Sheehan shines as Cardinals top Conneaut Lake

By Ed Topoleski

09/23/06 September 23, 2006 12:49 am

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CONNEAUT LAKE – Friday, September 22, 2006 will be remembered in Crawford County primarily as the day that Maplewood’s Streak finally came to an end.
While the Tigers were finding a way to be on the winning side of their recent losses, the Cochranton Cardinals were working on a streak of their own.
The Cardinals (2-2, 1-2 Region 1) had just three first-half possessions Friday against the Indians of Conneaut Lake (1-3, 1-2 Region 1), but they made the most of them, scoring on three lengthy drives en route to a rather impressive 32-20 Region 1 victory.
“We played better,” said Cochranton coach Tom Haynes, whose club lost back-to-back games after defeating Maplewood in the season opener. “We played much more physical football which is what we need to do to be successful.
“It’s just a matter of us staying with it. You have to keep plugging away, there’s no quit.”
There certainly was no quit in the Cardinals last night. They opened the game with a 12-play, 63-yard drive that led to an early 6-0 lead on Craig Garofola’s 4-yard touchdown plunge off the left side of the offensive line.
Lake’s offense, however, was nearly as good as Cochranton’s in the first half. Down by six, the Indians responded with an 11-play, 80-yard drive that ended with a 15-yard touchdown run by Jon Smith.
Running off right and left tackle for a majority of the game, Cochranton came right back with an eight-play drive that culminated with Mick Sheehan’s 5-yard touchdown run to regain their six-point lead.
Lake responded once again with a 12-play drive that reached paydirt when quarterback Matt Morian threw a 15-yard touchdown strike to Robby Stanton on a rollout.
Stanton’s TD catch, which gave his team a two-point lead, came with just 90 seconds left in the first half.
Ninety seconds, however, was all Cochranton needed to reclaim the lead.
Facing fourth-and-11 from their own 34-yard line with less than 30 seconds remaining in the first half, Haynes had his Cardinals line up to run a regular play. The move threw off Conneaut Lake, whose punt returner came up in run support as the ball was being snapped. Sheehan broke a 64-yard run through the heart of the Indians’ defense on the play all the way to the Conneaut Lake 2-yard line.
“That was a huge spark for us,” Haynes said. “Twenty-three seconds (remaining in the first half and) I figured let’s give it a shot and see what happens.”
After a Jason Jamieson spike, Sheehan plowed into the end zone with no time remaining in the half. The two-point conversion failed, but the Cardinals held the lead 18-14.
But the game was far from over.
The Indians took a 20-18 lead with 1:36 remaining in the third quarter on Morian’s 37-yard run down the near sideline.
The fourth quarter belonged to the Cardinals, however, as Garofola and Sheehan split carries and kept the ball out of the Indians’ hands. Sheehan took care of the scoring, earning touchdown runs of 1 and 5 yards.
Sheehan finished game with 167 yards and four touchdowns on 22 carries. Garofola, who missed some carries due to a nagging shin injury, chipped in with 71 yards on 10 carries.
“I’ll tell you what,” said Conneaut Lake coach Ray Collins. “Our defense just came out flat and really we just didn’t play defense.
“We let Cochranton run a will right over top of us. They did nothing fancy … and just pounded our guys. And we did nothing to respond to it whatsoever.”
NOTES: Cash Horne paced the Indians’ rushing attack with 136 yards on 24 carries. … Cochranton defensive end Bill Holzer recorded 1.5 sacks on Conneaut Lake’s last possession.

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