SULLIVAN TWP. — Homecoming night may as well have been renamed Name The Score night at Art Stevenson Field.
Longtime Black River football coach Al Young showed plenty of sportsmanship Friday, pulling his starters before the majorettes wowed the crowd with flaming batons at halftime of an impressive 58-14 victory over Brooklyn in Patriot Athletic Conference cross-division action.
Black River quarterback Mike Hazlett makes a throw to Kyle Petruzzi in the first quarter. AARON JOSEFCZYK/GAZETTE
The Pirates (3-1, 1-0) head into a showdown with PAC Stripes Division kingpin Columbia on a major high after crushing the completely overmatched Hurricanes (1-3, 0-1), who trailed 30-0 after one quarter, 51-0 at halftime and successfully proposed for the fourth quarter to be cut to 8 minutes.
“We need to take this impressive streak all the way to Columbia,” wide receiver/cornerback Allan Benson said. “We’ve got to get ready for them because it’s going to be a big game.”
With its skill players taking turns making highlight-reel plays, Black River scored six touchdowns, including four by sophomore fullback Jacob Campbell, on 26 snaps in the first half and finished the game averaging 11.4 yards per play.
In the first quarter alone, the Pirates outgained Brooklyn 240 to minus-19 as Campbell (8 carries, 66 yards), David Bell (5, 74) and Dalton Toth (5, 80) rumbled through cornfield-sized holes created by Curtis Roupe, Matthew Potter, Cole Haswell, D.P. Shranko and Derek Hawley.
“We just prepared really well,” Roupe said. “We didn’t look ahead, either. We needed to focus on this game.”
A safety began the scoring only 1:19 in, as Brooklyn snapped the ball over the punter’s head and through the end zone. Toth, a 1,200-yard rusher who missed the last 1½ games with a neck injury, carried the ball three straight times before Campbell rumbled in 1:50 later to make it 9-0.
The onslaught was on from there, as Campbell scored from 5 yards at the 3:40 mark of the first quarter and Toth took a jet sweep 49 yards to the house with 20 seconds left.
That set up the highlight sequence by Benson. The senior cornerback made a twisting interception of Matt Crossman (13-for-24, 134 yards, 2 TDs, 2 ints.) on his own 41-yard line and, on the next play, caught a textbook rainbow throw from Mike Hazlett for a touchdown that made it 30-0 as time ran out in quarter.
“We watched film and know the routes (Brooklyn runs),” Benson said. “That was it, really.
“(The touchdown reception), that was a wonderful throw by (Hazlett). Give him all the credit. I was just running a streak and the ball came right to me. I did it for him, man.”
The second quarter was much of the same, as Campbell scored twice and Travis Sexton went 23 yards on his only tote.
The 3-4 defense took care of the rest, as blitzing linebackers Roupe, Campbell, Dylan Lewis and Sexton were all over the place and Hazlett returned an interception 25 yards to set up one of Campbell’s second-quarter scores.
Of Brooklyn’s 29 first-half plays, 19 covered 1 yard or less.
“We attacked them and every time we got some sort of turnover or some sort of opportunity, we just jumped all over it,” Young said.
The second half was all about the junior varsity, which got a 66-yard touchdown run from fullback Alex Volmelker and a teeth-rattling hit by freshman linebacker Mitchell Young, the son of Al Young.
Brooklyn finally got on the board with a pair of garbage-time touchdown passes, but that hardly fazed the Pirates.
“We played an outstanding game,” Al Young said. “The kids came out and played every facet of the game pretty well.”
Black River 58, Brooklyn 14
BROOKLYN 0 0 7 7 — 14
BLACK RIVER 30 21 7 0 — 58
First
BR — Safety (ball snapped out of end zone), 10:41.
BR — Jacob Campbell 10 run (Corey Bartolic kick), 8:51.
BR — Campbell 5 run (Bartolic kick), 3:40.
BR — Dalton Toth 49 run (Bartolic kick), 0:20.
BR — Allan Benson 59 pass from Mike Hazlette (Bartolic kick), 0:00.
Second
BR — Campbell 2 run (Bartolic kick), 10:25.
BR — Campbell 1 run (Bartolic kick), 6:28.
BR — Travis Sexton 23 run (Bartolic kick), 2:57.
Third
BR — Alex Vormelker 66 run (Bartolic kick), 10:08.
Bro — Donovan Pierre-Louis 57 pass from Matt Crossman (Shawn Bailey pass from Crossman), 9:06.
Fourth
Bro — Bailey 37 pass from Crossman (pass failed), 1:58.