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Van runs through Madonna

CELEBRATING — Madonna’s Gavin Dietrich celebrates after catching a touchdown pass against Van on Saturday. (Photo by Joe Catullo)

WEIRTON — It was almost like it might have been better if Madonna didn’t score in the first half of its 26-12 loss to once beaten Van Saturday at Jimmy Carey Stadium, because each time it did the Bulldogs had long kickoff returns that either set up a touchdown or scored.

The Blue Dons scored first in the game with a 2-yard keeper by senior quarterback Gavin Dietrich, then saw junior running back David Stewart return the Joe Soos kickoff from the Van 23 to the Madonna 18. Four plays later — all on runs by Stewart — the Bulldogs tied the game at 6-6 when he powered into the end zone from the 1.

The Blue Dons executed a 10-play drive, finishing it with a 22-yard pass and run from freshman quarterback Santino Arlia to Dietrich, but on that ensuing kickoff Stewart dashed 79 yards for another touchdown that immediately tied the score at 12-12.

After that early scoring volley between the two Class A teams, the Blue Dons kept finding ways to self destruct and were unable to score again.

“For us there were way too many internal problems, mistakes and penalties,” said Blue Don coach Darrin Hicks, whose club lost its third in a row and now are 3-4. “We would put ourselves in an advantageous situation and then we would work our way right out of it. We talk about it every week. Madonna can’t beat Madonna and we did that a little bit today.

“I know I sound like a broken record when I say that’s more on me. We’ve got to be able to go back and tighten some screws as we move forward.”

The Blue Dons were coming off of the mandatory bye week in West Virginia but Hicks didn’t think that his team was been rusty because of the 14-day hiatus.

“I thought we shook off the rust pretty good and came out solid,” he said. “Overall, we ran into some things internally that we weren’t able to overcome. The struggle was we’d move the ball and move it a little bit more and be in a second or third down and three situation and miss a line or we’d get a five or 10-yard penalty. You need to stay ahead of the sticks especially with what we do offensively. We just weren’t able to do that today.”

The Bulldogs went to the locker room at the half with a 20-12 lead when Stewart, who scored three of Van’s four touchdowns, went into the end zone on a 4-yard sweep. That score was set up by a 54-yard pass and run combination between quarterback Gavin Smith and fullback Drew Price. Then the Bulldogs were able to stretch the lead a bit with a Smith pass to Jarod Puckett for the two-point conversion.

The second half was basically an exchange of possessions between the two teams but the Bulldogs were able to score again in the fourth. A Stewart punt was covered at the Madonna 20 but the Bulldog defense forced a three-and-out that netted minus yardage back to the 17. Soos had a short punt out only to the Blue Don 33.

Stewart was a key again, dashing 19 yards on the first play of the drive to the Madonna 14. Four plays later, Price, running from the “wildcat” formation, blasted into the end zone behind a host of blockers from the 5-yard line.

“It’s a good thing our special teams kept us in the ballgame because we didn’t get off the bus ready to play ball,” said Bulldog coach Steve Price, whose team was ranked 12th in Class A and now are 6-1. We’re used to playing Friday nights and here we take a five-hour bus trip to play on Saturday afternoon. It can be difficult.

“In practice you work on your special teams with punts and kickoffs but very seldom do you get to work on kickoff returns. But we had this sideline return and I told them if everyone does what they are supposed to do it will work. What was funny was one of the kids said after the return for a score that it worked. I said yes, it is supposed to work.”

Stewart finished the game with 72 yards on the ground on 15 carries. He caught two passes for 13 yards and then had the 138 yards of kickoff returns to finish with 223 all-purpose yards.

Madonna sophomore Thomas Sessi led the Blue Don offense with 84 yards rushing and caught five passes for 33 yards. Dietrich ran for 65 yards on 19 carries with a touchdown. He caught six passes for 86 yards and a touchdown. Dietrich was a perfect 7-for-7 passing for 62 yards. Arlia passed the ball 13 times completing seven for 86 yards and had one pass intercepted.

The Blue Dons travel across the Ohio River Saturday to face rival Catholic Central at Harding Stadium.

Van 26, Madonna 12

Van 6-14 0-6 — 26

Madonna 6-6-0-0 — 12

M: Dietrich 2 run (kick failed)

V: Stewart 1 run (kick failed)

M: Dietrich 22 pass from Arlia (run failed)

V: Stewart 4 run (Puckett pass from Smith)

V: Price 5 run (pass failed)

RUSHING: Van 28-147-3 (Stewart 15-72-2, Price 10-57-1, Smith 3-18. Madonna 40-139-1 (Sessi 18-84, Ingram 2-(-4), Arlia 1-(-6), Dietrich 19-64-1.

PASSING: Van 4-7-0-1 (all by Smith). Madonna 15-22-163-1-2 (Dietrich 7-7-62-0-0, Sessi 1-2-0-1, Arlia 7-13-1-1.

RECEIVING: Van C. Price 2-62, Stewart 2-13. Madonna (Sessi 6-43, Soos 2-29, Dietrich 6-86-1, Ingram 1-5.

FIRST DOWNS: Van 7; Madonna14.

FUMBLES-LOST: Van 2-1; Madonna 2-1.

PENALTIES: Van 3-35; Madonna 10-84.

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