OIL CITY, Pa. – For the second straight week, Warren’s defense was gashed while the offense was stymied in a 53-0 loss at Oil City Friday.

Oilers quarterback Holden Stahl gave the home crowd plenty to cheer about on homecoming. The junior signal caller accounted for four touchdowns on the night, two passing and two rushing. The Oilers defense may have been even better, holding the Dragons to negative net yards of offense.

“The last two weeks, we’ve played the two best teams in the region,” Warren coach Mark Morelli said. “Right now, this program is not built to play against big, physical teams.”

Oil City (6-0 overall, 4-0 Region 7) jumped out to an early lead when Stahl found Jt Stahlman over the middle for a 20-yard touchdown pass that capped an 8-play opening drive. Warren (3-3, 1-3) quarterback Micah Passmore, who was under duress all night, was sacked in the end zone on the Dragons’ second play from scrimmage for a safety. Oil City methodically marched down the field in 10 plays, converting on fourth down for the second time in the quarter, and Petro punched it in from the 9 to give the home team a 16-0 lead after the first quarter.

“In the first quarter, they had fourth down twice and converted twice,” Morelli said. “We’ve got to make those plays.”

The Warren defense tightened up in the second quarter and had Oil City in a third-and-ten from its own 39. Stahl found Stahlman down the middle again and Stahlman raced past the secondary for a 61-yard score. The Dragons fumbled the ensuing kickoff and the Oilers recovered on the Warren 29. The Dragons defense dug in and held the Oilers to a field goal, but still trailed 25-0 at the half.

“In the second quarter, they had a third and long and we gave up a touchdown,” Morelli said. “We can’t give up the big plays. Against these teams, there’s little margin for error.”

Warren got the ball to start the second half, but fumbled on the first play from scrimmage. Stahl worked his way past the defense and sprinted 34 yards down the left sideline for his first rushing score of the night. The Oilers forced a 3-and-out and a bad snap to punter Tony Batiste gave Oil City possession at the Warren 12. The Dragons defense held and forced a turnover on downs, but went 3-and-out again. Brayden Crocker blocked Batiste’s punt and the Oilers recovered on the 2. Petro took it in from there for a 39-0 advantage.

“This was the worst game of the year for our special teams,” Morelli said.

Stahl capped a 6-play drive that spanned the late third and early fourth quarters with a 3-yard run. The Dragons took over at their own 11 and Passmore, pressured again, threw the ball away near Donovan Fiscus. Though he was out of the tackle box and had a receiver in the area, Passmore was flagged for grounding that, because the foul occurred in the end zone, resulted in a safety.

“Our offense can’t get on track because Micah has no time,” Morelli said.

On the ensuing possession, Sean Stack took a carry facing a third-and-20 and split the Warren defense for a 60-yard touchdown run to close out the scoring.

The Oilers racked up 451 yards of offense, while holding the Dragons to minus-5.

Stahl had 127 total yards and four scores and Petro had 169 rushing yards on 24 carries.

Oil City travels to Meadville next week for a big Region 7 clash. The winner will be in the driver’s seat for the region title.

Warren returns home to face General McLane. It will be homecoming for the Dragons.

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Score by quarters

Warren 0 0 0 0 – 0

Oil City 16 9 14 14 – 53

Scoring summary

1st quarter

O-Jt Stahlman 20 pass from Holden Stahl (9 kick), 7:27

O-Safety, 6:37

O-Noah Petro 9 run (9 kick), 1:33

2nd quarter

O-Stahlman 61 pass from Stahl (kick missed), 4:41

O-9 28 field goal, 1:18

3rd quarter

O-Stahl 34 run, (9 kick), 11:35

O-Petro 2 run (9 kick), 6:11

4th quarter

O-Stahl 3 run (9 kick missed), 10:29

O-Safety, 9:58

O-Sean Stack 60 run (9 kick missed), 7:30

Team Stats

W O

Total plays 27 56

Firstdowns 2 13

Total net yards (-5) 451

Rushes-yards 14-(-32) 51-370

Comp-att-int 5-13-0 2-5-0

Pass yards 27 81

Fumbles-lost 4-2 2-1

Penalties-yards 6-50 5-45

Individual stats

Rushing: Warren, Ryan Arnold 1-5, Ethan Benedict 1-0, Micah Passmore 11-(-18), Tony Batiste 1-(-19). Oil City, Petro 24-169-2, Stack 2-66-1, Stahl 6-46-2, Seth Christy 4-32, Team 21 3-20, Cameron Russell 3-18, Zac Kiefer 5-9, Brayden Crocker 2-6, Jonathan Dragotta 2-4.

Passing: Warren, Micah Passmore 4-12-24-0-0, Landon Douvlos 1-1-3-0-0. Oil City, Stahl 2-4-81-2-0, Petro 0-1-0-0.

Receiving: Warren, Donovan Fiscus 2-15, Ethan Wilson 2-9, Alex Anderson1-3. Oil City, Stahlman 2-81-2.