Penns Valley’s hopes for upset win dashed early against Chestnut Ridge

Penns Valley put a jolt of fear into a one-loss Bellefonte team last week, and they looked upset-minded once again through 12 minutes Friday with another one-loss team, Chestnut Ridge.

The Rams and Lions traded first quarter scores, and the Rams were set up with good field position to potentially tie the score to start the second quarter. But Lions outside linebacker Jared McGill dashed any hopes of an upset when he picked off an Aaron Tobias pass and took it to the house for a 47-yard TD to put the Lions up two scores just 27 seconds into the second quarter.

Chestnut Ridge (7-1) never looked back in a 42-14 victory over Penns Valley (2-6).

Tobias had a receiver slip and fall on the fateful pass, and the Rams never rebounded after the costly mistake.

“When good things happen, it’s easy to keep it going,” Penns Valley head coach Martin Tobias said. “When bad things happen, you have to find ways to pick yourself up and overcome them.”

Aaron Tobias started the game completing 6-of-8 passes for 55 yards on the first three drives, with Ryan Ripka paying off their second drive with a 35-yard TD off the right edge to cut the deficit to 7-6.

But McGill picked off Tobias’ on the third drive, on his ninth pass of the game, and the sophomore QB then hit a stretch of eight passes without a completion.

“Jared’s a key contributor, and he stepped up,” Chestnut Ridge head coach Max Shoemaker said. “He’s made big plays all year, and he made another one in that situation.”

The Rams had five straight drives during that stretch in the second and third quarter without a first down, and it took until the 4:53 mark off the third quarter for the Rams to get back into Chestnut Ridge territory.

After totaling 343 passing yards and two passing TDs against Bellefonte last week, the Lions held Tobias to 10-of-23 passing for 104 yards and two INTs.

His only TD pass came during the mercy-rule period to Nic Kubalak on a 26-yard strike.

“Those RPO (run-pass option) offenses, we don’t see a lot of them,” Shoemaker said. “We practiced hard against it, but it’s still different when you see it live. Our kids got the rhythm of what they were trying to do. It was an adjustment period, but once we adjusted, we showed that we have some pretty good athletes and can match up with people pretty well.”

Lions QB Logan Hauck played a hand in four of Chestnut Ridge’s five offensive TDs, as he posted three running scores and a passing TD on his way to 161 passing yards and 84 rushing yards.

The Rams celebrated Senior Night against Chestnut Ridge, but they couldn’t send out their graduating class with a third home victory for the season.

The Rams finish out their schedule with road dates against Tyrone and Cowanesque Valley.

“They are a great group of kids,” Martin Tobias said of his seniors. “They represent the community well. They represent the school well. They represent their families well. ... They’re good student-athletes, and they’re going to be outstanding young men.”

This story was originally published October 14, 2017 at 12:47 AM with the headline "Penns Valley’s hopes for upset win dashed early against Chestnut Ridge."