Sabers stifle Holy Redeemer

BY STEVE BENNETT

Times-Shamrock Writer

As much as it tried to simulate the Susquehanna offense during practice, Holy Redeemer found out that it doesn’t compare to the real thing.

When Dan Kempa took the first snap and scampered 87 yards for a touchdown, the Sabers were well on their way to a convincing win.

The Sabers rolled up 450 yards of total offense, 214 coming from Kempa including a 73-yard fumble recovery for a score in a 48-7 win Saturday afternoon at Wilkes-Barre Memorial Stadium.

“You can’t simulate speed,” Holy Reedemer coach Tony Marranca said of Kempa and the Susquehanna veer. “You play against that once a year and it’s like seeing something new. Then you don’t see it again for another year, it’s difficult.”

The Royals had trouble running the ball, managing just 50 yards on 26 attempts. In order to move the ball, they went to the air with Anh Le completing 12 of 28 passes for 147 yards.

Susquehanna raced out to a 21-0 lead at the end of the first quarter. The Sabers’ third touchdown came when Kempa picked up a loose ball and took it 73 yards.

“We won, but I don’t think we played well enough,” Susquehanna coach Dick Bagnall said. “We made a lot of mistakes and took a lot of penalties. Some of the same things as last week. We have to get better and I think we are getting better little by little.”

Redeemer scored its only touchdown when Kurt Jones fell on a fumble in the end zone.

The Royals had another chance to punch one in just before the end of the first half but ran out of time.

With no timeouts, the Royals had a first-and-goal at the 7-yard line and after Le carried to the 1-yard line, Susquehanna defenders were slow getting off the pile and the first half expired.