HOOKSTOWN — Back in August when Luke Travelpiece and his South Side team were preparing for the season, the ninth-year head coach was faced with uncertainty due to the inexperience of his roster.
Fast forward two months and the Rams are in a prime position to punch their ticket back to the playoffs.
But on Friday, it will face one of their toughest tests of the season as they host Neshannock.
“We are fortunate to be where we are,” Travelpiece said. “We came into the year with an inexperienced roster due to graduating a lot of seniors so to sit in the position where we are is great.”
Heading into the matchup, South Side has posted a record of 5-1 and 3-0 in Big 7 Conference play. Its lone loss came to Monessen two weeks ago in a non-conference matchup.
In its most recent game against Northgate, South Side relied on young players due to injuries. With the young core, the Rams came from behind to win in overtime 36-35.
One of those young players is freshman quarterback Dawson Frasier who earlier in the season took over for junior quarterback Will Morgan who was injured in the team's game against Summit Academy.
Travelpiece has been impressed with the freshman quarterback who continues to grow each week he plays.
“What is nice with the way we play is that we don’t ask him [Dawson Frasier] to throw the ball 20 times. What we do as an offense matches him well. He is a great athlete and doesn’t get nervous. He just comes in and executes for us and has allowed him to make some plays in the pocket with pressure on him and he doesn’t panic."
For years, the Rams have run the old-school Wing-T style of offense, and while AC Corfield has been one of the staples of the rushing attack, freshman Amare Momon has been one of the more efficient wings for South Side this season.
In six games, Momon has reached the end zone five times emerging as one of the top scoring options.
“Amare is shifty, has good vision and is probably our biggest wing that we have,” Travelpiece said. “He knows how to set up his blocks and knows when to hit the extra gear or slow down when he needs to.”
South Side knows this matchup against Neshannock will be a challenge as the Lancers have been equally as impressive through the first month of the season.
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Neshannock has posted a 6-1 record and 3-0 record in conference play with its lone loss coming to Ellwood City who remains unbeaten this season.
Neshannock's defense has been impressive as it has allowed just 18 points a game. Though Travelpiece has not seen this Neshannock team since the last classification cycle, he knows that the offense needs to play smart to find success Friday night.
“We need to be able to sustain drives. Neshannock is a big physical team and will attack. Though we haven’t played them in a while, we know what type of team they are. On Friday we have to play our game and we can’t shoot ourselves in the foot because they will make it difficult for us.”
Defensively South Side will also be challenged with strong quarterback play on the other side.
Junior quarterback Jino Mozzocio has put together a strong campaign completing 54 percent of his passes throwing for 789 yards and 10 touchdowns while throwing just two interceptions. He also has been a strong rusher as Mozzocio averages 5.7 yards per attempt rushing for 393 yards.
Along with the junior gunslinger, Anthony Eakin is the Lancers leading rusher rushing 82 times for 497 yards and three touchdowns.
“Matching their offense’s intensity will be key for us to have success on defense this week,” Travelpiece said. “We need to play low, stay in our gaps and rally to the football. It might sound simple, but the successful teams are the ones that are fundamentally sound and so that is what we need to do.”
Friday night's contest will kick off at 7 p.m. on the campus of South Side Area High School.
This article originally appeared on Beaver County Times: Times' Week 7 Game of the Week Preview: Neshannock at South Side
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