Mounties rule

P-O routs Penns Valley to sweep county schools

Walt Moody

- wmoody@centredaily.com

SPRING MILLS — One team held onto the ball in sloppy conditions, one team didn’t.

CDT/Michelle Bixby

Penns Valley's Kody Bjalme (29) gets taken down by Philipsburg's Michael John (8) in the 2nd quarter of the Philipsburg-Osceola at Penns Valley varsity football game Friday, Oct. 9, 2009. CDT/Michelle Bixby

View larger

And in the simplest of terms, that’s why Philipsburg-Osceola rolled over Centre County rival Penns Valley 31-6 on a rainy Friday night.

Quarterback Mike Marcinko rushed 75 yards for a second-half touchdown and led an offense that allowed just one turnover, while the Mounties (3-3) capitalized on four Penns Valley turnovers as they finished 3-0 against the three Centre County teams on their schedule.

Penns Valley (1-5) lost two fumbles, which led to two P-O scores, and was forced to recover one of its own fumbles in the end zone for a safety. The Rams put the ball on the ground seven different times, losing the two, and also had two passes intercepted.

“It’s something we can’t have and field position off of those fumbles killed us,” said Penns Valley coach Martin Tobias, who said his team works on securing the ball every day in practice. “They scored on short fields.”

The Mounties took advantage of a short field on their first possession, recovering a fumbled snap at the Rams’ 21. Four running plays later, Steve Rusnak powered his way in from three yards out to make it 6-0.

Later in the quarter after Zach Czap pinned the Rams at the 10 with well-placed punt, quarterback Sam Snyder couldn’t handle a shotgun snap and had to fall on it in the end zone for a safety to make it 8-0.

Czap booted a 37-yard field goal with 23 seconds left in the second quarter to make the score 11-0 at the half.

Penns Valley’s defense came out fired up to start the third quarter, stuffing the Mounties first two running players for a pair of two-yard losses.

Then, Marcinko got loose. After a nice fake, the P-O quarterback took through a big hole on the right side and raced 75 yards untouched down the right sideline and Czap’s extra point made it 18-0.

“Justin Shimmel made a really nice block on that and it just opened up,” Marcinko said. “I saw a couple of pancake blocks and I just ran.”

Penns Valley broke a nine-quarter scoring drought, just three plays later. Starting quarterback Matt Helm made a nice catch on a high snap in the shotgun and took off through the right side. He broke a couple of tackles, the last at the P-O 40 to complete a spectacular 76-yard scoring run. A missed extra point left the score 18-6 with 8:20 left in the third quarter.

Helm’s run would be the last time the Rams would cross into Mountie territory. Shimmel led a strong defensive line, while Marcinko and Keith Smolko had interceptions during the contest.

“Other than the big run I was pleased with our defense,” P-O coach Jeff Vroman said. “I thought we were in good position.”

One more Penns Valley fumble, after Czap pinned the Rams at their 3, sealed the decision. Taking over at the 2 after the turnover, Czap took a direct snap and scored as the lead grew to 25-6.

As Mounties’ the reserves were running out the clock, Cody Lee broke loose for a 35-yard touchdown to end the scoring with 42 seconds left. P-O took a knee instead of attempting the extra point.

The Mounties, who run the risky Wing T, fumbled just twice, losing one deep in Penns Valley territory.

“That’s something that we stress and that’s hard with the offense that we run because there is a lot of ball-handling that’s going on,” Vroman said. “There’s a lot of handoffs that are made with people on dead sprints. That’s a credit to all of our kids and it’s concentration.”

Marcinko said the Mounties are used to making adjustments for the poor weather conditions. “It’s hard to keep your balance, but you’ve got to just make choppy steps and let the line work,” he said.

The Mounties did not complete a pass, but rushed for 287 yards on 51 carries. Marcinko (75 yards), Cody Kurtis (61) and Czap (61) led the attack.

Helm had 75 yards on six carries and Kody Bjalme had 73 hard-fought yards on 18 carries for the Rams.

While the victory clinched Centre County bragging rights, Marcinko said the Mounties have bigger plans.

“We want to make playoffs,” he said. “That’s our major goal and what we’re striving for.”

“Each week, we’re getting better,” Vroman said. “We’re gaining some confidence and that’s where you have to be with four games in the regular season remaining.”