Saturday, October 24, 1998

Mohawk stays in hunt with 13-6 win

By Ed Fox
Sports Writer

FOSTORIA - The inside pounding of Joe Strausbaugh and outside quickness of Seth Beekman proved too much for St. Wendelin to handle as Mohawk remained in the thick of the Midland Athletic League race with a 13-6 win Friday night at Memorial Stadium.

Strausbaugh gained 133 yards on 36 carries while doing yeoman's work for the Warriors, who improved to 5-3 overall and 4-1 in the MAL. Beekman chipped in with 63 yards on 13 carries and caught a pair of passes for 50 yards.

''Too much Strausbaugh,'' St. Wendelin coach Coby Coburn said.

''He is a tough kid and we had a hard time taking him on. He is 215 pounds and has a low center of gravity. The kids found out the hard way that you can't take him on at the chest,'' he said.

St. Wendelin, now 3-5 overall and 2-3 in the MAL, benefited from the explosiveness of senior Aaron Rouser to get on the board first.

The 5-10 Rouser accounted for all but eight yards as the Mohawks went 80 on just seven plays with their opening possession for the early lead.

Not only did Rouser carry the ball five times for 45 yards, but he also threw a 27-yard pass to Fred Reinhart which set the stage for Rouser's 13-yard touchdown run for a 6-0 lead with 5:13 to go in the first period.

However, that score awakened the Mohawk offense which came right back with a sustained drive to knot the score at 6-6.

Converting three times on third down situations, the Warriors mixed in the passes of Matt May with the running of Strausbaugh and Beekman to steadily move downfield.

The Warriors then came up with their biggest play of the drive as May found Beekman for 47 yards on third-and-14 which moved the ball to the 1-yard line and Strausbaugh went over for the tying score on the next play, capping off the 73-yard, 10-play drive at the 1:20 mark.

After a shanked punt that went just 13 yards, the Warriors took over at their own 33-yard line.

Facing a second-and-five at the St. Wendelin 28, Mohr headed to the outside, dipped back inside which left an SW defender on the ground and scooted to the end zone. Strausbaugh converted and the Warriors took a 13-6 lead with 5:55 to go in the first half.

''That was a beautiful cut by Mohr. He's our journeyman right now. He's a backup quarterback, backup halfback and backup receiver. That was a very athletic move,'' said Mohawk head coach Shane Jacoby.

''It was good to see the kids come back, especially the way Rouser was getting a lot of yards early for them. We were having trouble on isolation with him early, but the kids really came back with two solid drives.

''In the second half, the line really came off the ball. Our offensive line really did the job with (Jon) May at center, (Kiel) Pfefferle and (Chad) Carper at guard, (Bo) Meisner and (Phil) Lininger at tackle and (Brian) Clouse at tight end.

''We were able to control the ball in the second half, but that turnover (interception) kept us from reaching the end zone,'' said Jacoby.

The Warriors were able to put together an eight-minute drive at the beginning of the third quarter only to come up empty when May's pass on third-and-goal from the St. Wendelin 8-yard line was intercepted by Rouser.

''The defense really came up big down there when they (St. Wendelin) threatened to score twice,'' said Jacoby.

Rouser had 124 yards on 18 carries for the Mohawks while Reinhart caught fivepasses for 72 yards.

''They (Mohawk) really controlled the ball in the second half. We had a nice goalline stand and came up with an interception right at the end of the third quarter. The kids stepped up and did the best they could, but we just couldn't capitalize when we got down there close,'' Coburn said.