Burrell handles Deer Lakes, starts playoff push with first win on new turf

By: George Guido
Friday, October 9, 2020 | 10:36 PM

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The Burrell Bucs took a liking to their new artificial turf Friday night.

Burrell scored the first time it had the ball and led throughout, posting a 44-6 victory over Deer Lakes at renovated Buccaneer Stadium. It was the 2020 home debut for the Bucs.

Running back Caden DiCaprio scored the first three touchdowns on the new carpet and ran for 91 yards on 12 carries.

Quarterback Alex Arledge threw for 271 yards on 23 pass completions.

“Our defense did a nice job setting us up tonight,” Bucs coach Shawn Liotta said. “Our offense executed very well and I thought we had a good plan coming in and taking advantage of some of the stuff they do, and I thought our tempo was really good.”

Burrell is 2-2 in Big East Conference play, 2-3 overall. The Bucs lead the all-times series against Deer Lakes, 23-8. The rebuilding Lancers slipped to 0-5, 0-5.

The win keeps Burrell’s playoff hopes alive.

The Bucs need to win their final two games against Freeport and Derry Area and hope for a wild-card berth. Burrell already has lost to the Big East’s top two teams — North Catholic and East Allegheny.

“Our playoffs started here tonight,” Liotta said. “We’re planning to win them on out, and we’ll give our best effort each and every game.”

The WPIAL said earlier that the top two teams from each of the three Class 3A conferences and two wild cards would make the postseason. The league, however, will clarify playoff qualification procedures next week, what with a number of schools missing games because of covid-19 outbreaks.

Burrell got the scoring underway a little more than three minutes into play on a 21-yard run by DiCaprio.

Lancers sophomore Aiden Detman recovered a muffed punt at the Burrell 35 and Deer Lakes scored five plays later on a 17-yard pass from Derek Burk to Dylan Moore.

The Bucs scored the next two times they had the ball on runs of 7 and 32 yards.

Junior linebacker Mike White grabbed the ball from a Deer Lakes back and the Bucs were back in business at the Lancers 24. On the following play after a penalty, Arledge found A.J. Corrado for a 29-yard scoring play to make it 29-6 with 7 minutes, 15 seconds left in the second period.

Deer Lakes threatened late in the half, driving to the Bucs 2 before Corrado stopped Seth Sciubba at the 4.

Said Liotta: “That was absolutely a big play. Football’s a momentum game. A.J. made a phenomenal play there and our defense made some big plays.”

“We moved the ball well at times and showed how to do things the right way,” said Lancers coach Tim Burk. “But as soon as we do, we take three steps back, take a penalty, or we don’t get the proper blocking.”

The Bucs drove 79 yards in seven plays with the second half kickoff. Corrado’s 28-yard reception and Ian Durci’s 2-point conversion on a double reverse made it 37-6.

Durci returned to the lineup after missing nearly two full games with an ankle injury. He caught six passes for 70 yards while Corrado caught 11 passes for 172 yards.

Lancers senior Bruce Allman rushed for 74 yards on 20 carries.

Burk said that, at times, he had one freshmen and five sophomores on the field defensively, but he feels his team is learning and growing.

Tags: Burrell, Deer Lakes