McDowell All Over Baldwin in Varsity Football, 28-0

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Erie McDowell’s varsity football team looked very big on Friday night … and played just like it, as the hosts from Erie McDowell High School turned a 7-0 fourth-quarter lead over into a 28-0 final score at Gus Anderson Field.

The Trojans’ junior quarterback Jarrett Koper scored on the second play of the fourth quarter to make the count 14-0 and mark the beginning of the end for Baldwin High (1-1) in this non-conference matchup. Koper rolled to his left and kept the ball to himself before making a pair of Highlanders miss on his way to a 66-yard TD jaunt.

Koper and senior Anthony Lecce rotated all game at quarterback for McDowell (2-0) but threw only six passes total. Koper netted 67 yards on three running plays, including another TD run of two yards in the second quarter—the only score for either team during the first half. 

Koper finished the game just 1-for-3 passing, but his lone completion went to senior wide receiver Chris Miller for 54 yards to set up the first TD.

Lecce went 2-for-3 passing for 35 yards and ran 13 times for 43 more.

Baldwin used the passing game more often, throwing 22 total times. Freshman quarterback Doug Altavilla threw 20 of those passes and completed seven of them for 44 yards. Altavilla also threw an interception late in the fourth quarter that led to the game’s final points.

Baldwin’s other passes came on punt plays—one planned and one unplanned. Sophomore quarterback Luke Smorey took a direct snap on a fake punt on fourth-and-21 from the Highlanders’ 20-yard line and completed a short pass to junior wide receiver Marvin Sheppard, but Sheppard was forced out of bounds after 12 yards.

Baldwin forced the ball over on downs on the ensuing McDowell possession, though, to keep the game at 7-0.

The Highlanders’ other pass was thrown by sophomore kicker/punter Jared Tuite after a bad snap over Tuite’s head on fourth-and-14 at the McDowell 39 late in the third quarter. Tuite recovered the snap and threw incomplete under pressure, and Koper’s 66-yard TD run came just three plays later.

McDowell converted another Baldwin mistake into points when senior running back Greg Garmon scored on a 12-yard run seven plays after Baldwin’s senior wide receiver/running back Zack Denardo lost a fumble at his own 37. 

McDowell turned a 39-yard field goal down on that TD drive and took those three points off of the scoreboard after Baldwin was called for roughing the kicker. Garmon’s TD run came on the very next play.

Denardo was saddled with the lost fumble, but miscommunication between Altavilla and Denardo led to an awkward handoff.

McDowell’s size advantage was evidenced both by sight and by numbers on Friday.

The Trojans ran for 251 yards to just 67 for the Highlanders and earned 16 first downs to Baldwin’s six. Total yards were in McDowell’s favor, as well, 340-123.

McDowell had four players rush for 40 or more yards, including Garmon for 65 on 11 carries and junior running back Khyre Drayer for 40 on 17.

Baldwin’s Dorian Brown was not himself this week, rushing 16 times for 43 yards after gaining 184 yards on 22 carries . As it turns out, there was an explanation for that.

“No one knew this about Dorian,” Baldwin’s Head Coach Jim Wehner said, “but he’s been hurt all week. He practiced very little. His ankle’s bothering him.”

Wehner said that Brown has practiced only once since last week.

“We’re gonna have to, maybe, rest Dorian a little bit,” Wehner said. “We got other kids that can carry the ball, and that’s what they’re gonna have to do. If Dorian can’t go (next week at Norwin High School), it’s gonna be Stephon Harris and Zack Denardo.”

Harris, a sophomore running back, picked up some of Brown’s slack on Friday by rushing five times for 17 yards, but it was Brown’s own little brother—sophomore safety Jay Morrison—who had his team’s best performance against the Trojans.

The 5-foot-9, 175-pound Morrison hit as big as some of the McDowell linemen looked and did that often by leading all players with 12 tackles, including a game-high nine solo stops. One of his solo tackles was a forced fumble.

In addition to his 40 yards rushing, including a three-yard TD, Drayer collected nine tackles—a team best—and broke up two passes.

Still, the game’s best defensive player was Morrison.

“I think, defensively, we played a pretty good game tonight,” Wehner said. “Jay Morrison, a sophomore, played an exceptional game. He kept us in the game … 

“We get worn down a bit because of our (small) size, but you can’t take anything away from how those (Baldwin) kids played tonight … A couple of turnovers hurt here and there.

“That Erie McDowell team’s a good team with a(n NCAA) Division I tailback (Garmon), and I think we kept him in check for most of the time.”

The game was truly up in the air until the fourth quarter, but Morrison said that that was when McDowell showed why they deserved to win.

“They executed better than us, offensively and defensively,” Morrison said. “We have to work harder in the fourth quarter. We were down, but we gotta keep our heads in it.”

McDowell’s Head Coach Mark Soboleski agreed that the game came down to his team out-executing Baldwin in the fourth, but Soboleski was quite complimentary toward the Highlanders.

“They’re a very well-coached football team,” Soboleski said. “I’ve seen them on film and seen how well-coached they are. They fight hard … 

“They’re gonna do just fine. That’s a good football team right there.”

Baldwin’s game at Norwin on Friday, Sept. 16, starts at 7:30 p.m.