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Metea Valley feasts on East Aurora defense
Mary Beth Nolan~For Sun-Times Media
The first two offensive plays by Metea Valley gave a good indication of how the Mustangs’ game against East Aurora would unfold.
Striking with lightning speed, the Mustangs were up two scores before all the fans were in their seats. Metea was well on its way to its first 3-0 start, routing the Tomcats 47-0 in Upstate Eight Valley action.
Efficiency was the word for the Mustangs offense. Senior running back Tre’Sean Mackey ran the ball only four times and scored three touchdowns. And quarterback Jarrett House completed only three passes (on only six attempts, two of which were dropped), and all three completions resulted in scores.
Metea Valley (3-0 overall, 1-0 conference) feasted against an inexperienced East Aurora defense early. After earning a short field following an Andre Lagasca recovered fumble and a short Tomcat punt, the Mustangs were in a hurry to cross the goal line. First, House found Aaron Laskey on a simple post pattern that turned into a 25-yard score. Then Mackey took a simple off-tackle play and turned it into a 52-yard sprint to paydirt.
The two “drives” took a total of 13 seconds.
“Our goal was to come out and run the ball and eat the clock, especially with the rain tonight,” said Metea Valley coach Ted Monken, who sang the praises of offensive linemen Tyler Janczak, Angelo Turco, Mike Schapen, Colin Colclasure, Mike Young and Kameron Jefferson.
East (0-3 overall, 0-1 Upstate Eight) stopped the Mustangs on the next possession with stops by Dion Allen and Curtis Nelson. But Metea Valley went up 21-0 on the last play of the first quarter on a 32-yard pass from House to Ben Hulett. It was clear that it was the Mustangs’ night on the play, as House fumbled the punt snap on fourth down but then found Hulett open behind the Tomcat secondary.
While East Aurora couldn’t get anything going offensively, Metea Valley kept putting up points. A 31-yard pass from House to Blaze Miller was sandwiched around touchdown runs of two and 16 yards by Mackey (four carries, 89 yards). At halftime, the Mustangs had held the Tomcats to three first downs and led 41-0, necessitating a running clock the entire second half.
“Every play is a learning experience for our guys, whether it pays off next week or Week 8,” East Aurora coach Bill Bryant said. “Those guys (the Mustangs) are going to beat some of the big boys before the season is done.”
Since Monken and his staff respectfully took the air out of the ball in the second half, about the only suspense would be whether Metea Valley would preserve the shutout. Cortez Cummings ran 41 yards to the Mustang 15 in the final minute, but the Tomcats couldn’t score before time expired.
Luke Rozier provided the final scoring for Metea with a 16-yard interception return early in the fourth quarter.
The Mustangs didn’t need big numbers from Cameron Wilcox, who came into the game leading the area in rushing at 184 yards per game. He carried four times for 26 yards, while Robert Walker chipped in with 40 yards on four rushes.
Monken summed up the feeling of his staff and players, who are playing their first varsity season with seniors on the roster.
“It feels good to be 3-0.”
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