Elizabeth Forward, Highlands look to rebound after narrow losses in Week Zero

By: Michael Love
Wednesday, August 28, 2024 | 6:05 PM

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Elizabeth Forward and Highlands will get together Friday night at Golden Rams Stadium, each seeking its first win of the season after close, heartbreaking defeats in Week Zero.

It is the first matchup between the schools since 1999, and Golden Rams coach Matt Bonislawski and Elizabeth Forward coach John DeMarco expect a competitive game between teams wanting to avoid an 0-2 start.

“I like the way our early-season schedule has shaped up with Armstrong and Elizabeth Forward to start,” said Bonislawski, whose team went back and forth with the River Hawks on Friday before falling 38-37 in overtime.

“Playing Armstrong, they’re a bigger school, and we’re pretty familiar with them. It was a good first game to show us what we still need to work on and also highlight some positives we can build on. The kids came to work (Monday) ready to do that and get ready for a good Elizabeth Forward team that is well-coached and that plays the game the right way. To beat them, you have to execute and make plays. They’re not going to beat themselves.”

Elizabeth Forward, which has shown consistency at the top in Class 3A, lost just twice last year, once to WPIAL and PIAA champion Belle Vernon in Interstate Conference play and the other time to WPIAL runner-up Avonworth in the Class 3A semifinals.

Despite their 17-16, last-second loss to West Mifflin, the Warriors remained No. 4 in the Trib HSSN Class 3A rankings.

DeMarco said Friday’s game with Highlands will be a big challenge, one that his players are ready to accept.

“Highlands kids are tough kids,” he said. “Their quarterback is really good, and they have some nice skill guys who make plays. They have some younger guys on the line who are trying to figure it out. That game last week against Armstrong, they fought to the very end. They played every snap like it was the first snap. I like that in a team. That is what our team does. We know we’re going in for a dogfight.”

EF trailed West Mifflin, 17-10, late in the fourth but drove the field in 50 seconds to score on a 7-yard TD connection from Ryan Messina to Charlie Nigut with no time left to pull within one. A bad snap on the game-tying extra-point attempt foiled the Warriors’ hopes of knotting the score.

Nigut added a 6-yard scoring run for the Warriors. He finished with 146 yards rushing on 25 carries.

“(Nigut) is pretty shifty,” Bonislawksi said. “He can make a lot of plays for them.”

Messina was 7 for 9 passing for 63 yards and the late TD toss.

The Warriors defense limited Titans standout running back Armand Hill, but his 44-yard scamper with a minute left was the difference.

“Our overall effort was great against West Mifflin,” DeMarco said. “I don’t think we played our best against Mars in the scrimmage and were missing a few people, but the kids were excited to get back on the field last week and show that they will be one of the top teams in Triple-A. I was proud of the way they played. It went back and forth. They had us on the ropes. I thought we did a great job of limiting (Hill). He’s one of the premier backs in all of Western Pa. I think he had only 84 yards against us. We did a good job rallying to the ball. Offensively, we left a couple of plays on the field. But the way we drove down at the end shows the resiliency of this team.”

Senior Christopher Climes, a Buffalo recruit, anchors the Warriors’ offensive and defensive lines.

This is the third meeting between the teams. Highlands won the other two, 27-7 in 1998 and 35-10 in 1999.

Highlands trailed Armstrong by two touchdowns in the second quarter but rallied to take the lead as quarterback Menage Lucas threw a touchdown to Jahmar Wright and added a 30-yard run.

Lucas ran 36 yards for another score in the third quarter.

“I thought it was a great football game,” Bonislawski said. “I think we got better from our scrimmage against Southmoreland. I don’t like to use the excuse that we’re young, but we had two offensive linemen as sophomores making their first start and a junior tackle who has never played football before. We also had two tackles and two freshmen making their first starts on defense. I was not surprised by our slow start, but it was great to see how the guys responded when we got down 13-0. There was no quit.

“We’ve been talking about that and how we want that to be our mentality. We know with the guys on offense that we can score pretty much at any time.”

Lucas accounted for 438 yards of total offense. He recorded 239 yards through the air and another 199 on the ground on 23 carries.

Wright finished with three catches for 106 yards, Montrell Johnson hauled in three for 41 yards and Aiden Burford collected a pair of grabs for 82 yards.

Braden Litwicki and Tevin Owen Cratsenberg paced a well-rounded defensive effort with eight tackles apiece.

“It was a back-and-forth game, and I was happy with the effort,” Bonislawski said.

“We started to be a little more physical on defense. The offensive line needs to be a little more physical in the run game. They just needed to get into the flow of the game and not be thinking so much. We try to replicate game situations in practice, but there is nothing like getting live game reps. But they are going to keep working and get better each week.”

Michael Love is a TribLive reporter covering sports in the Alle-Kiski Valley and the eastern suburbs of Pittsburgh. A Clearfield native and a graduate of Westminster (Pa.), he joined the Trib in 2002 after spending five years at the Clearfield Progress. He can be reached at mlove@triblive.com.

Tags: Elizabeth Forward, Highlands