BY MIKE MASTOVICH
When Westmont Hilltop defeated Greater Johnstown in 2001, the upset stunned the region’s football community.
Eight years later, Hilltop wins over the Trojans don’t have quite the same shock value.
Westmont has won four of the past five meetings, including two straight entering this afternoon’s LHAC contest at Price Field.
“We’ve talked about it,” said third-year Trojans coach Kevin Marabito. “Even before I was there (Johnstown) had some of (its) better teams and Westmont still finds a way to win. We felt last year that for whatever reason they had our number. It’s hard to explain.”
Since 2001, Westmont is 5-3 against Johnstown.
The Trojans last win was in 2006, a game that Johnstown led 14-0 before holding on for a 14-8 victory during coach Bob Arcurio’s final year.
Most games have been close. Last year Westmont won 6-0 on a rainy Friday night at Trojan Stadium. Two years ago, Hilltop won 14-7.
The Hilltoppers also won in 2005
(27-14), 2004 (30-26) and 2001 (35-14).
Johnstown’s victories in the LHAC series came in 2006, 2003 (39-8) and 2002 (7-6).
“Westmont is going to come out and be fired up,” Marabito said. “They have all the confidence that they can take it to us. We have to play as hard as we can and not worry about what the history has been. Hopefully it comes out on the right side for us.”
Johnstown is 1-1 after blanking Cambria Heights 53-0 at Trojan Stadium for the program’s 600th victory since 1898. Forest Hills beat Johnstown 20-8 in the season opener in Sidman.
Westmont is winless, dropping a tight 10-6 game to visiting Central Cambria last week and falling 40-12 at Penn Cambria in Week 1.
“We’ve just got to play football. It doesn’t matter what their record is,” Marabito said.
“They were 0-2 last year and came into our place and beat us. Throw the records away. We’ve got to approach it that they’re undefeated, and we have to play our best football.”
Johnstown’s running game features quarterback John Siciliano, who has netted 127 yards and scored three touchdowns. LaQuinn Stephens-Howling (eight carries, 59 yards) and slot back Jordan Jefferson (8-55) also are threats as is big back Kashmir Pretlor (7-29).
Westmont’s Alex Intihar has a team-high 124 rushing yards on 29 carries. Ryan Burnheimer has 106 yards on 25 runs.
Quarterback Casey Eckenrod has completed 13 of 20 passes for 123 yards.
“They’ve shown that they can throw the ball,” Marabito said. “They throw the short routes and some intermediate routes.
“They’ll roll and drag the man from the backside. They have been in the I (formation). Last week they ran a lot from the wishbone. I thought they had a great game plan last Saturday. They didn’t get the win.
“They moved the ball but they didn’t score,” Marabito said. “They have the capabilities to put the points on the board. We have to wait until they come out and adjust our defense accordingly. They’re bigger than us up front. Our offensive line is coming around, but we have to find a way to handle their big guys up front.”
WestPAC
Blacklick Valley at Ferndale: Both teams are searching for their first win entering this afternoon game at The Hive.
Blacklick has had difficulty finding the end zone, as the Vikings have been limited to six points tallied in a season-opening setback at Conemaugh Township (35-6).
Portage blanked Blacklick 48-0 last week. The Vikings have been outscored 83-6.
“We’re in the same boat we were in last year,” Blacklick coach Bill Zamboni
said. “The only difference was we lost to Conemaugh Township 17-7 last year. We were 0-2. We put two games together before we played North Star. We ended up 6-3 and made the playoffs. We hope to duplicate or maybe be a little better this year after an 0-2 start.”
Ferndale has had one close contest, a 14-0 loss at Rockwood in Week 2, and one lopsided setback, 48-12 against Meyersdale in the opener.
Blacklick’s offense is led by Ted Worthington’s 84 rushing yards on 26 attempts.
Defensively, the Vikings’ Matt Bracken has 18 tackles, and Michael Stefanik has 16.
Ferndale quarterback Hayden Stumpo has completed 12 of 24 passes for 191 yards, one touchdown and one interception. Dave Horvath has a team-high 62 rushing yards.
Ryan Gaunt has caught 11 passes for 166 yards and a touchdown. Defensively, Jordan Taranto has 11 tackles.
“Just playing at Ferndale is a concern. They always are so good there,” Zamboni said. “I remember five years ago we went down there and were 5-0. They beat us 28-26 in overtime.”
Rockwood at Conemaugh Valley: Conemaugh Valley is winless after being outscored a combined 56-6 by Meyersdale (42-6) last week and Shade (14-0) in the opener.
Rockwood broke into the win column last week by beating Ferndale 14-0. The Rockets opened with a 55-6 loss at Portage.
Each team has a first-year head coach.
Jim Fisher took over the Blue Jays program this season, replacing Tom Marshall.
Jerry Kaizen is the Rockets head coach, as he fills the role previously shared by co-coaches Jon Hale and Adam Rullo.
“From what we’ve seen on film they’re very good with the pass,” Valley’s Fisher said. “We tried to emulate them as much as we could in practice. Hopefully we’ll line it up and become more physical and get the job done. We’ve got some of our players back who were injured or out. We’re becoming a little bit more cohesive on both fronts offensively and defensively. Definitely, in practice, we see progress.”
