Highlanders Are for Real, Top Fox Chapel, 35-10

Sometimes, the stories write themselves.

Baldwin High School's junior running back Dorian Brown was the author on Friday night, as Baldwin High trounced the visitors from Fox Chapel Area High School, 35-10, to open its 2011 varsity football season in style in front of an excited crowd at Baldwin Stadium.

Brown scored four straight touchdowns smack in the middle of Friday's non-conference tilt to erase any doubt of the final outcome ... and any doubt as to whom the best player on the field was.

Brown's 96-yard kickoff return for a TD late in the first quarter turned a 3-0 deficit into a 7-3 Baldwin advantage, and his next three scores helped to make the game a 35-3 laugher before Fox Chapel found the end zone with 2 seconds left in the contest to finish at 35-10.

In between, Brown added TD runs of 85, 17 and 15 yards, respectively, as part of a 22-carry, 184-yard night. He added 34 receiving yards and 135 kick-return yards and even forced a fumble on second-and-goal from the 1-yard line when the Foxes could have gone up, 7-0, early in the first quarter.

In other words, he was everywhere.

"He ran hard," Fox Chapel (0-1) Head Coach Eric Ravotti said. "He didn't go down on the first tackle, (and) he didn't go down on arm tackles. He's a good running back. That hurt us a lot.

"But what disappointed me the most is that this team just imploded on itself. We had so many horrible penalties, not lining up correctly and things like that ... So, with that and personal-foul penalties, it didn't bode well.

"You add that on top of Dorian running great tonight and their (Baldwin's) offense clicking extremely well, and you end up with 35-10. It's not surprising. Quite frankly, it could have been worse than that."

Ravotti's right, if only because Brown played sparingly on defense for most of the game and essentially took most of the fourth quarter off.

The Highlanders (1-0) still found a way, though, to get back into the end zone late in the fourth when senior running back Tarief Green plowed in for a four-yard score with 2 minutes, 50 seconds left.

Baldwin's offensive and defensive lines had their way with the Foxes all night, outgaining them, 355-251, and registering five sacks to Fox Chapel's none.

"Dorian was a difference-maker, but you gotta give our defense credit," Baldwin Head Coach Jim Wehner said. "They were (Fox Chapel was) probably 50 pounds heavier than us up front, and our defense just came to play.

"We thought that we could outnumber them with our pass rush, so that was part of what we did defensively."

The Highlanders forced two interceptions to go with their five sacks. The Foxes searched for answers by rotating senior Noel Wilson and junior Alexander Romango under center.

Senior defensive backs Jeremy Joyce and Tendai Mwenda had the picks for Baldwin. Sophomore defensive back Chad Garnett made the Foxes' interception.

Baldwin's senior defensive lineman Joe Persichetti and Fox Chapel's senior linebacker Michael Jacobs both received credit for a game-high six solo tackles.

Wilson finished 11-for-22 passing for 172 yards and one pick and was sacked four times. Romango suffered the other pick and sack as part of a 3-for-5 night for 23 yards.

Baldwin stuck with freshman Doug Altavilla at quarterback all night in his high-school debut. Altavilla avoided trouble in the pocket while completing six of 11 passes for 96 yards and one interception.

"How about our freshman quarterback?" Wehner said. "We put a freshman in at quarterback, and I thought he did a good job. It's not easy coming in front of all of these people and playing Quad A football as a freshman. He's gonna be a good one."

But Friday’s win was still The Dorian Brown Show. Just don’t tell the team player that.

"It's a good win," Brown said, "a good way to start the season off. Play hard; get to winnin'."

"I've been trying to tell everybody he's a(n NCAA) Division I kid if he does what he's supposed to do," Wehner said. "After tonight, his name's going to start getting out there.

"I guess the newspaper will tell everybody about him."

Check.