Steelhawks start well in win

After opening the season with a tough loss in week one, the Superior Heights Steelhawks rode a quick start to their first win of the senior high school football season on Friday.

After dropping a 29-14 decision to St. Mary’s last week, the Steelhawks opened up a 16-0 lead in the opening quarter en route to a 49-0 victory over the White Pines Wolverines on Friday night at Superior Heights to improve to 1-1 on the young season.

“If things don’t go well early, for anybody in any sport, they seem to shut down,” said Superior Heights Coach Seth Cond. “Whenever things go well, that’s something we can ride. We’ve talked about mental toughness as a team.”

The game was one that allowed the Steelhawks to do “a lot of learning.”

“This was a game that our team needed to come together,” Cond said. “We’re looking for an identity. We’ve lost a lot of talented players from previous seasons. We fired on all cylinders offensively today. Defensively, we put (White Pines) in difficult positions.”

Just under four minutes into the contest Cooper Laframboise ran the ball in from seven yards out to give Superior Heights a 7-0 lead after the convert by Gabe Spina.

Spina would put the subsequent kickoff through the White Pines endzone for a rouge and an 8-0 lead.

Mitchell DellaVedova would proceed to run for 32 yards and a touchdown. A convert by Spina would make it 15-0 with just under six minutes to go in the opening quarter.

Spina would punt the ball through the White Pines endzone late in the first quarter to make the score 16-0. 

Taylor Holub caught a 37-yard touchdown pass from Darren Pitawanakwat 16 seconds into the second quarter. Spina’s convert on the play would make it 23-0 Steelhawks.

With just over two minutes to go in the quarter, DellaVedova ran the ball 71 yards deep into White Pines territory, setting the stage for a 30-yard touchdown catch by Holub from Pitawanakwat. Spina would convert the major to make it 30-0 Superior Heights.

DellaVedova would then run in from 49 yards out midway through the third quarter, making it 37-0 after a convert by Spina.

Robert Wright caught a 15-yard touchdown pass from Ethan Johnson early in the fourth quarter as the Steelhawks increased the lead to 43-0.

Superior Heights would go up 49-0 as Elisha Ishimwe ran the ball in from 20 yards out late in the contest.

For White Pines Coach Jonathan Bujold, players not giving in late in the game with a short bench was something that pleased him,

“There are a lot of teams that would have folded in the middle of that second half,” Bujold said. “They would have packed it up and said, ‘We’re done.’ We had some significant injuries near the end.

“At the end of the day, we looked back at our bench and saw a bunch of kids that didn’t want to quit,” Bujold added. “They wanted to play, and they wanted to take pride in themselves.”

White Pines falls to 0-2 with the loss.

DellaVedova finished the day with 200 yards rushing on five carries for Superior Heights.

The defensive effort from Superior Heights saw seven players record two tackles each in the contest, including Spina, who also had an interception in the win.

Defensively for White Pines, Kaleb Lasante had four tackles.

In Friday’s junior game, touchdowns by Gabe Barkley, Jamie Njari, and Taylor Evans helped the Steelhawks to a 23-0 win over White Pines. Gavin Smith kicked a field goal, a convert, and a single point for the Steelhawks.

Superior Heights returns to action on Sept. 20 against the Korah Colts (2-0) while White Pines is in action the following night against St. Mary’s (1-1). Junior and senior games are set for both nights at Superior Heights. The junior games kick off at 4:45 p.m. while the senior games follow at 7:30 p.m.