Highlanders Dominate Norwin, 35-7

FULL stats, including play-by-play, available toward the right side of this page (below photo gallery).

If Dorian Brown’s ankle was bothering him on Friday night, you couldn’t tell. At least from the press box.

Brown, a senior tailback, led a running attack that gained 330 yards on 49 carries against Norwin High School (0-3), and the Highlanders (2-1) cruised to a 35-7 non-conference win at Norwin Knights Stadium in varsity football action.

Brown, who is still recuperating from an injured ankle, according to Baldwin’s Head Coach Jim Wehner, paced the ground game with 146 yards on 22 carries. The Highlanders spread the wealth, giving Brown’s ankle a rest and handing the ball off to five other runners, as well.

Overall, Baldwin outgained the Knights, 397-141, and earned 22 first downs to Norwin’s eight.

The Highlanders actually trailed, 7-0, after losing a botched handoff on the first play from scrimmage and giving the Knights a short field at the Baldwin 41-yard line. Four plays later, Norwin’s senior running back/linebacker Tyson Blazer found a hole and scampered 34 yards into the end zone for the Knights’ first points this season.

Baldwin regrouped and sent the score into halftime at 7 apiece after completing a six-play, 37-yard drive in the second quarter with a one-yard touchdown dive by senior Zack Denardo.

Denardo, listed as a wide receiver/defensive back, did a bit of everything on Friday. He changed the game dramatically when the Highlanders opened the second half in the wildcat offense, led by Denardo at quarterback.

Denardo essentially took the game over on that drive by running the ball six straight times for 43 yards, including a highlight-reel 20-yard TD off of the left side in which he outraced a defender to a pylon.

“Zack did a good job,” Wehner said. “That (wildcat) package is named after Zack. We call it Z-pack, or Zack package … He opened it up, and then, Dorian got on track a little bit.”

Baldwin got the defensive stop that it needed on Norwin’s ensuing possession when the Highlanders began timing the Knights’ snaps.

On fourth-and-1 from the Baldwin 46, senior linebacker Dominick Barca Jr. burst through the Norwin offensive line to stuff Tyson for a three-yard loss that turned the ball over on downs.

Brown replaced Denardo as the Highlanders’ wildcat quarterback on the next possession and carried the ball for the next three plays for a total of 51 yards, capped off by an 11-yard TD to make the score 21-7.

Dominick Barca and the rest of Baldwin’s defense made life miserable for Norwin the rest of the way. The Knights fumbled snaps and committed false starts while trying to ward off Baldwin’s timing strategy at the line.

“We were bringing Dom because we thought he could shoot the gap and come in off the backside,” Wehner said. “He shot the gap, held them up, and we came off the backside and did a pretty good job at it.”

Dom Barca finished with a game-high 11 tackles, including a game-high 4.5 for a loss. Not to be outdone, sophomore safety Jay Morrison made nine tackles for Baldwin, including a forced fumble, and intercepted a pass.

Denardo made his presence felt on defense, too, getting three tackles, including 0.5 for a loss, and recovering a fumble. He also threw the ball once in this game, a 20-yard strike to junior wide receiver Marvin Sheppard in the fourth quarter that helped to set up Baldwin’s fourth TD, a 17-yard carry by sophomore running back Stephon Harris.

Sheppard finished with a game-high three catches and 45 receiving yards. Harris ran nine times for 97 yards.

Denardo called the game the best of his high school career so far.

“I’d say so,” he said. “It’s up there.”

And the Z-pack stuff?

“The coaches kind of just put it together,” he said. “I just went with it … just something to call it.”

While Denardo was the game’s most efficient passer, Baldwin’s freshman quarterback Doug Altavilla threw for the most yards. Altavilla completed five of 13 passes for 47 yards and one interception.

Norwin’s senior quarterback Tommy Quealy had a game that he’d like to forget, completing just three of 12 passes for 24 yards and two picks. Quealy also fumbled four times.

Baldwin finished the scoring with an impressive 35-yard TD run by sophomore wide receiver/defensive back Nick Barca, who eluded a few Norwin defenders and dragged another one into the end zone with just 1 minute, 5 seconds left.

Nick Barca had two total carries for 43 yards. Dom Barca also ran the ball four times for 15 yards, and senior running back Tarief Green rushed once for four yards.

“We rely on Dorian so much,” Wehner said, “and when he’s running the ball good, we don’t want to give anybody else the ball. But we have to start giving other people the ball. We have other athletes, and we need to do that. We need to get other people touching the ball so that (other teams) can’t key on Dorian.”

Blazer led the Knights with 78 yards on 17 carries. He also forced a fumble as part of a six-tackle defensive effort, including three tackles for a loss (two sacks). Senior linebacker Kenny Berryman led Norwin with nine tackles, including a game-high seven solo stops.

Still, it was hard for Norwin’s Head Coach Art Tragesser to be excited about the game.

“(The wildcat) worked,” Tragesser said. “It worked very well for them; sort of caught us off-guard there. We weren’t quite getting the adjustments in to our kids. It was a smart move on their (Baldwin’s) part.”

Norwin opens conference play next week with a WPIAL AAAA Foothills Conference game at home against Hempfield Area High School.

Baldwin will play one more non-conference game this season, taking on nearby Thomas Jefferson High School—a class AAA team—at Baldwin Stadium next week. The Highlanders open AAAA Great Southern Conference play at the following week.

“I feel like we’re hitting our stride right,” Denardo said.

“We’re 2-1,” Wehner said. “It’s much better than 1-2.”