Penns Valley football defeats Bellefonte 34-20 with help of second-half rally
Penns Valley looked to continue its winning ways against Bellefonte on Friday night after defeating Line Mountain 41-13 in the season opener last week.
The Rams extended their winning streak to two with a 34-20 victory over the Red Raiders. Penns Valley junior running back Ty Watson had 79 rushing yards for three touchdowns in the victory. All three of his touchdowns came in the second half, and all it took was a little bit of fire from his head coach.
“We went in the locker room, had some pretty inspirational speeches by coach (Martin Tobias), and we came out there and did what we had to do in the second half,” Watson said.
Tobias looked back on a blocked punt by Colin Niewinski as the catalyst to lead them to victory.
“I think that some of the momentum came off of the blocked punt,” Tobias said. “The kids were really invigorated and excited by that to go ahead and put content on the board that way right there at the end of the half.”
The Red Raiders got things started with a 15-yard touchdown rush by senior running back Jamal Saunders on the team’s second drive with 1 minute, 49 seconds left in the first quarter. Bellefonte led 7-0 at the conclusion of the quarter.
Penns Valley answered Bellefonte with junior quarterback Jackson Romig’s 13-yard touchdown pass to senior wide receiver Miles Brooks to even things up 7-7 with 7:24 remaining in the first half. Bellefonte took just three plays to regain the lead on its ensuing drive with junior quarterback Trevor Johnson hitting senior wideout Logan Williams on a 46-yard pass for a touchdown.
Immediately after its touchdown drive, Bellefonte recovered an onside kick at the Penns Valley 36-yard line. Johnson hit Williams on a 12-yard touchdown pass to give the Red Raiders a 20-7 lead with 2:37 left in the half. After getting the ball back deep in its own territory, Bellefonte had a blocked punt that was recovered in the end zone by Niewinski for a touchdown. Penns Valley trailed just 20-14 at the half.
The third quarter was strictly in favor of the Rams — specifically Watson. Watson started his scoring onslaught with a 22-yard rushing touchdown with 9:26 remaining in the third quarter to give Penns Valley a 21-20 lead. Watson continued with 17-yard rush for a touchdown (11:43) and a 10-yard rushing score (8:31) to cap off the Rams scoring in the fourth quarter.
Bellefonte head coach Vaughn Donmoyer understood that his team is still working through growing pains. Saunders is returning from a season-ending injury in 2021 and a number of other players are new. He looks forward to expanding upon a positive first half from the Red Raiders.
“In the second half, I’ll take full responsibility for it,” Donmoyer said. “I told the kids, ‘It’s on me.’ In the third quarter, it was 20-14, and we just needed to move from there. In the second half, we’re just piecing some things together offensively. Yes it was great to see 20 points in the first half, but we need to put a full game together. Again, it comes down to some of the fundamentals of doing things correctly and being able to play the full game.”
Penns Valley 34, Bellefonte 20
Bellefonte 7 13 0 0
Penns Valley 0 14 7 13
First quarter
B – Saunders 15 run (PAT good), 5:04
Second quarter
P – Brooks 13 pass from Romig (PAT good), 7:24
B – Williams 46 pass from Johnson (PAT good), 5:34
B – Williams 12 pass from Johnson (PAT no good), 2:37
P – Niewinski blocked punt, fumble recovery (PAT good), 0:05
Third quarter
P — Watson 22 run (PAT good), 9:26
Fourth quarter
P — Watson 17 run (PAT no good), 11:43
P — Watson 10 run (PAT good), 8:31
Philipsburg falls at home to Huntingdon
Coaches always tell their teams both figuratively and literally they have to play the whole game.
On Friday night, Philipsburg-Osceola had a 10-point lead disappear in the final five minutes of its 14-10 loss to Huntingdon.
“Truthfully, they (Huntingdon) played a much better football game than we did. They deserved to win,” Mounties coach Jeff Vroman said of the loss. “I saw them playing harder than we did the whole football game. The outcome, I get it, but it’s not tough when you see they outplayed us in every facet.”
