Flyers rout Mounties, 53-14

"It don't matter who we are playing, we are looking to accomplish the same goal every time, which is to execute well and get better at the things we need improvement on"- St. Paul head coach John Livengood after a 53-14 win over Mapleton.

NANKIN –The St. Paul Flyers numbing 32-26 loss that took place 12 years ago at John E. Camp Stadium at the hands of the Mapleton Mounties seems like it was now a lifetime ago.

It was then the Flyers went down south to take on the Mounties sporting a perfect 9-0 record, but instead the Mounties pulled the upset and finished 7-3 for it's last winning season...and last win over the Flyers, as St. Paul made it 12 straight over Mapleton with a convincing 53-14 win to improve to 5-1 overall and 3-0 in the Firelands Conference.

During the streak of 12 in a row, St. Paul has scored 50 or more points in six of the wins and have now outscored Mapleton by a staggering 600-54 score over the 12 games.

After turning the ball over four times inside the opponent 35-yard line a week ago at Crestview, the Flyers offense put forth a much crisper effort as they did not once have to attempt a punt during the game.

"We executed well on both sides of the ball in the first half," St. Paul head coach John Livengood said. "And in the second half, we were able to get all of our subs in."

On the fifth play of the game and less than 90 seconds in, Joe Graziani got through an excellent push from the offensive line and outraced the Mapleton defense on a 55-yard scoring run with 10:31 left in the opening quarter and senior Wes Stein added his first of five extra points for a 7-0 lead. The Graziani factor then continued on special teams, as the Mounties avoided kicking to the senior and set up the Flyers at the Mapleton 47.

After Matt Wilde gained 19 yards, sophomore Eric Schwieterman hit Dominic Dellisanti across the middle on a 28-yard touchdown pass with 6:25 left in the quarter for a 14-0 lead. After a Mountie holding penalty on the ensuing kick return pinned them inside their 10-yard line, junior quarterback Brice Huff could not handle a third down shotgun snap that went back into the end zone, as the Flyers Brian McLaughlin was there and nearly scooped up the fumble, but settled for a safety and a 16-0 lead at the 5:31 mark.

After the free kick, St. Paul started at the Mapleton 41 and six plays later Schwieterman hit Graziani in stride across the middle for an 18-yard scoring pass to make it 22-0 with 2:15 left in the first quarter. After another short punt allowed the Flyers to start at the Mapleton 42, it took six plays for yet another touchdown as Wilde got the call up the middle from just two yards out for a 29-0 lead with 11:04 left in the first half.

Mapleton was then able to start moving the ball consistently on the ensuing drive and took up just under seven minutes of the second quarter clock in the process by riding the legs of senior fullback Cameron Brant, a first team FC running back a year ago who is suffering through an injury-plagued season thus far. Brant carried 9-of-10 plays to start the drive, including seven straight at one point, but facing a fourth-and-six at the St. Paul 21, a Huff pass to Robbie Martin came up inches short of the first down marker to send the ball back over to the Flyers.

It took just two plays, as Wilde again found some nice blocking and was able to outrun the Mapleton defense for a career long 72-yard touchdown run with 3:29 left in the half for a 36-0 lead. After the Mounties went three plays and out on the ensuing series, the Flyers got one final score in the half when Schwieterman completed his third and final pass, which all went for touchdowns, by hooking up with Graziani for a 53-yard score with 46 seconds left in the half for a 43-0 lead.

"It don't matter who we are playing, we are looking to accomplish the same goal every time which is to execute well and get better at the things we need improvement on," Livengood said. "I think we did a pretty good job with that, but there are still plenty of areas to improve on. One of those areas might be composure...we need to keep our heads in the game."

In the second half, Brian Griffin, Daniel Tracht, Adam Pugh, Seth Ratliff, Zach Service, Mitchell Gross, Adam Smith and Eric Bradt all got rushing attempts out of the Flyer backfield as a pass was not attempted with the game in hand. Backup quarterbacks Ian Miller and Brad Doughty engineered the offense while numerous linemen and receivers also were worked into the game.

Pugh gave the Flyers a 50-0 lead on a 1-yard run at the 3:22 mark of the third quarter that capped a 10-play, 68-yard scoring drive that took a good portion of clock off the scoreboard, while Wes Stein later added a field goal from 22 yards with 3:58 left in the game to cap the Flyers scoring onslaught.

Mapleton got a 28-yard fumble return by sophomore lineman Jacob Martin and a 5-yard run by Brant with 2:31 left to finish off the scoring.

Third-year Mapleton coach Scott Young, who is fighting the uphill battle of a pay-to-play policy, as the kids must pay $375 just to be on the roster, was very appreciative afterwards of the second half proceedings.

"John Livengood is a class act for doing what he did tonight," Young said. "It could have been a lot worse than it was so I give compliments where compliments belong. He did some classy things though and he was rotating his kids in a lot earlier then unfortunately we are able to and he kicked a field goal down there instead of going for a touchdown, which was the right thing to do and I just want everyone to be aware of that. They're obviously what they are, a conference powerhouse and a state championship contender. It's every coach's goal to get their program to that level."

In a half of action, Wilde carried 10 times for 151 yards with the two touchdowns to give him his second 100-yard effort against the Mounties. A year ago, Wilde was forced into the game after an early injury to Joe Stoll and ran for 137 yards and two scores on 21 attempts.

Meanwhile, Graziani carried eight times for 99 yards and caught the two passes for 71 yards while bringing his season touchdown total to 17, which is now good for 102 points scored. All three of Schwieterman's touchdown passes accounted for 98 yards against two incomplete passes while Tracht added 10 attempts for 43 yards rushing in the second half to round out the Flyer offense, which ran for 465 yards on 49 attempts.

Defensively, St. Paul gave up just 184 yards of offense (93 rushing; 91 passing) as Brant carried 30 times for 95 yards and a score while Huff completed 6-of-18 passes for 91 yards, with Casey Moran catching three passes for 80 yards.

St. Paul will now get back to the friendly confines of Warren Whitney Field for three of the final four games of the season, starting this coming Saturday night in the annual homecoming game against South Central (3-3, 2-1). The Trojans are coming off a 26-20 win over Western Reserve and have won two straight after a 1-3 start.