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Dragons come up short against DuBois, 34-17

Warren receiver Ryan Arnold tries to get by a DuBois defender during their game at E.J. Mansell Stadium, Friday, Sept. 22, 2017. Arnold had 37 receiving yards and a touchdown in the 34-17 loss.

DUBOIS – It’s been said offense gets people excited and defense wins championships, but special teams is often the difference between winning and losing individual games.

That was certainly the case in DuBois Friday as the Beavers used a pair of big returns to put 14 points on the board in a 34-17 victory over Warren.

“For the second week in a row, our special teams let us down,” said Warren coach Mark Morelli. “They gave up 14 points tonight.”

The first miscue came early as the Dragons (1-4, 1-3 Region 5) were forced to punt on their opening drive. Kyle Hopson caught the punt at the 10, juked his way past Warren’s coverage and raced 90 yards for the opening score.

“We didn’t want to kick it to him in that spot,” Morelli said.

DuBois (2-3, 2-2 Region 5) nearly got a safety on the ensuing possession as a third down snap sailed over Warren quarterback Jake Kupchella’s head. Kupchella was able to recover the ball at the 1 to allow the Dragons to punt.

Seth Harrington’s punt was downed at the Warren 35, setting the Beavers up with good field position to start the drive.

It looked as though DuBois would cash in, but Eric Schnieder fumbled the ball through the end zone, allowing the Dragons to take over on their own 20.

Warren took advantage of the miscue with a 13-play drive that ended with a Harrington 31-yard field goal to make it 7-3 with 9:22 to play in the half.

DuBois again started moving the ball downfield, but Aidan Morrison intercepted a Matt Miller pass and returned it 33 yards to put the Dragons in business at the Beavers 37.

Warren was unable to convert the turnover into points as Dylan McCluskey sacked Kupchella on third down to force a punt.

Another short kick gave DuBois possession near midfield, but Hopson fumbled two plays later to give the ball back to the Dragons.

“We kept battling and kept fighting,” Morelli said.

The teams traded possessions before Warren got the ball back with just under three minutes to play in the half. It looked like the Dragons might go three-and-out, but a 23-yard pass from Kupchella to Marvin Bryant kept the drive alive. Penalties and incompletions forced a punt four plays later.

DuBois took over on its own 33 and Miller found McCluskey wide open over the middle for a 20-yard gain on first down. Three plays later, it Miller connected with McCluskey again, this time in the corner of the end zone. The score was nullified by an illegal procedure penalties, and the Beavers took a 7-3 lead into the locker room.

The Beavers opened the second half with a 77-yard kickoff return from Kolby Ho to give them possession inside the red zone. Three plays later, Dalton Kruzelak powered his way in from eight yards out. The extra point attempt was blocked, but the Beavers had a 10-point lead, 13-3, just 1:11 into the second half.

“Our third phase needs to start picking it up,” Morelli said.

The Beavers forced a three-and-out and blocked Harrington’s punt on the Warren 29. An unsportsmanlike conduct penalty backed them up to midfield.

DuBois only needed four plays to get down to the 1-yardline. Kenny Garvey was stopped on his first attempt from the 1, and looked to have fumbled with Morrison recovering. Garvey was ruled down by contact before the ball came out and plunged in on the next play to stretch the lead to 20-3 midway through the third quarter.

Mitchell Bryant’s 3-yard reception turned into an 18-yard gain after a facemask penalty and the Dragons began opening the pass game to move to the DuBois 38. Kupchella turned a broken play into a 21-yard scramble to get the Dragons in the red zone.

Kupchella then found Ryan Arnold for a 10-yard gain to make it first-and-goal. An illegal block in the back penalty on the next play backed the Dragons up to the 17. Kupchella dropped back to pass on the next play, ran to his right to avoid pressure, went to the right sideline, spun, ran back left almost to the sideline and threw right to a wide open Arnold in the endzone. Harrington’s extra point made it 20-10 with just over five minutes to go in the third.

