Moon gets defensive in Week Zero victory over Montour

By: Steve Nagler
Saturday, August 24, 2019 | 12:27 AM

Moon sacked Montour quarterback Luke Persinger 11 times and forced two Spartans turnovers en route to a 14-10 victory in a nonconference game Friday night.

It was the second year in a row the Tigers defeated Montour (0-1) to begin the season.

Persinger was pressured all night, especially in the fourth quarter as Montour was trying to fight back from a 14-3 deficit. Persinger was sacked eight times by the Moon (1-0) defense in the fourth quarter alone, led by sophomore Ben Bladel, who sregistered four sacks.

“Ben Bladel is a strong kid — a workout warrior,” Moon coach Ryan Linn said. “Overall, our guys up front played their tails off tonight. They really got after them all night. I felt that we eventually wore their (offensive) line down a little bit, and I liked the grit that our kids showed.”

The Spartans scored on their first drive of their season. Persinger connected with Dom Magliocco on the first of two long passes in the first few minutes, which ultimately led to a 28-yard field goal by Robbie Rippole with 7:34 to go in the first quarter to give the Spartans a 3-0 lead. Persinger completed 12 of 24 passes for 155 yards.

Moon got on the board late in the first half and took a lead they’d never relinquish. Moon sophomore fullback Dylan Sleva cut through the Montour defense from 5 yards out and, with the Jacob Zimmerman extra point, the Tigers led 7-3 just before halftime.

After a scoreless third quarter, Moon extended its lead to 14-3 on a naked bootleg from senior QB Dante Clay from 4 yards with 10:26 to go in the game. Clay accounted for 153 yards of total offense.

But, less than two minutes later, Montour answered with a touchdown drive of its own as Persinger connected with Anthony Guidone for a 5-yard touchdown pass to cut the deficit to 14-10.

Montour’s Zimmerman missed a 37-yard field goal with 2:49 to play. And, despite converting a fourth-and-28 from their own 2, the Spartan offensive line couldn’t hold off the thrust of Moon’s front seven in the final moments, turning the ball over on downs at their 42.

“We had some offensive line issues tonight,” Montour coach Lou Cerro said. “Moon did a nice job of pressuring (Persinger). Persinger played well, but you can’t be running for your life the whole night; it’s not conducive to what we’re tying to do.”

Tags: Montour, Moon