Lions roar through Lake

By T.J. Turrisi

November 7, 2009 — CONNEAUT LAKE — OK. That was more like it.

Coming off a tough Week 9 performance in Sharpsville, Linesville quarterback Trevor Litwiler rushed for two touchdowns and passed for five as the Lions closed the regular season with a 49-8 final over backyard rival Conneaut Lake (1-9 overall, 0-9 Region 1) on Friday.

It took some time for Linesville (8-2, 6-2) to really get into its groove on a very soggy Andy Farkas Memorial Field, but once the Lions found it Lake went down fast.

“It seems like we’ll do that a lot,” Litwiler said. “We’ll start slow and then we’ll get things rolling. But we can’t do that now. It’s a whole new game in the playoffs. We’ve got to come out firing.”

Despite two early fumbled exchanges under center, one of which was recovered by the Indians, Litwiler twice cruised into the end zone with the aid of some poor pursuit by the defense for a 14-0 first-quarter lead.

Litwiler’s passing game was on point Friday, and Linesville was able to ride its QB’s arm to five second-quarter TD passes and an insurmountable 49-0 halftime lead.

“This week he hit his guys,” said Linesville coach Pat Gould of Litwiler. “He was making reads like he’s supposed to and finding guys that were open like he was supposed to.”

The senior quarterback was 11-for-17 for 220 yards on the night with just one dangerous pass over the middle which dropped by Lake defensive back Chase Miller.

Linesville’s first possession of the second quarter ended with a 14-yard scoring hookup with slotback Jack Sindlinger on a seam route.

Following a Lake punt, Linesville split two receivers to the left on first down at its own 27. The Indians shifted just one defender to that side, and Litwiler saw Walt Litwin wide open in the slot for the easy 73-yard catch-and-run.

With a 28-0 deficit, Lake kick returner Dustin Oswald fumbled to set Linesville up at the Indians’ 15. Litwiler recovered the loose ball, and he then hit Sindlinger for a two-yard TD pass.

“That was what opened it up,” said Gould of the kick return turnovers. Most of our points were scored off of their mistakes.”

Linesville recovered another fumbled kick return on the ensuing special teams play for a 1st-and-10 at the Lake 22.

After a false-start penalty, Linesville tight end Brennan Miller was the next recipient of a Litwiler toss for a 27-yard touchdown.

Conneaut Lake halfback Eric Schell threw a 31-yard option pass on the Indians’ next drive. But the possession was ended with an incomplete pass at the 1:30 mark.

The Lions tacked on one more score before the break when Litwiler hit A.J. Thompson for a six-yard score after quickly moving the ball downfield with an efficient no-huddle offense.

The second half was a running clock sprint which saw Lake record its only score in the fourth quarter when Schell carried it in from 15 yards away. Nick Baker added the two-point run.

Litwiler portrayed the game as an example of the more amicable of two personalities with his team.

“Two different Linesville teams show up sometimes,” he said. “When the real Linesville team shows up, we’re tough. It’s hard to stop us. Then when the second team shows up, like we did against Sharpsville and Farrell, we just make mistakes and it’s not good.

“It’s always fun,” added Litwiler of playing Lake. “We’re rivals. You can’t look at records with a team like Conneaut Lake. I know last year their record wasn’t very great either, and they beat us. You just never know. You’ve got to play with all you’ve got every time.”

Litwiler also had a game-high 57 yards rushing. Lake’s offense was paced by Schell’s 66 combined yards.

Gould was pleased with his team’s effort in getting back on track before the postseason.

“It was a nice warmup going into the playoffs,” he said. “It was nice to see what they did (tonight). The kids are excited.”

The District 10 playoff committee will be announcing the Class A matchups today. Linesville will play either Friday or Saturday, Nov. 13 or 14.