Latrobe takes advantage of Connellsville miscues in shutout victory

By: Jason Black
Friday, August 23, 2024 | 10:07 PM

Turnovers are a killer for any football team, and for Connellsville, turnovers spelled doom in Friday’s Week Zero season- opener against Latrobe at Connellsville Stadium.

A pick-6 on the first play from scrimmage quickly put the Falcons in a hole, and they never recovered as Latrobe rolled to a 41-0 win.

In total, Connellsville turned the ball over six times: four interceptions, one fumble and one muffed punt. It wasn’t Connellsville’s best night offensively, but defensively, the Falcons turned in a solid effort.

“Turnovers killed us, but I thought we played well defensively,” Connellsville co-head coach Jace McClean said. “We made some big plays, some big tackles. I don’t think we make those tackles last year.”

It didn’t take long for the Wildcats (1-0) to take control as John Wetzel intercepted a pass and returned it 25 yards for a touchdown on the game’s first play.

“We can’t spot a 5A contender seven points like that, but we hung in there,” McClean said.

Connellsville pounced on some Latrobe turnovers as well.

In the first quarter, Rocco Farrell recovered a fumble before Linkon Keller picked off a pass in the end zone to thwart two Latrobe drives.

However, the Falcons (0-1) couldn’t do much offensively, and Latrobe eventually went up 14-0 when Alex Tatsch rumbled in from 4 yards.

Latrobe tacked on two more scores in the second quarter as Tatsch took a snap on a fake punt near midfield and rushed 51 yards down the right side to put the Wildcats up by three touchdowns. Late in the half, Brady Prohovic scored on a 1-yard run. Roman Agostoni added one of his five extra points to send Latrobe into the half with a 28-0 advantage.

Latrobe then scored on its first possession of the third quarter, piecing together a 10-play march that culminated in a Wetzel 2-yard touchdown run.

With a running clock for the majority of the second half, the teams played on relatively even terms, although Latrobe did plenty of mixing and matching with its personnel. The Wildcats added the final score of the game when AJ Yeboah scored on a 20-yard run in the fourth quarter.

Wetzel led Latrobe by completing 5 of 10 passes for 95 yards. Tatsch was the leading ground-gainer, churning out 71 yards on five carries. Jack Drnjevich hauled in two catches for 30 yards.

The Falcons primarily rotated Keller and Caden Matthews under center. The duo combined to complete 3 of 11 passes for 32 yards. Xavier Malone had 41 yards on nine carries for Connellsville. Carter Wilson caught two passes for 20 yards.

Connellsville had a chance to break Latrobe’s bid for a shutout, but the Wildcats came up with a goal-line stand on the last play of the game to keep the Falcons off the board.

For the Falcons, the coming week will be about making corrections and getting ready for a visit from Meadville.

“We need to make a couple of adjustments, and we’ll look forward to our next one against Meadville,” McClean said.

Latrobe will look to make it two wins in a row when it hosts Plum in nonconference action next week.

Tags: Connellsville, Latrobe