Neither team was able to get anything going offensively in the first half of the game.
The Bearcats looked like they were going to get the first score of the game halfway through the first quarter, but Sam McDonald picked off a pass in the red zone. On the ensuing possession, the Mounties saw their drive come to an end with an interception from Huntingdon’s Ashton Steele.
Philipsburg-Osceola had a drive early in the second quarter finish with the Bearcats’ Evan Edmiston picking off a pass.
“When (we) did get a play, (we) had a penalty, those things will kill you. You have to be disciplined, and that’s probably the most upsetting,” Vroman said. “It’s not the loss, it was how undisciplined we played at times. It is very uncharacteristic of our football team because we don’t coach that. We take pride in being disciplined.”
Huntingdon again had a shot of putting the first points on the board in the third quarter, but their 26-yard field goal attempt was botched due to a failed hold, and the Mounties pounced on the ball. Philipsburg-Osceola took the ensuing possession and marched down the field.
The Mounties’ Hank Hazelton kicked a 26-yard field goal for the first points of the game with 3 seconds remaining in the third quarter. Philipsburg-Osceola forced a third punt from the Bearcats on the next drive.
The Mounties’ Ben Gustkey capped off a two-plus minute drive with a 19-yard rushing score. It gave Philipsburg-Osceola a 10-0 lead with just over five minutes left in the game. From there, it was all Huntingdon.
The Bearcats need just one play after the kickoff from the Mounties’ score to find the end zone. Eric Mykut connected on a 49-yard bomb to Tyler Young for a score that took just 10 seconds to happen.
Huntingdon forced a three-and-out on Philipsburg-Osceola’s ensuing possession and almost wasn’t able to complete the comeback. The Bearcats had 4th-and-6 at the Mounties’ 29. Mykut found Steele, who made an incredible one-handed catch at Philipsburg-Osceola’s 2. A penalty from the Mounties put the ball at the 1, and Steele rushed in for the game-winning score.
“It goes back to when we were up 10-0, we got to end it. Somebody had to make a play,” Vroman said. “The first play after the kickoff, you can’t give up a 50-yard touchdown. Those are things that we can’t have happen. They made plays, and we didn’t. I thought at times we looked super sluggish. I wasn’t too pleased with us in many facets of the game.”
HUNTINGDON 14, PHILIPSBURG-OSCEOLA 10
Huntingdon 0 0 0 14 -- 14
Philipsburg-Osceola 0 0 3 7 -- 10
Third Quarter
P-O--Hank Hazelton 26 FG, 0:03
Fourth Quarter
P-O--Ben Gustkey 19 run (Hazelton kick), 5:09
H--Tyler Long 49 pass from Eric Mykut (Mykut kick), 4:51
H--Ashton Steele 1 run (Mykut kick), 1:21
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING--Huntingdon, Steele 13-44, Mykut 11-30, Lincoln Miller 8-37, TEAM 1-(-7). Philipsburg-Osceola, Gustkey 15-61, Jakodi Jones 12-55, Dayton Barger 5-30, Sam McDonald 4-23, Dawson Snyder 1-(-1), TEAM 1-(-6).
PASSING--Huntingdon, Mykut 5-13-128-1 TD, Steele 0-1-0-0. Philipsburg-Osceola, Gustkey 2-9-43-0.
RECEIVING--Huntingdon, Long 4-101, Steele 1-27. Philipsburg-Osceola, Nick Johnson 1-36, Jones 1-7.
INTERCEPTIONS--Huntingdon, Steele 1, Evan Edmiston 1. Philipsburg-Osceola, McDonald 1.
Records: Huntingdon 1-1, Philipsburg-Osceola 1-1
Next game: Philipsburg-Osceola at Tyrone, Friday, 7 p.m.
This story was originally published September 2, 2022 at 11:39 PM.
