ERIE, Pa. – JJ Ganska rushed for 195 yards and a pair of touchdowns and Paul Johnson accounted for four total touchdowns (2 rushing, 2 passing) as Mercyhurst Prep improved to 6-0 with a 55-0 win over Eisenhower.
Rewatch the game:
The Lakers scored twice in the first 2:30 of the game and never looked back, taking a 42-0 halftime lead.
“We’re a pretty good offense, but our defense is good, too,” Ganska said during the Cole Orthodontic Associates Player of the Game interview. “We had a couple players out on offense but we had our young guys come in and do their work and we just succeeded the way we knew we could.”
See Ganska’s full interview:
The highlight of Ganska’s evening came on a 95-yard touchdown run in the second quarter that, coupled with the extra point, made it 35-0 with 5:35 to go in the first half.
The Lakers second score came on defense courtesy of a 29-yard fumble return from Amir Jones.
In between, it was a whole lot of Johnson and Ganska.
The duo got the scoring going with a 44-yard touchdown pass on the first drive of the game, with Johnson also scoring on runs of 13 and 11 yards in the first half.
Ganska scored on a 1-yard touchdown run late in the first half and Johnson threw a 19-yard touchdown to Ja’son Ellman in the second half.
Johnson finished with 77 yards rushing and 77 yards passing.
Tucker Lindell led Eisenhower with 59 yards rushing on 14 carries, while Logan Penley had 14 carries for 50 yards.
LAKEVIEW 20, COCHRANTON 12
STONEBORO, Pa. – Lakeview built a 20-6 halftime lead and held off Cochranton, 20-12, to improve to 6-0 for the first time in program history.
Blake Foulk tied the game for Cochranton late in the first quarter, 6-6 on a 6-yard run, but Lakeview’s Blake Skiles returned the ensuing kickoff 80 yards for a touchdown to give the Sailors a lead they wouldn’t relinquish.
The Sailors made it 20-6 in the second quarter on a Leyton Zacherl 45-yard touchdown pass to make it 20-6.
That score held until early in the fourth quarter when Cochranton’s Isaiah Long made it 20-12 on a 7-yard touchdown run.
The Sailors defense shut things down from there, however.
Zacherl threw two touchdowns passes in the game, getting the scoring started with a 25-yarder to Clarence Barber. Zacherl finished with 69 yards through the air for the Sailors, who were playing without leading rusher Mitchell Tingley due to injury.
Noah Cummings led Cochranton on the ground with 104 yards on 23 carries.
