Forest Hills pounds out shutout victory over McCort-Carroll

Sep. 24—While the Forest Hills Rangers had struggled over the first four weeks of their season against a quartet of Laurel Highlands Athletic Conference heavyweights, coach Justin Myers did see something that his squad was doing well, even when scuffling to an 0-4 start.

Rushing the ball 12 times on their opening possession, which resulted in a touchdown, the Rangers set a tone that reverberated throughout Friday's game against McCort-Carroll Catholic as Forest Hills took home a 35-0 win over the Crushers at Sargent's Stadium at the Point.

"We have to do what we're best at," Myers said. "We feel we're best at the run game right now. We've played some real quality opponents the first four weeks of the season, and we ran the ball pretty well. We wanted to establish the run early to set up the pass later."

Forest Hills (1-4) saw Colten Danel score a trio of first-half touchdowns with his first finishing the Rangers' 77-yard march off of the opening kickoff.

Danel, who rushed for 84 total yards on Friday, carried the ball six times on the Rangers' first possession with a 3-yard run pairing with Nolan Cabala's point-after kick to give Forest Hills a 7-0 lead.

A 16-yard carry followed a 5-yard scamper from McCort-Carroll quarterback Johnny Golden seemingly set the wheels in motion for a reply, but it was a penalty flag on the Crushers' third snap that neutralized their momentum.

It was a recurring theme for McCort-Carroll, which saw flags nix multiple promising drives or big gainers. As the Crushers are trying to gain their footing along with consistency, their coach was willing to accept blame for falling short on Friday, but also saw the loss as an opportunity to challenge his charges at the midway point of the season.

"I'll take full responsibility for the loss," McCort-Carroll coach Tom Smith said. "I said to these guys, 'This is a character test now. Who's going to show up on Monday? The rest of this schedule is not easy.' Our season has been up and down, up and down, up and down. We're 2-3 right now. It's a new season now and we've still got a shot to make the (District 6) playoffs in 1A, and I think we can be pretty dangerous there."

With the Crushers looking at a third-and-7 snap from the Forest Hills 41 midway through the second quarter, Dayton Maul's interception and return to his team's 48 helped to slide momentum fully in the Rangers' favor.

Running the ball exclusively, Forest Hills embarked on an eight-play, 52-yard drive with quarterback Nate Cornell snaking in from 11 yards out to jump the guests' lead to 14 points.

A long gainer, on a reverse option toss to Ibn Shaheed, took the ball deep into Rangers territory, but a flag brought the ball back all the way to the McCort-Carroll 9, where an extended three-and-out led to a punt that gave Forest Hills possession at its 48 with 1:23 left in the half.

Cornell's pass to Colby Rearick led to a sideline romp that took the Rangers to the Crushers' 9. Danel took handoffs on the next two snaps, picking up 8 yards before powering in from the 1.

"Colten Danel is the strongest kid on our team, by far," Myers said. "When he runs, he's a load to bring down."

After forcing a three-and-out on the Crushers' first drive of the second half, the Rangers needed three plays and 34 seconds to expand their lead to 28-0.

A 63-yard catch-and-run reception by Maul set the table for Danel's third touchdown — a 3-yard plunge. Forest Hills tied a bow on the scoring, and put the running clock in motion with 7:47 left in the third as Cornell uncorked a 34-yard rainbow to Burda following a short punt from McCort-Carroll after the snap sailed over Cooper Stigers' head and into the end zone before improvisation by Stigers helped avoid possible disaster.

Cornell completed five passes for 157 yards and the touchdown to Burda.

"Nate's a sophomore," Myers said. "He's a big kid. He's able to run the ball and throw the ball. We're trying to get him more involved as we go. It's only his second varsity start, and we'll see how it goes from there."

Shawn Curtis is a reporter for The Tribune-Democrat. He can be reached at 814-532-5085. Follow him on Twitter @ShawnCurtis430.