Published: September 06, 2008 12:22 am            

Quick start lifts Ridge

BERLIN — Chestnut Ridge didn’t exhibit the tentativeness it showed last week in a season-opening loss.

The Lions got a huge opening-kickoff return from Andy Tomovich and never looked back in a 28-0 blanking of Berlin on Friday night at the Snyder Sports Complex.

“The opening kickoff, that’s just a momentum changer,” Mountaineers coach Doug Paul said. “We give them great field possession and they need some confidence after their game last week.”

Tomovich returned the kick 68 yards, giving the Lions the ball at Berlin’s 12. On the first offensive play from scrimmage, Justin Taylor scored and Tomovich added the first of four extra points for a lightning-fast 7-0 lead.

Chestnut Ridge (1-1) used just 17 seconds to find the end zone.

“Andy set the tone and tempo right off the bat,” Lions coach Max Shoemaker said. “That’s certainly the way you want to come out of the gate. We took a step forward, I think, towards where we want to be as the season evolves.”

On the Lions’ next possession, fullback Josh McDannell scored the first of his two touchdowns for a 14-0 advantage. Chestnut Ridge went 49 yards on 10 plays, capped by McDannell’s going in from the 6. McDannell carried 18 times for 93 yards.

McDannell added a 2-yard plunge to start the fourth quarter and Taylor broke off a 68-yard run with 6:15 left in the game to set the final.

Chestnut Ridge picked off four Berlin passes, two off of senior quarterback Brett Hankinson and a pair from backup Josh Riley.

Taylor, Tomovich, McDannell and Tanner Bence each intercepted a pass.

“All season, our secondary’s played well,” Shoemaker said. “We have some good, skilled athletes that know how to go to the ball. We had two linebackers step into the passing lanes, McDannell and Bence. Our pass defense has been the strength of our defense.”

Berlin (0-2) had the ball inside Chestnut Ridge’s 20 three separate times in the first half but couldn’t score.

Chestnut Ridge fell at Windber in the opener 26-7.

“We really focused this week in practice on getting more people to the ball,” Shoemaker said. “Some of that we didn’t do last week. We played too tentatively, defensively, last weekend. I was proud of the way the kids responded defensively.”

        

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