Returning Sam Fanelli helps Penn-Trafford dispatch Fox Chapel

By: Dylan Cleland
Friday, November 1, 2019 | 11:07 PM

With two of its top running backs out with injuries since Week 4, No. 1 Penn-Trafford relied on its depth throughout most of this season.

One of the injured backs, Sam Fanelli, returned to action and delivered in the Warriors’ 48-7 win over No. 16 Fox Chapel in a WPIAL Class 5A first-round playoff game Friday night.

Fanelli scored twice, including a 13-yard touchdown run to start the scoring just a minute and a half into the first quarter for Penn-Trafford.

“Fanelli coming back tonight was a huge shot in the arm for us,” coach John Ruane said. “He played well. He has such a low center of gravity and really good vision and he showed it tonight.”

The Warriors (10-1) quickly added to the lead Fanelli gave them, scoring on a 70-yard touchdown connection from Gabe Dunlap to Ethan Carr as well as a Carr passing touchdown to Chase Vecchio of 51 yards to make it 21-0.

The Foxes’ lone score came on a 19-yard touchdown pass from Shane Susnak to Lorenzo Jenkins, making it 21-7.

In addition to Fanelli leading the way for the Warriors, Carr displayed his diversity on his three touchdowns for P-T, one coming on a 96-yard return on the ensuing kickoff after the only Fox Chapel score.

“I need to make that play for my team. That’s all I’m saying to myself,” Carr said.

The Foxes (4-7) fell behind 35-7 at halftime, and head coach Tom Loughran believes his team made too many mistakes against a good football team.

“Too many turnovers, too many big plays, too many missed tackles,” Loughran said. “You can’t give good players and a good team like that an opportunity where you have a chance to make a play and don’t get it.”

Ruane said the diversity and depth of the Penn-Trafford squad is a large part of the team’s success this far, especially losing its top two backs in Caleb Lisbon and Fanelli for the better part of the season.

“A lot of guys knew once Caleb and Sam went down that they were going to have to step their game up and they certainly did,” Ruane said. “We became more dynamic in the passing game and spread the ball around a little bit better.”

P-T’s defense held strong, building off senior Chase Burk’s two-interception night. Ruane would like to see the defense tighten up just a bit more moving forward.

“Our defense, we have to get off the field on third-and-short,” Ruane said. “Do a little bit better job of tackling. We had two goal-line stands, which I think was awesome.”

The Foxes had just 10 seniors this season, and three of them didn’t play Friday night. Loughran said his team is young, and that’ll allow for room to grow moving ahead.

“We’re playing with five seniors and obviously they’re a veteran group, so we were at a competitive disadvantage from that perspective,” Loughran said. “But we believe in the kids we have and we go out and compete the best we can.”

Penn-Trafford will square off with ninth-seeded Upper St. Clair, which defeated North Hills, 34-16. Ruane believes this group is special because of the lack of selfishness.

“It’s a tight-knit group. They’ve all played together for a really long time,” Ruane said. “They play hard and don’t care about recognition. They don’t care about who gets the stats. They just want to win football games, and it’s appreciated by us as a coaching staff.”

Tags: Fox Chapel, Penn-Trafford