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LEWISBURG--Wins eluded them, but Lewisburg players were never defeated.
Despite several costly injuries, a brutal schedule and an 0-7 start, the Green Dragons kept grinding away at each practice. In those losses, small steps were being taken even if others did not notice.
Saturday night, Lewisburg took a huge step forward. And all that tireless work paid off in dominant fashion.
Ryan Opperman ran for 118 yards; Wade Young threw two touchdown passes and a nasty defense stifled Midd-West as Lewisburg romped to a 42-7 win on Senior Night at Christy Mathewson Stadium. Michael Casale was a wrecking machine at linebacker, making 15 tackles, Lewisburg forced five turnovers and Cam Michaels produced 101 yards receiving.
Talk about a breakout performance.
"It feels great. We came together as a team today," Casale said after his sensational performance which included an interception, forced fumble and bruising 31-yard touchdown run. "Every week we’ve been working harder and harder to get where we need to be. We’ve had our ups and downs but it’s good to be here now and get this win and get it on the board.
"We have been working hard. Things haven’t really gone in our favor but it’s awesome to get a good team win," Opperman said. "The spirit of everyone is real high right now. It’s awesome."
Lewisburg played awesome. The Dragons built a 28-0 halftime lead, imposed the mercy rule in the third quarter and the starting defense did not allow a point. There may be no such thing as a perfect football performance, but this was pretty close.
And it was quite a reward for a team which has not stopped believing or rallying around each other. A year after winning five of its last six regular season games to reach districts, Lewisburg is showcasing its resilience once again.
"At the end of the day, certain situations happen and as we were losing our games our guys kept telling each other, ‘It’s OK guys we’re going to keep battling and get the next one.’ That’s great to see," Lewisburg coach Eric Wicks said. "Half the battle is getting them to believe. I think today our confidence showed with us scoring early and us being able to continue pushing that."
Offensive linemen Garrick Feldman, Garrett Glathar, Nate Malusis, Hayes Schumacher and Andrew Smith provided quite a push all night, paving the way for 337 yards in less than three quarters as Lewisburg took a 42-0 lead. Five different players scored, including four in the first half.
Just one play into the game, Lewisburg showed that this night would be different than the previous seven. Following Casale’s crushing block, Opperman broke down the right sideline and took the first play 76 yards for a touchdown.
It was the start of a dazzling first half performance which included four scoring drives on five plays: four being one play drives and the other two. Combined those 28 points were produced in 85 seconds. During one electric second quarter sequence, Lewisburg scored on three consecutive plays in less than four minutes to go up, 28-0.
"I just had a great block from my fullback. The lead set up perfectly. I just had to bounce outside, and I trusted my speed down the sideline," Opperman said. "It felt awesome. We’ve had difficulty starting fast and I feel like that’s the reason we’ve lost some of the games we’ve lost and that (touchdown) got everyone going."
Lewisburg took to the air for its next two touchdowns with Young (4 of 5, 135 yards) dropping dimes on a 34-yard touchdown to Charles Landis and a 26-yarder to Michaels. Landis put a good move on near the right pylon and Young hit him in stride. After Michaels returned a punt 26 yards, Young looked his way and split two defenders, finding him across the middle for a 26-yard touchdown.
Michaels was a three-way threat and intercepted a pass Opperman tipped on the ensuing series. Casale set a physical tone defensively and looked like a bowling ball a play later, bouncing off tacklers and running right through another defender on his way to a 31-yard score which made it 28-0 at halftime.
"It was just a dive, and I ran through the hole and cut back and saw green grass and ran. You have to do what you have to do to get into the end zone," Casale said. "It started with the line, and they showed what they can do and did it really well."
Equally encouraging for Lewisburg is that four of those starters are underclassmen, including two freshmen and two sophomores. Malusis threw a perfect block in the third quarter, opening up a hole as Sean Field burst through and scored on a 44-yard run. That came a series after Opperman’s 18-yard score imposed the mercy rule.
"We’ve been moving guys around but for the most part hose guys are building that camaraderie," Wicks said. "They’re learning to know what to do in certain situations and adjusting well."
The defense was as ferocious as the offense was explosive. The starters allowed just 73 yards and forced four first-half turnovers. Landis and Michaels helped set up scores with their interceptions and Casale closed the half with a near Pick 6.
Casale did his best Ray Lewis impersonation and already was in on eight tackles by the first quarter’s conclusion. He had 12 by halftime, including one for loss. Fellow linebacker Quinn Michaels recovered a fumble, made two tackles for loss and collected eight tackles. The defensive line consistently pressured quarterback Jasher Wolf and Opperman also recovered a fumble.
"I feel like we definitely need to set the tone defensively," Opperman said. "We’ve had our rough patches, that’s for sure, but we just keep going and come to work every day. We’ve been waiting for this and hopefully we can build on it for the rest of our games."
That’s the thing. Lewisburg is not looking back. The Dragons never did during the 0-7 start and will not now after putting together a stellar all-around performance.
It’s all about moving forward. And for a close-knit team which has a blue-collar mentality, it’s back to work.
"We just fought through as a team and have come together as brothers," Casale said. "That’s really what it’s all about."
Midd-West 0 0 0 7--7
Lewisburg 7 21 14 0--42
First Quarter
L--Ryan Opperman 76 run (Cohen Hoover kick), 8:03
Second Quarter
L--Charles Landis 34 pass from Wade Young (Hoover kick), 11:00
L--Cam Michaels 26 pass from Young (Hoover kick), 8:49
L--Michael Casale 31 run (Hoover kick), 7:06
Third Quarter
L--Opperman 18 run (Hoover kick), 8:43
L--Sean Field 44 run (Hoover kick), 2:59
Fourth Quarter
M--Bryce Hackenburg 13 run (Jasher Wolfe kick), 8:27
TEAM STATISTICS M L
First Downs 9 12
Rushes-yards 31-102 25-239
Passing yards 37 135
Comp-Att-Int 5-17-3 5-8-0
Total yards 139 374
Fumbles-lost 4-2 1-0
Penalties-yards 6-32 5-44
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING: Midd-West, Austin Dorman 12-52; Jasher Wolfe 7-37; Bryce Hackenburg 7-16, TD; Kyle Shupp 1-5; Edgar Murphy 2-3; Avery Engelhart 2-(-11). Lewisburg, Ryan Opperman 6-118, 2 TD; Sean Field 6-65, TD; Michael Casale 2-33, TD; Chase Wenrich 1-20; Nick Coleman 3-7; Landon Michaels 1-(-1); Wade Young 6-(-3).
PASSING: Midd-West, Wolfe 5-15-3, 37 yards; Keaton Kreider 0-2-0. Lewisburg, Young 5-6-0, 135 yards, 2 TD; Wenrich 0-2-0.
RECEIVING: Midd-West, Engelhart 2-19; Kaden Kullman 1-8; Shupp 1-6; Cory Weiand 1-4. Lewisburg, Cam Michaels 4-101, TD; Charles Landis 1-34, TD.
INTERCEPTIONS: Lewisburg, Michaels, Landis, Casale.
RECORDS: Lewisburg 1-7. Midd-West 1-7.