Steelers Offense and Defense Contribute

LACKAWANNA, N.Y. – – Not only did the Lackawanna Steelers offense help in the 42-12 shellacking of the John F. Kennedy Bears on Friday night, but the defense contributed heavily, too. The Steelers offense mustered 403 rushing yards, against a Bears defense that was generally stingy in their first three contests.

“We weren’t accounting for Lackawanna’s speed,” JFK head coach Jeff Sabatino stated following the loss. “We didn’t adjust to it and that’s a good lesson for our team. You’ve got to be prepared for what a team is going to bring and we weren’t.”

Despite JFK beginning the game off with a 60-yard touchdown pass from James Bailey to Dalton Fischer (the first of two on the night), the Steelers offense came to play. The offensive attack was primarily led by Khalil Horton, who finished the night with 198 yards on 15 carries and three touchdowns. Horton scored all of his touchdowns in the first half alone on runs of 18, 65, and 2 yards.

“After the first [touchdown], I was thinking score, score, score,” Horton said. “Just play hard every play and never take a play off.”

Paul Brooks pounded a 10-yard rushing touchdown in the 1st quarter. The remainder of the scoring by the Steelers came from Danny Elvers, scoring on a 10-yard rushing touchdown in the 3rd quarter and Dominic Wright adding an 11-yard touchdown in the final quarter.

“We shifted a couple of guys around on the offensive line,” Lackawanna head coach Adam Tardif stated about his recent offensive success. “A couple guys moved from tackle to guard, and guard to tackle. That seemed to be gelling a little bit better. We seemed to get a little better push inside.”

The Steelers defense was very impressive in their win over JFK on Friday night forcing six turnovers, including five interceptions of Bailey. The junior quarterback was under duress all night long and did not seem comfortable in the pocket, but was able to maneuver his way out and find some running room on occasion.

JFK (3-1) dropped their first game of the 2016 campaign and will face off against Class C North opponent, Wilson, next week at their homecoming game. With two non-league games under their belt, Coach Sabatino is looking forward to another league win next weekend, which would give the Bears a 3-0 record in their division.

“At the end of the day, we’re 2-0,” he said. “We have a huge divisional game coming up next weekend against Wilson. Come to practice Monday, get ready to go, and take care of business next week.”

The Steelers (2-2) started the season off against two solid teams, East Aurora/Holland and Medina before earning their first victory of 2016 last week at Depew. Lackawanna will hope to continue their win streak, as they will host Albion next Friday night at Lackawanna Veterans Stadium, formerly Ron Jaworski Stadium.

“We’ve been really improving as a team,” Coach Tardif said about his team’s recent success. “We have a lot of young kids on this team, we really only have five seniors with a lot of experience. A lot of the juniors, [Noble] and [London] Smith, and Horton played last year as sophomores and those are the guys that we’re counting on to be leaders this year.”