Maples continue playoff push with win at J-M
Mapletown鈥檚 Landan Stevenson outraces Jefferson-Morgan defenders during a 65-yard touchdown run in the third quarter of Friday night鈥檚 game at Parker Field. Stevenson rushed for 143 yards and three touchdowns in the Maples鈥� 43-12 win. (Photo by Rob Burchianti)
Rob Burchianti | 缅北禁地
Jefferson-Morgan quarterback Cole Jones gets off a pass while being pressured by Mapletown鈥檚 Landan Stevenson during a game at Parker Field on Oct. 15. Both players were named to the Tri-County South All-Conference Team.
Mapletown鈥檚 Clay Menear (20) runs interference for A.J. Vanata (2) during Friday night鈥檚 game against Jefferson-Morgan at Parker Field. (Photo by Rob Burchianti)
Mapletown quarterback Max Vanata leaves several Jefferson-Morgan players in his wake while running for positive yardage during Friday night鈥檚 game at Parker Field. (Photo by Rob Burchiani)
Rob Burchianti | 缅北禁地
Rob Burchianti | 缅北禁地
Mapletown coach George Messich listens to explanation from referee Rocky Brashear during Friday night鈥檚 game at Parker Field.
Rob Burchianti | 缅北禁地
Rob Burchianti | 缅北禁地
Jefferson-Morgan鈥檚 Cole Jones runs for a first down against Mapletown during Friday night鈥檚 game at Parker Field.
Rob Burchianti | 缅北禁地
Mapletown鈥檚 Landan Stevenson (1) eludes Jefferson-Morgan鈥檚 Jase Bedillion (3) during Friday night鈥檚 game at Parker Field.
Rob Burchianti | 缅北禁地
Jefferson-Morgan quarterback Cole Jones completes a 62-yard pass against Mapletown during Friday night鈥檚 game at Parker Field. Jones threw for 107 yards but the Maples won, 43-12.
Rob Burchianti | 缅北禁地
Jefferson-Morgan鈥檚 Johnny Gilbert (17) breaks loose for a 62-yard gain on a pass from Cole Jones against Mapletown during Friday night鈥檚 game at Parker Field.
Rob Burchianti | 缅北禁地
Mapletown鈥檚 Landan Stevenson forces a fumble while sacking Jefferson-Morgan鈥檚 Cole Jones during Friday night鈥檚 game at Parker Field. The Maples recovered the football.
Rob Burchianti | 缅北禁地
Mapletown鈥檚 Levi Howard (58) advances the ball after recovering a Jefferson-Morgan fumble during Friday night鈥檚 game at Parker Field.
Rob Burchianti | 缅北禁地
Rob Burchianti | 缅北禁地
Mapletown鈥檚 Landan Stevenson and Clay Menear (20) combine to tackle Jefferson-Morgan鈥檚 Johnny Gilbert (17) during Friday night鈥檚 game at Parker Field. Gilbert had 41 yards rushing, four receptions for 69 yards and also threw a pair of touchdown passes but the Rockets lost, 43-12.
Rob Burchianti | 缅北禁地
Mapletown coach George Messich commends Joel Menear (72) for his play against Jefferson-Morgan during Friday night鈥檚 game at Parker Field.
Rob Burchianti | 缅北禁地
Jefferson-Morgan quarterback Cole Jones tries to get rid of the ball to avoid a sack by Mapletown鈥檚 Landan Stevenson during Friday night鈥檚 game Parker Field.
Mapletown鈥檚 Landan Stevenson follows the blocking of A.J. Vanata (2) on a 3-yard touchdown run against Jefferson-Morgan during Friday night鈥檚 game at Parker Field. (Photo by Rob Burchianti)
Rob Burchianti | 缅北禁地
Mapletown鈥檚 Clay Menear find running room as Jefferson-Morgan鈥檚 Nick Reha (51) pursues during Friday night鈥檚 game at Parker Field.
