Too little, too late for Blazers in loss to Elco

By Mike Hennelly Last updated Sep 28, 2024

2024 Berks football coverage presented by

Utilities Employees Credit Union

By Mike Hennelly — MikeDragoSports.com correspondent

Elco held Daniel Boone to just 56 rushing yards and kept quarterback Haydn Moyer in check for the majority of the game in a 19-14 Lancaster-Lebanon League Section 4 victory Friday night at Birdsboro.

Elco quarterback Steven Rosado rushed for his second 1-yard touchdown of the game with 1:38 remaining in the fourth quarter to give his team a 19-7 lead.

Moyer threw for 75 of his 153 total passing yards on the Blazers’ final possession. He led a seven-play, 75-yard touchdown drive in 93 seconds, capped by a 1-yard pass to Jayden Salata to make 19-14 with one second left.

The Blazers (0-3, 0-6) recovered two fumbles, blocked a 24-yard field goal attempt and blocked an extra point after Elco’s second touchdown. The Blazers’ defense held Rosado to 41 yards passing.

“Defensively we knew we had to trust our teammates and play assignment football,” Blazers defensive back Max Heffner said. “They’re an option team so tackling the quarterback, staying on the pitch, staying on the dive, but obviously it wasn’t enough.”

Bradley Floria was active on special teams and defense for the Blazers. The junior recovered a fumble caused by Ryan Poore just before halftime and returned it 27 yards to Elco’s 13 yard line.

The Blazers scored their first touchdown of the game two plays later on a 9-yard run by Moyer to cut Elco’s lead to six points going into halftime.

“Brad Floria is a kid that in Week 1, he didn’t play very well,” Blazers coach J.D. Okuniewski said. “He’s playing phenomenally well defensively. Ryan Poore is another kid who’s playing very well defensively. He needs to play a little better at points, but he caused two turnovers that Floria picked up.”

Floria later blocked a 24-yard field goal attempt at the end of the third quarter and recovered it, taking it to his own 38-yard line.

The Blazers were unable to find an answer for Elco’s Mitchell Frederick, who rushed for 136 yards on 14 attempts. Frederick and Rosado combined for 214 of Elco’s 232 rushing yards.

“Defensively we’ve had a tackling problem and now we’re back to that,” Okuniewski said. “We just have to continue to send the message to the guys. We just have to continuously get better in everything we do.”

The Blazers have lost 13 straight games dating back to last season.

“You just need to keep trying to have fun,” Heffner said. “Losing isn’t fun, winning is fun. We have to keep our heads up and stay together. We can’t turn on each other. We just have to keep playing football.”

The Blazers take on Wyomissing next week at Bob Wolfrum Field in a Section 4 matchup. Octorara visits Elco (1-2, 3-4) Friday night.

	1	2	3	4	Final
Elco	7	6	0	6	19
Daniel Boone	0	7	0	7	14

Scoring summary

1	Elco	Rosado, 1 run (Goodison kick)	9:39
2	Elco	Pyszka, 10 pass from Rosado (kick failed)	10:27
2	Daniel Boone	Moyer, 9 run (Heffner kick)	0:14
4	Elco	Rosado, 1 run (Rosado pass failed)	1:38
4	Daniel Boone	Salata, 1 pass from Moyer (Heffner kick)	0:01

Team statistics

	Elco	Daniel Boone
First downs	12	11
Rushes-yards	42-232	32-56
Passing yards	41	153
Total yards	273	209
Passes	3-4-0	12-16-0
Fumbles-lost	2-2	2-1
Punts-average	1-27	2-31
Penalties-yards	7-65	5-35

Individual statistics

RUSHING

Elco: Frederick 14-136, Rosado 15-78, Yesko 4-12, Gensamer 3-10, Kreider 2-6, Trostle, 1-2, Team 3-(-12).

Daniel Boone: Moyer 18-39, Williams 8-10, Delissaint 1-10, Salata 4-6, Team 1-(-9).

PASSING

Elco: Rosado 3-4-0–41.

Daniel Boone: Moyer 12-16-0–153.

RECEIVING

Elco: Pyszka 2-18, Smucker 1-23.

Daniel Boone: Heffner 6-84, Williams 2-40, Salata 2-23, Delissaint 2-6.

MISSED FIELD GOALS

Elco: Goodison 24.

Daniel Boone: Heffner 35.