By Rob Potter
LIVINGSTON MANOR — After suffering defeat in its first two games of the season, the Livingston Manor/Roscoe Devilcats football team was able to put a check in the win column on Thursday afternoon.
The Devilcats took a 14-0 lead against Onteora in the first quarter and went on to record a 41-3 victory in the non-league game at Livingston Manor Central School.
Leading LMR (1-2) to the win was sophomore quarterback Troy Correa, who rushed for 196 yards on 13 carries and completed 6-of-8 passes for 91 yards.
Correa had touchdown runs of 37 yards and 46 yards and threw three touchdown passes. He connected with Brandon Smith for TDs of 21 and 22 yards and threw a 6-yard TD to Ross Abbott.
Correa gave the Devilcats a 6-0 lead with his 37-yard run to the end zone with 10:43 left in the first quarter.
With 1:21 to go in the quarter, Joe Fredenburg capped a five-play drive with a 1-yard touchdown run. Correa then ran for the two-point conversion to extend the LMR advantage to 14-0.
The Devilcats scored two TDs in the final minute of the second quarter to take a 28-3 lead at halftime. The first of those scores was Abbott’s reception, which was followed by a successful two-point pass from Correa to Abbott.
The only points for Onteora (0-2) came on a 27-yard field goal by Nick Ocuhi with 8:28 left in the second quarter.
Following the game, Onteora Coach Chris Kasprzyk had a lot of praise for Correa.
“He’s a tremendous athlete,” Kasprzyk said. “He is a slash-type player because he can run and pass the ball very well. They did a very good job of blocking for him today. He played a great game.”
While Correa paced the Devilcats’ rushing attack, four other players also carried the ball. Adam Hendrix ran three times for 18 yards, Mike Mills had three rushes for 13 yards, Troy
Edwards ran once for eight yards and Fredenburg had 10 carries for three yards.
Smith was the top LMR receiver with three catches for 74 yards, while Hendrix had two receptions for 11 yards.
“I was very pleased with how we played on offense and defense,” LMR Co-Coach Fred Ahart said. “But I think the biggest thing for the kids is just getting a win on the board.”
Co-Coach Kevin Clifford concurred with Ahart.
“It’s good to get that taste of winning back in our mouth after two tough losses,” Clifford said.
Clifford also noted the performance of the LMR defense.
“Our defense played very well today,” he commented. “We only gave up the field goal. And every time our offense lost the ball, the defense got it right back.”
Among the leaders of the Devilcats’ defense were Abbott and Hendrix. Abbott made an interception to stop an Onteora drive in the second quarter and Hendrix picked off a pass in the fourth quarter.
While happy with the win, Ahart noted that LMR was flagged for several penalties in the contest.
“Certainly we have to work on reducing our penalties,” he said. “Each game we should learn from those mistakes and play better the next game.”
The Devilcats will try to make it two wins in a row when they travel to Chester this Saturday for a non-league game. Kickoff is set for 3 p.m.