In a rush: Blue Devils run wild

By Zack Bellerdine / The Citizen

Saturday, October 4, 2008 11:28 PM EDT

UNION SPRINGS - Jeremy Stewart and Evy Thompson proved to be the knock-out combo Moravia needed to spoil Southern Springs' homecoming game.
Chet Susslin / The Citizen
Moravia junior Jeremy Stewart carries the ball against the Southern Springs defense during Saturday's game. Stewart had a total of 96 rushing yards and two touchdowns.
The tailback combo guided the Blue Devils to a 41-6 victory, Saturday. Unlike last week, when Moravia fell out of first place in its division with an 18-7 loss to Candor, the Blue Devils were able to cash in on big plays.

“We gave a lot of team effort and that's the special thing about our team.” Blue Devils head coach John Crossgrove said. “We stayed focused this week and that showed.”

Stewart led the rushing attack with 13 carries for 96 yards and two touchdowns, while catching three passes for 59 yards.

“We had a good week in practice,” Stewart said. “We worked hard for this. We knew it was their homecoming game and we were psyched. That motivated us. We had to spoil it for them.”

Thompson carried the ball 10 times for 80 yards and crossed the goal line once, while Dillon Langtry had 30 yards on 10 carries. Josh Spring making his season debut, rushing for 18 yards including a touchdown. The passing game improved compared to last week as well, as Langtry finished 5-for-11 for 95 yards, including a 26-yard completion to Greg Pasho for another score.

“It felt good to have that type of game today,” Langtry said. “It was nice to come back from all those turnovers last week. Our captains stepped it up today and were all on cue.”

Defensively, Moravia made plays all game. T.J. Powers led the defense with 11 tackles, while Doug Nelson and Logan Crandall each had 10. Matt Richard, Pasho and Dylan Kowal recovered a fumble each and Spring had an 64-yard interception return for a touchdown in the fourth quarter. Stewart had 11 tackles and Thompson had seven, while also picking off a pass.

“We left our muskets home,” Southern Springs coach Jeff Ianiri said. “They however brought theirs.”

The Blue Devils success was credited to the communication and team work.

“We did our one-eleventh role,” Thompson said. “That's something our defensive coach Ken Palmer asks us to do and we did it. Key reason we came out with the win.”

They are also motivated by the thoughts of Koryn Badman the daughter of special teams coach Scott Badman that passed away recently.

“She wanted it more then us and we got a saying #- putting a ‘K' in our game,” Stewart said.

The team wears a black armband with the letter ‘K' printed on it in her honor.

“Scott motivates them himself,” Crossgrove said. “I mean for him to be able to come back and coach us like that is special. She motivated us and taught us a lot. ... She had the attitude.”

Moravia (3-2) hopes to duplicate the offensive performance in Cato-Meridian next Saturday.

“Hopefully we can repeat this performance,” Crossgrove said. “Our defense got us going. They did a very good job last week, but the offense wasn't there. That definitely wasn't the story this week.”

Southern Springs, on the other hand, didn't play as well as they did last week against Dryden. Quarterback Jason Wright, who has helped his offense progress steadily this season, especially struggled with his accuracy.

“He just kept overthrowing and underthrowing our guys,” Ianiri said. “It really frustrated him.”

Vinnie Salato scored Southern Springs' only touchdown in the fourth quarter on a 3-yard run. He finished with eight carries for 57 yards.

Brandon Winter had six carries for 22 yards and Salato also caught two passes for 16 yards.

Dustin Colella and Nate Markham led the defense with eight tackles apiece. Mark Delaney had six.

Southern Springs (1-4) travels to Susquehanna Valley, Saturday.

“We'll look over their film tomorrow,” Ianiri said. “We know pretty much most of the plays they run, but we will work on our line problems and take it from there.”

Mor. 0 14 7 20- 41

S.S. 0 0 0 6- 6

Second Quarter

Mor. - Thompson 55 run (Thompson kick)

Mor. - Pasho 26 pass from Langtry (Thompson kick)

Third Quarter

Mor. - Stewart 4 run (Thompson kick)

Fourth Quarter

Mor. - Stewart 10 run (kick failed)

Mor. - Springs 64 interception return (Thompson kick)

Mor. - Springs 22 run (Thompson kick)

S.S. - Salato 3 run (kick failed)

Moravia 41

S. Springs 6

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