Photo: Gary Mester
Looking to put last week’s 61-6 loss to Kettle Run behind them, the Meridian football team was back on the field Friday evening as the boys played host to Manassas Park. It was clear from the opening drive this time that the Mustangs had come to play, as they marched straight down the field and scored on an Omar Dabbourah touchdown run, then forced a quick punt from the opposition. The first play of the next possession was a long touchdown pass from Ben Kozbelt (who is still filling in for the injured Cruz Ruoff) to Grady Jinks, giving the home team a 14-0 lead after a quarter.
Manassas Park had no intentions of throwing in the towel, though, driving down to the red zone before they failed to convert on a fourth down and gave the ball back to the Mustangs. Meridian found the end zone a third time, this time by way of a Martin Kraft rush, and then another lengthy drive by Manassas Park got to the outskirts of scoring range before the Mustang defense came up big once again, forcing an interception and then scoring on a long run by Alden Harrison on the very next play. The game was officially broken open, and then just for good measure, Meridian forced another punt and added a fifth touchdown just before halftime with Dabbourah’s second score of the game.
As if to pour salt on the wound, Meridian opened the second half by converting an onside kick as they continued to embarrass Manassas Park. Duke Dawson was the next Mustang to find the end zone, making the score 42-0, and then Danny Bono got in on the fun on the first play of the fourth quarter. Manassas Park finally got on the board late in the final period to cut the deficit to only six touchdowns, but it was immediately answered by Jetson Fitzpatrick, and the 56-7 tally would be the final one.
Head coach P.J. Anderson was mostly all smiles after the game, answering a confident “Everything” when asked what his team could take from this contest moving forward. “Everything besides the penalties,” he expanded, mentioning that the Mustangs will work on cleaning up in that regard.
Now at 3-4 on the year, Meridian will travel to Skyline next week before returning home against Warren County on November 3rd. That will be the final home game of the regular season.