Rob Burchianti | 缅北禁地
Jefferson-Morgan鈥檚 Ewing Jamison tries to tackle Mapletown鈥檚 Landan Stevenson during Friday night鈥檚 game at Parker Field.
Rob Burchianti | 缅北禁地
Mapletown鈥檚 Max Vanata throws a pass against Jefferson-Morgan during Friday night鈥檚 game at Parker Field. Vanata threw two touchdown passes in the Maples鈥� 43-12 win.
Rob Burchianti | 缅北禁地
Jefferson-Morgan coach Brent Baker talks on his headset during Friday night鈥檚 game against Mapletown at Parker Field.
Rob Burchianti | 缅北禁地
Jefferson-Morgan volleyball player Madison Wright was crowned homecoming queen during halftime of Friday night鈥檚 game at Parker Field.
JEFFERSON 鈥� Landan Stevenson has racked up plenty of individual accomplishments during his football career at Mapletown but there is one team goal that has eluded him.
The Maples and their star junior running back took a big step towards rectifying that on Friday night.
Stevenson rushed for 143 yards and three touchdowns and also made 11 tackles as Mapletown defeated Greene County rival Jefferson-Morgan, 43-12, at Parker Field to move one step closer to clinching a WPIAL playoff spot in the Tri-County South.
鈥淵ou set goals every year and we had two main ones for this year,鈥� Mapletown coach George Messich said. 鈥淥ne was to make the playoffs and the other was to have a winning season.鈥�
The Maples are one step away from securing both of those.
Mapletown (3-2, 5-3) sits in fourth place in the conference, one game ahead of Monessen and two games in front of Bentworth, Avella and J-M with two games to play. The top five teams qualify for the postseason.
The Maples can clinch a playoff spot with a win in one of their final two games (at Bentworth or vs. West Greene) or a loss by Bentworth in one of its final two games (the Bearcats finish at California) or two closing losses by Monessen (vs. California and at Avella).
Mapletown gradually wore down the Rockets (1-4, 1-7) in claiming its third straight win with Stevenson receiving plenty of support from his teammates.
The Maples rushed for 268 yards and Max Vanata threw two touchdown passes, ran for a score and set up his team鈥檚 first TD with a long interception return as Mapletown鈥檚 defense forced four turnovers.
鈥淥ur offense did a really good job tonight and I was really pleased with the way our defense played,鈥� Maples coach George Messich said. 鈥淚 just thought it was a great overall game by our kids.
鈥淟andan did what he always does, he鈥檚 just such a talented kid, and Max played a great game today, too.鈥�
Jefferson-Morgan鈥檚 defense was stout early on.
鈥淭he kids were prepared for it,鈥� J-M coach Brent Baker said of stopping Stevenson and the Maples鈥� vaunted ground game. 鈥淭heir initial drive, we filled gaps, we ran the alley, stopped them, and got a turnover on downs.鈥�
Vanata spoiled the Rockets鈥� first drive when he made a shoe-top interception of a pass by Cole Jones that鈥檚 was tipped by Brody Evans and returned it 53 yards to the J-M 1. Vanata scored on the next play to put the Maples up 6-0 with 4:23 left in the first quarter.
Cole fired right back with a 62-yard pass to Johnny Gilbert with Stevenson making a touchdown-saving tackle at the Mapletown 30. The Maples defense held tough, forcing a turnover on downs.
With J-M focusing on stopping Stevenson, Mapletown got a 31-yard run by A.J. Vanata and a 13-yard run by Clay Menear to advance deep into Rockets territory.
鈥淓veryone knows we rely a lot on Landan, but we have other players who can run the ball,鈥� Messich pointed out. 鈥淐lay has had some real nice runs on that counter play this year,鈥� Messich said. 鈥淎.J. is only a sophomore, he鈥檚 a power back and he ran well tonight. Max had a couple good runs, too.鈥�
Stevenson capped the drive by following A.J. Vanata into the end zone for a 3-yard touchdown run. Stevenson kicked the extra point to make it 13-0 with 11 minutes left in the second quarter.