“Jake doesn’t take a backseat to anybody, including Matt Miller,” Morelli said, referencing Miller’s status as an All-State contender.

On the Beavers second play from scrimmage of the ensuing possession, Kohl Nosel intercepted Miller’s pass at the 20 and raced into the endzone to pull the Dragons within three at 20-17.

DuBois turned to the ground game on the next possession as Kruzelak had a pair of short gains before ripping off a 36-yard run to give the Beavers a first down at the Dragons’ 12. Two plays later, he extended himself across the goalline for his second score of the game and a 27-17 DuBois lead with just over two minutes to go in the third quarter.

“We play well in spurts,” Morelli said. “We need to get more consistency.”

An incomplete pass led to a tense moment in the game. DuBois’ Buddy Lines wrapped up Mitchell Bryant just after Bryant missed an intended pass. Lines held on to Bryant for a couple more seconds before lifting Bryant and slamming him to the turf. An unsportsmanlike conduct penalty was called and Lines was ejected from the game. Both Mitchell and Marvin Bryant had to be restrained by their teammates following the play.

The teams traded short series through most of the fourth quarter before Warren used a trick play to get inside the DuBois 20. Kupchella tossed to Noah Myers. Myers ran to his right, then stopped and threw back to Kupchella, who unloaded a pass down the middle to a wide open Nosel. Nosel nearly caught the ball in stride, but stumbled just a bit and went down on the 15.

The Dragons looked like they had converted a fourth-and-six from the 11 with a touchdown pass from Kupchella to Marvin Bryant; however, Bryant was called for offensive pass interference, nullifying the touchdown and pushing the Dragons back another 10 yards. Both Bryants were then flagged for unsportsmanlike penalties, pushing Warren back another 30 yards. Kupchella was pressured on the fourth down replay and threw the ball away to give it back to the Beavers near midfield.

“I keep telling the kids they can’t just show up, they’ve got to get their heads in the game,” Morelli said.

Warren had a final chance to get back in the game after forcing a DuBois punt, but Mitchell Bryant muffed the reception, DuBois recovered, and Kruzelak found paydirt for the third time just two plays later to close out the scoring.

The potent Dragon rushing attack was held to just 121 yards on the ground against the Beavers, with Myers (59 yards) accounting for nearly half that total.

“Compliment DuBois, they shut our run down,” Morelli said. “Our offensive line just didn’t come off the ball.”

Warren will look for its second win of the season next week against Fairview.

– – –

Score by quarters

Warren 0 3 14 0 -17

DuBois 7 0 20 7 – 34

Scoring summary

First Quarter

D-Kyle Hopson 90 punt ret (Dylan McCluskey kick), 7:48

Second Quarter

W-Seth Harrington 31 field goal, 9:22

Third Quarter

D-Dalton Kruzelak 8 run (McCluskey kick blocked), 10:49

D-Kenny Garvey 1 run (McCluskey kick), 7:20

W-Jake Kupchella 17 pass to Ryan Arnold (Harrington kick), 5:05

W-Kohl Nosel 20 interception ret (Harrington kick), 4:34

D-Kruzelak 7 run (McCluskey kick), 2:11

Fourth Quarter

D-Kruzelak 4 run (McCluskey kick), 1:53

Team statistics

Rushing: Warren 36-121, DuBois 31-218 4TD. Passing: Warren 12-30, 184 yards TD, DuBois 10-18, 103 yards. Receiving: Warren 12-184 TD, DuBois 10-103.

Individual statistics

Rushing: Warren-Noah Myers 17-59, Jake Kupchella 10-51, Marvin Bryant 9-11; DuBois-Dalton Kruzelak 20-159 3TD, Kenny Garvey 7-46 TD, Eric Schneider 3-9, Matt Miller 1-4. Passing: Warren-Kupchella 12-30, 184 TD; DuBois-Miller 10-18, 103. Receving: Warren-Kohl Nosel 6-106, Ryan Arnold 3-37 TD, Marvin Bryant 1-23, Aidan Morrison 1-15, Mitchell Bryant 1-3.

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