Playoff berth fits Burgettstown
McDONALD – Two teams. One winner. One playoff berth.
That was the scenario last night when the Burgettstown Blue Devils traveled to Fort Cherry to take on the Rangers. Burgettstown might have been on the road but sure looked at home on the Rangers’ turf, shutting out Fort Cherry 23-0 in the Class A Big Seven Conference.
Burgettstown came into this do-or-die contest a winner of their last two and head coach Greg Marshall saw the winning streak having an impact on his team.
“It’s been awesome, the effort we had from our kids from the start of the season has been phenomenal.” Marshall said before the game. “They’ve been working together; they’ve been working harder than ever before. We got the last two wins through effort and preparation.”
The Blue Devils’ defense rode into Fort Cherry on a hot streak. Burgettstown held conference foes Northgate and Union to an average of 11 points over the past two weeks. Standing in front of the Blue Devils’ defense was Fort Cherry senior quarterback Maddox Truschel. Truschel was a key player for the Rangers throughout the season and Marshall knew slowing him down was critical.
“We’re going to try and give him a bunch of different looks to keep him guessing as far as what we are doing defensively.” Marshall said. “We need eleven guys around the football all the time. We need to play fast and play physical.”
That is just what the Burgettstown defense did. The Blue Devils held Fort Cherry to 105 total yards, most of which came on the Rangers’ final drive. The Burgettstown defense almost held Truschel without a completion all night. Truschel finished with just two completions on 15 attempts for 60 yards.
Senior wide receiver Caleb Russell got the scoring started for the Blue Devils when he scored on a one-yard touchdown rush in the first quarter. Russell followed up his touchdown by intercepting Truschel on the ensuing drive. These key plays by Russell set the stage for Blue Devils senior quarterback Jackson LaRocka to have an impressive performance.
LaRocka was nearly perfect passing all night and helped his team convert on many third downs. Larocka finished with eight completions on nine attempts for 105 yards and one touchdown. LaRocka also finished with 50 rushing yards on 12 carries.
“He’s an incredible player and a phenomenal leader.” Marshall said. “He’s exactly what you look for in a senior quarterback captain. He’s a leader to our team and tonight he put up some good numbers and made some key plays.”
After a bad snap caused Fort Cherry (3-3, 5-4) to take a safety in the second quarter, Burgettstown senior AJ Kuzior caught a 7-yard touchdown pass from LaRocka and the Blue Devils never looked back. Russell added his second score of the game in the third quarter on a three-yard rush.
Burgettstown finished the regular season with an overall record of 5-4 and a 3-4 mark in conference. The Blue Devils will have to wait until tonight to see who their first-round matchup will be next week.
A week ago, the Fort Cherry spent their Friday night at home as its game against Cornell was canceled because of COVID-19 concerns. The cancellationled to a forfeit victory for Cornell and put the Rangers in a must-win situation.
“It was tough because there was a looming thought that maybe this game wasn’t going to happen.” Fort Cherry head coach Tanner Garry said. “We had a short week of practice. We didn’t practice with the full squad until Wednesday.”