Meadville spoils Dragons’ home opener with bang
By JON SITLER jsitler@timesobserver.comArticle Photos
Fact Box
Meadville Warren
52 Offensive plays 53
17 First downs 6
45-278 Rushes-yards 24-26
85 Passing yards 67
363 Total yards 93
7-3-0 Pass-comp-int 29-10-2
3-3 Fumbles-lost 2-1
6-55 Penalties-yards 5-30
Score by quarters
Meadville 0 20 14 15 - 49
Warren 3 3 0 0 - 6
Scoring plays
W-Colter Johnson 35 field goal.
W-Johnson 17 field goal.
M-Mike Kalustian 80 run (Ted Pierce kick)
M-Kalustian 1 run (Pierce kick blocked)
M-Toney Phillips 6 run (Pierce kick)
M-Jon Roncolato 10 run (Pierce kick)
M-Phillips 6 run (Pierce kick)
M-Tyler Banks 31 run (Duane Burrows 2 point pass to Phillips)
M-Addison Goodrum 6 run (Pierce kick)
Individual statistics:
RUSHING: Meadville- Mike Kalustian 11-99, Jon Roncolato 9-60, Tyler Banks 6-47, Toney Phillips 8-42, Jarrod Kilburn 3-15, DeArius Goodrum 3-13, Addison Goodrum 2-8, #49 1-2, Mike Adams 1-3, Aaron Lloyd 1-(-1); Warren- T.J. Latimer 2-(-1), Cotie Snyder 8-5, Matt Stapleford 8-21, Mitch McTavish 3-(-2), Andrew Morrison 2-2, Jake McTavish 1-1.
PASSING: Meadville- Kilburn 3 of 7 for 85 yards; Warren- Stapleford 10 of 26 for 67 yards, 1 INT, Mitch McTavish 0 of 1 for 0 yards, 1 INT, Jake McTavish 0 of 2 for 0 yards.
RECEIVING: Meadville- Carlos King 2-51, Phillips 1-34; Warren- Cody Bupp 3-28, Michael Jones 2-25, Mitch McTavish 2-12, Travis Larsen 1-5, Latimer 2-(-3).
Warren's home opener started off with a bang on Friday.
After the Warren Sports Boosters rededicated War Memorial Field to military veterans, three Harrier jets from U.S. Marines Attack Squadron 542 flew overhead.
The young Dragons came out inspired to a 6-0 lead into the second quarter, after two Colter Johnson field goals, one from 35 yards, the other from 17 yards.
After that, it was all Meadville as the Bulldogs improved to 2-0 overall with a 49-6 win on Warren's home field. It was the most points the Bulldogs have scored in four years, and its first 2-0 start in 13 years.
Meadville defeated Warren last year to end a 15-game losing streak. This is a much-improved Meadville team that will contend for the Region 5 title. Warren is also a different team than last year, starting 0-2 with a huge cast of underclassmen going through learning curves.
Michael Jaskolka and Cotie Snyder recovered Meadville fumbles in the first half, Snyder's gave the Dragons the ball deep in Meadville territory to begin the second quarter. Mitch McTavish pounded an eight-yard run to the one-yard line, but Warren kicked its second field goal on fourth down.
Meadville didn't panic, quickly answering with a Mike Kalustian 80-yard touchdown run with 9:12 left in the half.
The Bulldogs began to pound away when Warren had pretty much stopped them up to that point. Kalustian ran another one in from one yard out at 4:13.
Two long catches by Carlos King extended drives, and a roughing the passer call against the Dragons extended a Bulldogs drive resulting in a six-yard touchdown by Toney Phillips with 50 seconds left.
Phillips had another touchdown, and three other Bulldogs rushed one in before it was over - 363 total yards for Meadville to 93 for Warren.
Sophomore quarterback Matt Stapleford was 10 of 26 for 67 yards, completing six of his first nine attempts, including five in a row before nine straight incompletions. He also rushed for 21 of Warren's 26 yards without being sacked.
Senior Mitch McTavish had a couple nice returns, and Drew Johnson had Warren's third fumble recovery as positives.
