Perfect game plan lifts Colts to win

It was a battle of the unbeaten teams and the Korah Colts came through in a big way.

A strong performance from the Colts offensive and defensive lines helped the team remain undefeated in senior high school football action thanks to a 19-9 win over Superior Heights on Friday night, beating a Steelhawks team that had not lost

“That was man ball, we just smashed the ball right down their throats today. The line play was excellent. I’m proud of those guys,” said Korah Coach Tom Annett. “The defensive line was the same thing. It was another dominant performance. We controlled the line of scrimmage.”

“The toughness was the biggest thing today,” Annett added. “I’m just so impressed with the grit and toughness our guys showed.”

Annett would go on to say toughness “is one of our core values we preach non-stop in our program.”

“That’s a fair statement that they controlled the line of scrimmage,” said Superior Heights Coach Seth Cond. “We knew going in that that they would be tactical and tough and that’s exactly what they were.”

Caleb Patteri had a pair of touchdown runs for Korah. The young back would finish the day with 159 yards rushing on 33 carries, which included touchdown runs of five and 20 yards. Darian Belkosky added 72 yards rushing on 10 carries. Aaron Grawbarger also kicked a 16-yard field goal for the Colts in the victory.

“We grinded out some really long drives and ate the clock,” Annett said. “That was our game plan going in was to keep them off (the field offensively). We just wore them down physically in the long run.”

Cond would credit the Colts game plan in the contest.

“They had an excellent game plan and they executed it to perfection to keep us off the field (offensively),” Cond said.

Cond admitted the loss wasn’t the Steelhawks best effort.

“We had several errors out there and far too many penalties,” Cond said. “Leading into this week, that’s what I said to the kids was that we needed to limit our penalties and unforced errors.”

Mitchell Della Vedova had the Steelhawks lone touchdown in the contest, converting a 32-yard pass from quarterback Ethan Johnson in the fourth quarter.

Defensively for the Colts, Belkosky had eight solo tackles, two assisted tackles and a sack.

“They always have been and always will be the strength of our team,” Annett said. “There’s some elite talent there.”

For the Steelhawks, Geryd Lesage had eight solo tackles and four assisted tackles while Joe Rosso had seven tackles and two assisted tackles.

In Friday’s junior contest, Korah improved to 3-0 thanks to a 35-7 victory over Superior Heights, The Steelhawks fall to 1-2 with the loss.

The high school football schedule resumes next week as Superior Heights faces St. Mary’s on Sept. 28 while Korah returns to action on Sept. 29 against White Pines. Kickoff for the junior games is set for 4:45 p.m. with the senior games to follow at 7:30 p.m.