Royals fail to tame Wildcats

ELGIN -- Neuqua Valley's consistent blitz package and efficient passing attack proved way too much for Larkin to handle Friday night.

The Wildcats had their way on both sides of the ball all night, cruising to a 38-12 Upstate Eight Conference victory at Memorial Field.

Making his first varsity start at quarterback, Larkin senior Justin Kalusa was on the run for much of the game. The Wildcats' steady blitz, combined with the fact the Royals had trouble executing their shotgun snap for much of the first half, led to Kalusa being sacked eight times on the night.

"(Neuqua) sent everyone from every different way," Kalusa said. "The corners started blitzing after a while, their middle linebackers were coming. Our line didn't pick it up as well as we'd like them too, so it was kind of tough to get the ball off."

While Larkin (2-3, 1-2) had trouble moving the ball forward, Neuqua (2-3, 1-2) advanced at will for much of the first half as senior quarterback Alex Lincoln completed 19 of 24 passes for 227 yards and a pair of touchdowns in the first two quarters to help the Wildcats build a commanding 31-6 lead before halftime.

Five different Neuqua receivers caught passes out of its spread attack, with Michael Camire (6 catches, 75 yards) and Conner Yearian (5 catches, 75 yards, 1 touchdown) leading the way.

Senior running back Nathaniel Pena was also effective, running for 136 yards on 18 carries as Neuqua outgained Larkin 446-152 in total yardage for the game.

"We have some guys out there who are capable ... of catching the football and getting you some yards," Neuqua coach Bryan Wells said. "Then with our running game, we should be solid."

After falling behind 17-0 in the first quarter, Larkin finally got on the board when Jeff Saurbaugh scored on a 1-yard touchdown run with 7:36 left in the second quarter. The Royals' other score came on a six-yard pass from Kalusa to Yousef Salem late in the third quarter that made the score 31-12.

Kalusa replaced Saurbaugh at quarterback in a move Larkin coach Matt Gehrig said was designed to make his team's offense more versatile. Saurbaugh moved to tailback with speedy junior Jalen Williams seeing more time split wide in the new setup.

The constant pass rush led to Kalusa finishing with negative 38 rushing yards on 14 carries, but he did complete 7 of 23 passes for 109 yards despite being victimized by several dropped passes.

"I was proud of the way that Justin played in his first start," Gehrig said. "I thought he had some good plays and made good decisions. We can build off that."