Woodland Hills wins conference opener vs. Penn-Trafford

By: Ted Sarneso
Friday, September 13, 2024 | 11:14 PM

Mistakes and bad penalties. Those are what did Penn-Trafford in early, and it was never able to crawl back to within striking distance against Woodland Hills in the first game of Big East Conference play Friday.

The Penn-Trafford offense plagued itself with six penalties in the first half and finished the game by going 0 for 3 on fourth down and turning the ball over four times in a 35-21 loss at home to the Wolverines.

“It seems to be our Achilles heel where we drive the ball to inside the 35-yard line, and we either get penalized or do something foolish,” Penn-Trafford coach John Ruane said. “I had a terrible play call on fourth down.”

On four of their five first-half drives, the Warriors (2-2, 0-1) were done in by penalties. They went for it on fourth down on two of the drives, punted on one and threw an interception on the other.

“We moved the ball well, but we have to score points,” Ruane said. “You can move the ball all you want, but if you don’t put points on the board, it’s not going to matter.”

The Warrior defense did its job in holding Wolverines standout junior wide receiver Scoop Smith to 62 yards on three carries, 46 yards receiving on four catches and one touchdown.

“That was obviously part of the deal,” Ruane said. “He’s going to make some plays, and you have to live with it. I thought our defense made some plays. They got a fumble recovery to start the second half, but we weren’t able to capitalize.”

“We go two ways with Scoop,” Woodland Hills coach Brian Tarrant said. “Either you’re going to double him and we’ll find somebody else to get the ball to, or you’re going to stay in your base defense and we’re going to continue to get him the ball.”

The Wolverines (2-2, 1-0) used a host of other athletic players to do damage.

Senior running back Elijah Nesby ran the ball 13 times for 82 yards and a touchdown. The Wolverines gained 189 yards on the ground.

In the passing game, junior quarterback Cam Walter found Malik McCloud for touchdown passes of 14 and 15 yards. McCloud finished with four catches for 60 yards, and Walter was 8 for 14 for 80 yards and three touchdown passes.

“I feel like it was all on Cam,” McCloud said about his two touchdowns. “I told Cam what I saw, and he trusted me and threw it to me. One was a scramble drill that was supposed to be to the opposite side, and I just made plays.”

McCloud and senior safety Mikail Connor each picked off Penn-Trafford starting quarterback Jonny Lovre twice.

“Malik transferred over here from Penn Hills last year,” Tarrant said. “We’ve been blessed. He’s a playmaker. The kid is always locked in and is an exciting football player to watch.”

Lovre finished the game with 197 yards on 16 of 27 passing, two touchdowns and four interceptions. Most of his yards came in the second half when Woodland Hills was up by two touchdowns.

On the ground for the Warriors, senior Tasso Whipple rushed for 90 yards on 14 carries and was held out of the end zone. The Warriors had 170 rushing yards among their total of 413 offensive yards.

“This is a determined football team,” Tarrant said. “We knew what we were coming into. They don’t lose much at home. We knew we had to put our best foot forward. A lot of guys made plays tonight.”

On the Wolverines’ first drive of the game, it gave Penn-Trafford a steady dose of Smith, who caught three passes for 35 yards and ran for another 7. Walter found McCloud in the back of the end zone for a 14-yard passing touchdown.

Penn-Trafford answered as quarterback Derek Carr came in for Lovre and the Warriors ran the ball for the entirety of their 84-yard drive. Carr muscled his way into the end zone on a 10-yard run off the run-pass option.

Woodland Hills drove down the field highlighted by a 16-yard pass from Walter to McCloud and a 40-yard run for Smith on an end around. Smith then scored on a fade pass from Walter for 9 yards.

The Warriors’ next possession saw them start at their own 20. Lovre found Whipple out of the backfield for a 7-yard pass and then again for 48 yards, but the play was called back for a personal foul on Whipple, who hurdled a defender at the 50-yard line.

Penn-Trafford’s last drive before the half saw Lovre intercepted by Wolverines linebacker George Hill across the middle.

It took the Wolverines only 50 seconds to drive from their own 41 for a touchdown on their next possession. Running back Elijah Nesby ran five times for 42 yards and punched it in from 4 yards out to give Woodland Hills a 21-7 lead going into halftime.

Coming out of the half, the Wolverines possessed the ball and ran two plays before Connor fumbled the ball back to Penn-Trafford.

“We made some mistakes in the second half, but we’re learning how to win, taking those steps in the right direction,” Tarrant said. “I’m very proud of this football team.”

The Wolverines will travel to Shaler next Saturday for a 1:30 p.m. kickoff.

For the Warriors, it will be about correcting and learning from their mistakes, correcting them and looking to get another win next week at home against Kiski Area at 7 p.m.

“Everything has to be better,” Ruane said. “We didn’t protect as well as we should have. We were probably a little late on some decisions. We have to do a better job of getting open. Everyone on the offense and the offensive staff has to do a better job to make this offense run correctly.”

Tags: Penn-Trafford, Woodland Hills