Jefferson-Morgan had a golden opportunity to get on the board with 7:23 left in the half when Nick Reha recovered a fumble at the Mapletown 17 but the Maples鈥� defense again stiffened as Roger Gradek knocked away a fourth-down pass by Jones intended for Gilbert.
The Rockets kept battling, forcing a punt and then converting a gutsy fourth-and-9 play from their own 30 when Jones scrambled ahead for an 11-yard gain.
The momentum turned shortly after when Stevenson knocked the ball loose while sacking Jones with Levi Howard picking up the football and advancing it inside the J-M 10. That set up an 8-yard touchdown run by Stevenson with 1:07 left in the half, and his two-point conversion run put the Maples ahead 21-0.
After the first of two interceptions by Evan Griffin, Mapletown went up 27-0 with 6:46 left in the third quarter on a spectacular fourth-and-16 play from the J-M 22. Max Vanata scrambled forward and got off a pass in traffic to Evans who made the catch and fought his way through J-M鈥檚 secondary into the end zone to make it 27-0.
One highlight for the Rockets was Jones going over the 1,000-yard passing mark for the season but he was forced to leave after re-injuring his knee with 5:37 remaining in the third quarter. The junior quarterback completed 7 of 20 passes for 107 yards in the face of a furious Mapletown pass rush.
鈥淐ole has been fighting this injury since the second quarter against Leechburg, which was our opening game,鈥� Baker explained. 鈥淚n all my years of coaching he鈥檚 one of the toughest players I鈥檝e ever had. His knee gets aggravated and we do the best we can to manage it. Our athletic therapist is great and Cole works diligently in treatment to get back out there but at times it鈥檚 just too much.鈥�
Gilbert took over quarterback duties for the Rockets and did an admirable job filling in. He got J-M on the board with 4:41 left in the third quarter on a 32-yard touchdown pass to a high-leaping Ewing Jamison.
The Maples answered almost immediately with Stevenson exploding for a 65-yard touchdown run just 16 seconds later to all but put the game away. Max Vanata鈥檚 two-point conversion pass to A.J. Vanata made it 35-6.
鈥淚 give Jefferson credit. They came out and played hard, especially at the beginning of the game,鈥� Messich said. 鈥淏ut our team just keeps plugging away. Landan is a prime example. I don鈥檛 care who we鈥檙e playing, before the game鈥檚 over he鈥檚 breaking a long touchdown run.鈥�
Max Vanata, who completed 3 of 7 passes for 51 yards, tossed a 7-yard touchdown pass to Evans with 8:35 left in the game to put the Maples in front 43-6.
Gilbert capped the scoring with an 11-yard TD pass to Colt Fowler with 2:30 remaining.
Gilbert, a freshman, played a strong all-around game for the Rockets with 41 yards rushing and four receptions for 69 yards in addition to his two TD tosses.
鈥淲e鈥檙e a very young team,鈥� Baker said. 鈥淲e have four or five, sometimes six freshmen at times out there. Our offensive line is four sophomores and one junior.鈥�
Menear was the Maples鈥� second-leading rusher with three carries for 61 yards. A.J. Vanata had 37 yards on four attempts and one catch for 22 yards. Max Vanata ran five times for 26 yards.
Messich lauded his coaching staff for its preparation.
鈥淚 give our assistant coaches a ton of credit,鈥� he said. 鈥淭hey did such a good job with our offensive and defensive planning. I was really concerned because I watched Jefferson a lot on film and they throw and throw and throw. Andrew Vanata is our defensive coordinator and he came up with a great game plan to slow down their passing attack.鈥�
Baker is confident his team is headed in the right direction.
鈥淲e want to continue our maturation and continue to be positive,鈥� Baker said. 鈥淭he only thing we can control are effort, energy and attitude in our play. When they start to grasp that and are completely in on that, then we鈥檒l have solidified a team and a program.鈥