Grand Island goes the distance in 14-9 win at L-P

by Larry Austin
Grand Island Dispatch, October 6, 2006

Alex Neutz, 17, and Matt McKenna, left, celebrate beside a disconsolate Pat Cousins of Lewiston-Porter. Neutz intercepted a pass in the end zone to end the Lancers hopes of a come-from-behind win Friday. GI held on to win, 14-9. GI plays host to Sweet Home at Masters Field in their next game. Kick-off is 2 p.m. Saturday at Masters Field. (photo by Larry Austin)

A goal-line stand followed by a 99-yard scoring drive gave Grand Island a 14-9 win last Friday, spoiling Lewiston-Porter’s Homecoming football game.

Leading 7-0 after a touchdown by Mike Scappechio, but with the Lancers at the GI 1 with first down and goal to go, the Vikings stopped the Lancers on four straight running plays to take possession on downs.

The Lancers appeared to score on a pass from Dave LaChance to Steve Stanley. Stanley dove into the end zone near the pylon, but was ruled out at the 1. The Lancers were stuffed on three straight running plays, and then, after taking a penalty that pushed them back to the 6, they were stopped on a run by LaChance at the 1.

Grand Island then marched 99 yards to score again, with Phil Wendt catching a 30-yard touchdown pass from Joe Oliverio with 17 seconds left in the first half to go ahead 14-0.

“I would think that’s just one of the best defensive stands, combined with an offensive drive after, we’ve ever had,” GI coach Dean Santorio said.

“Down there, we have a set thing we want to do each week in goal line situations. We expect the guys to get the job done and they expect each other to get the job done,” said Steve Steck, GI’s defensive coordinator. “We talk about this because anytime you get a goal line stand it totally demoralizes the other team because they’re expecting to get in, and it just rejuvenates you after, obviously, some bad things happened.”

Emotionally, the Lancers didn’t have it in the first half, said L-P coach Brian Gunby, but they responded with a spirited comeback in the second half. L-P scored on a 1-yard run by Alex Penders and added a 2-point safety when Steve Zasucha tackled fullback Alex Webb in the end zone.

“The safety really hurt us. We were out of alignment in our offensive set,” Santorio said. “You’ve got to give Lew-Port credit. They did what they had to, and luckily defensively we were good enough to keep them out of the endzone.”

L-P drove to the GI 15 when GI’s Alex Neutz intercepted a Dave LaChance pass in the end zone with 1 second left to kill Lew-Port’s late bid for a go-ahead score.

“With the heart and intensity we came out with in the second half, if we get that same situation, we’re scoring,” Gunby said of the goal-line stand. “We came out in the second half, and they wanted to prove something, and we did that.”

Starting quarterback Matt Block hurt his left leg playing defense on Lew-Port’s first series and was lost for the game. Oliverio started the game in Klock’s place.

Pictured at left, Grand Island’s Phil Wendt scores what proves to be the game-winning touchdown on a 30-yard pass from Joe Oliverio. Lewiston-Porter’s Steve Stanley leaps over Grand Island’s Matt McKenna and appears to score a tying touchdown, but he was ruled out of bounds inside the 1-yard line. GI stopped the Lancers on four successive plays, then went 99 yards to score again on the way to a 14-9 win. (photo by Larry Austin)