Neuqua Valley rolls over Metea Valley
Neuqua Valley coach Bryan Wells didn't anticipate dominating Metea Valley to this extent in the Wildcats' first meeting with their District 204 kin.
His defense did, though, and that counted for a 42-0 Wildcats victory in Friday's Upstate Eight Conference Valley Division game at Metea Valley.
"We came in to set a tone that we were above Metea and they weren't ready to play with us yet. Apparently we proved that tonight," said Neuqua Valley linebacker T.J. Rhattigan. who recovered a fumble and had one of the two blocked punts Neuqua Valley (4-2, 2-1) laid on Metea.
Travon McCain blocked the other, which Andrew Shonkwiler returned 23 yards for a touchdown in a 21-point Wildcats first quarter.
Neuqua Valley also scored on the first of Sami Khalil's 2 interceptions, an 86-yard return to give Neuqua a 28-0 halftime lead.
"I was just doing my one-eleventh and having our defensive line (Michael Ippolito, Leif Munson, Adam Skowronski) doing what they do best, getting pressure," said Khalil, who also scored on an interception two weeks ago against East Aurora.
A first-year varsity program of sophomores and juniors, Metea Valley (1-5, 1-3) did its best against a foe that returns nine defensive starters. Wells still didn't expect this margin.
"Not quite like this," he said. "What added to that, obviously, we scored a lot of points offensively, but when you throw in a special-teams touchdown and a defensive touchdown, that makes that score jump in a hurry."
Joey Rhattigan T.J.'s sophomore brother got the Wildcats on the board at 5:10 of the first quarter. Then came the McCain punt block and Shonkwiler touchdown return that quickly turned things south for the Mustangs.
Neuqua quarterback Jeff Samuel, who completed 6 of 8 passes for 128 yards, hit Evan Jackson for a 49-yard touchdown pass that with Ryan Mulhern's kick made it 21-0 with 1:27 left in the first quarter.
Samuel added a third-quarter touchdown strike to Jack Norgaard, and Joey Rhattigan got the clock running on a 3-yard run with 9:43 left.
Neuqua held Metea running back Tre'Sean Mackey to 31 yards on 15 carries the Mustangs gained 3 first downs but Metea did have positives.
Defensive back Alan Williams intercepted a pass, busy punter Kevin Arriola recovered a Neuqua fumble and Andrew Lagasca sacked Samuel twice. The defense kept 700-yard Neuqua tailback Trent Snyder to 29 yards on 13 carries.
"We just have to realize that we're a year away from where we need to be," said Metea coach Ted Monken. "A lot of growing, a lot of weightlifting between now and then, and hopefully at this time next year we'll be able to put together a much better performance against Neuqua."