Summit Academy shuts out Valley to snap 18-game losing streak

By: George Guido
Saturday, October 12, 2019 | 7:13 PM

Victories don’t come often at Summit Academy, so Saturday’s 14-0 win over Valley is one to savor.

An 87-yard fumble recovery return and an 11-play scoring drive ended an 18-game losing streak for the Knights Saturday afternoon at Stephen Sherer Field.

The last Summit Academy victory was over Avella on Oct. 27, 2017. Saturday marked the 200th game since the school for court-adjudicated youth came on the scene in 1998.

The Knights have won just 22.5 percent of their games.

It was the first win for new coach Joe Marek.

“I told the kids week-in and week-out, we took a lot of ‘Ls’ there,” Marek said. “We told them to be resilient, come back and fight to win every single game.”

Summit is 1-8 overall and 1-4 in the Allegheny Conference, and Valley slipped to 1-7, 0-5.

Valley started three drives inside the Summit 26 but couldn’t get on the scoreboard.

“I think this was a letdown after playing hard the last two weeks,” Vikings coach Muzzy Colosimo said. “Playing on a Saturday and coming on the bus, the kids looked flat and we played that way. We can’t make excuses.”

After Jayden Richter recovered a Knights fumble and returned the ball to the Summit 18, it looked like Valley was in business.

But on the second play from scrimmage, Paul Hines intercepted his first of three passes at the Summit 7.

Valley blocked the first of two punts and took over at the Summit 13. But two plays later, a pass attempt behind the line of scrimmage got loose and Da’ Shea McCoy picked up the ball and raced 87 yards for a touchdown.

Zion Carruth caught a conversion pass in a crowd to put Summit ahead 8-0.

After another Hines interception at the Summit 37, the Knights drove 63 yards in 11 plays with Camer Curry rolling to his right on fourth down to score from the 9.

Summit let its defense do the rest.

Said Marek of Hines: “Paul’s a great kid and a great football player. Hopefully, we can talk to some colleges and get him and a couple of these guys to play on the next level.”

Valley was held to 16 net rushing yards until Justin Hooper’s 29-yard run on the next-to-last Vikings play of the game.

Summit’s ferocious rushing defense spent considerable time in Valley’s backfield, often forcing Cayden Quinn to pass before his receivers were open.

“We’ve been having a hard time blocking all year,” Colosimo said. “So it’s not like the first time we noticed. It’s been ongoing, and we haven’t been able to stop it.”

Quinn completed two of 20 passes for 18 yards.

Hines picked off his third Valley pass at the Summit 1 just before time expired.

Elijah Murray recovered a Summit fumble at the Knights 47, and Dario Wolfe pounced on a blocked punt for Valley at the Summit 25, but the Vikings couldn’t convert.

“We got five turnovers and just couldn’t capitalize,” Colosimo said. “When we can’t run the ball and your quarterback doesn’t have time to throw the ball, you can’t score very many points and that’s basically what happened.”

Valley will play a nonconference game Friday at Riverside.

Tags: Summit Academy, Valley