and has responded by allowing a total of 14 points in its last two wins — and Pottsgrove’s touchdown last week came against the OJR offense.
Avon Grove’s Watson ran wild for a total of 446 yards in his first two games of the season but a relentless Wildcats’ defensive front held him to 86 yards on Friday, including just 13 in the second half. Calamaro, Doug Keck, Gus Smith, Andrew Lehman, Colin King and Jason Greiner were among those wreaking havoc in the Red Devils’ backfield in the second half.
“They have a nice offensive scheme. They run the ball right at you, and sometimes we’re susceptible to that,” Kolka said. “We made a nice adjustment to that. We put a different defensive front in. We didn’t do much different, we just played a little better, played with a little more intensity, had a couple blitzes get through and got ahead in the sticks.”
The Wildcats head into next week’s game against Upper Merion looking for a 4-0 start that Calamaro noted would be a big milestone for the group. Avon Grove jumps into Ches-Mont play against Downingtown West looking to get back on track.
“We’ll get back to work,” Coffey said. “The kids are there, we told them to stick together. The people here matter. … The people on the field matter, so that’s what we told them.”
Owen J. Roberts 33, Avon Grove 7
Owen J. Roberts — 7 7 13 6 — 33
Conestoga — 0 7 0 0 — 7
SCORING PLAYS
OJR – Graham 75 pass from Hinrichs (Touhey kick)
AG – Laganelli 4 run (Okonowicz kick)
OJR – Hinrichs 1 run (Touhey kick)
OJR – Graham 13 run (Touhey kick)
OJR – Daubert 65 pass from Hinrichs (kick blocked)
OJR – Yurick 8 from Hinrichs (run fail)
TEAM STATISTICS
AG OJR
First Downs 12 18
Rushing Yards 172 37-231
Passing Yards 42 224
Total Yards 214 455
Passes C-A-I 5-12-2 7-13-1
Fumbles-Lost 3-1 0-0
Penalties-Yards 5-40 5-30
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
Rushing
Avon Grove – Watson 16-86; Laganelli 12-64, TD; Sheridan 3-26; Sabastro 2-7; Hoogerwerff 5-(-6); Team 1-(-5).
Owen J. – Brower 10-98; Hinrichs 16-89, TD; Graham 2-18, TD; Vigilante 5-15; Schock 3-8.
Passing
Avon Grove – Hoogerwerff 5-11-42, INT; Ham 0-1-0, INT.
Owen J. – Hinrichs 7-13-224, 3 TD, INT.
Receiving
Avon Grove – T-Toe 2-14; Watson 1-12; Picard 1-9; Binstead 1-7.
Owen J. – Graham 2-98, TD; Daubert 1-65, TD; Stahl 1-34; King 2-19; Yurick 1-8, TD.
Sacks: Owen J. – Calamaro, Satiro.
Interceptions: Owen J. – Graham, Toguchi; Avon Grove — Dosenbach.
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