Nov 17, 2016 4 min read

The high school football score that found its way on the Internet last Friday night had to be greeted with awe and disbelief from Washington High School football fans.

It couldn’t be true, could it?

But it was true.

Final score: Neshannock 71, Cardinal Wuerl North Catholic 28.

Those type of blowouts are normally found in the regular season but are unusual occurrences two weeks into the postseason.

The Lancers not only advanced from the quarterfinal round of the WPIAL Class AA playoffs with that victory over North Catholic, but also earned a semifinal matchup against Washington Saturday night at Moon High school.

Kickoff is 7 p.m. on what has been forecast as a chilly, rainy evening.

Neshannock’s two playoff wins have been by a combined score of 131-49, thanks to the 64-point plow-under of North Catholic and a 60-21 rout of Serra Catholic in the first round. The 71 points are the most scored by a team in a WPIAL playoff game. When the WPIAL adopted the Mercy Rule, which has a continuous running clock once a deficit reaches 35 or more points, scoring that many points, especially in a playoff game, harder to accomplish.

“It was one of those things where the offense was just coming together,” said Neshannock head coach Fred Mozzocio. “We played a complete game. As the season has gone on, we’ve started to gel. We have a lot of moving pieces that moved together in that game.”

Neshannock (11-1), the champions of the Midwestern Conference, has scored 40 or more points in seven of its 11 victories. In the two games against North Catholic, a team with a 6-5 record, the Lancers have outscored CWNC by a combined 107-28.

“They are very good and very balanced,” said Wash High head coach Mike Bosnic. “They have a number of different weapons they can use. They have a quarterback who can run the ball and throw the ball. The last two games, they scored in the 60s, then in the 70s. They have been doing that all year.”

The Lancers have blossomed on offense because of two unusual skill players: a linebacker who plays quarterback and a center who now is a running back.

Frank Antuono, a 6-2, 220-pound senior, has committed to Robert Morris, where he will play linebacker. Antuono, whose father once coached Neshannock, is on the verge of a rare high school feat: 2,000 passing yards and 1,000 yards rushing. Antuono has completed 120 of 200 passes for 1,927 yards and 21 touchdowns. He is coming off a performance against North Catholic in which he completed 13 of 20 attempts for 257 yards and four TDs. Antuono has rushed for 771 yards and is coming off a 127-yard, three-touchdown effort against North Catholic.

“Frank has been our starter since his freshman year,” said Mozzocio. “He can run or pass. He’s the key to our ignition and has gotten better as the season has gone along.”

The other key component on offense is senior running back Sean Doran, a 5-10, 220-pound bowling-ball type runner who went over 1,000 yards last week. Doran had been the Lancers starting center but was switched to running back this season.

“He’s built like a fireplug,” said Antuono. “He’s really hard to stop. He’s gotten more comfortable with the position each game. You could see him improving.”

Neshannock has another Division I recruit in tight end Tyler Sear, a 6-6 255-pounder headed to Pitt. Sear is a strong blocker and has good hands, catching 24 passes for 326 yards and four touchdowns.

A win by Neshannock would put the Lancers in the championship game for the first time in the program’s history. Mozzocio said the Lancers made their first appearance in 2012.