GEIST LEADS REDBANK VALLEY TO SHUTOUT WIN OVER A-C VALLEY

WEEK 5

Information for this story is courtesy of the Clarion News

NEW BETHLEHEM – Ron Geist ran for 259 yards and two touchdowns to lead Redbank Valley (2-3 overall, 2-2 KSAC) to a 19-0 win over A-C Valley (1-4 overall, 1-3 KSAC) in a rare Thursday night KSAC game at Redbank Valley.

All 19 of Redbank Valley’s points came in the final 12:55 seconds of the game, and all 19 of the points came after A-C Valley turnovers.

Geist got the game’s first touchdown on a 21-yard run with only 55 seconds left in the third quarter. The touchdown ended a 50-yard drive for Redbank Valley (2-3, 2-2 KSAC) that was set up by a Scott Smith fumble recovery at the 50-yard line. The extra point was no good, but the Bulldogs led 6-0 going to the fourth quarter.

Early in the fourth quarter, Tyson Truitt intercepted a Mike Stewart pass at the Redbank Valley 11-yard line giving the Bulldogs the ball with 89 yards to go for a score.

It didn’t take Redbank Valley very long to cover the distance with Truitt catching a 36-yard pass from Chris Merwin for the Bulldogs’ second touchdown with 10:47 left in the game. Merwin’s two-point conversion run failed, but Redbank Valley led 12-0. The big play of the drive was a 53-yard run by Geist that put the ball at the A-C Valley 36-yard line.

Redbank Valley then capped the scoring when Lee Jordan intercepted a pass and returned it 62 yards to set up a 4-yard run by Geist with only 2:53 left to play. Brady Evans hit the extra point putting the final margin of the Bulldog win at 19 points.

The key to the game was the Redbank Valley defense which shutdown an A-C Valley offense that had racked up over 630 yard last week against Union. This week the Falcons were limited to only 148 yards on total offense including just 25 on the ground on 27 carries a meager 0.9 yards per carry. The Bulldogs also intercepted A-C Valley’s Stewart, last week’s D9Sports.Com District 9 Co-Player of the Week, three times and constantly put pressure on him all night long.

The Bulldogs offense, meanwhile, managed 283 yards on offense including 247 on the ground with Geist accounting for 91.5 percent of all of the Redbank Valley yards on the night and amazingly 105 percent of the Bulldogs rushing yards. The rest of the team managed to rush for –12 yards with Merwin ending up with –36 yards rushing thanks to some A-C Valley sacks.

Zach Heeter led A-C Valley’s ground game with 14 rushes for 37 yards, while Stewart was 12-for-27 passing for 123 yards and the three interceptions. Adam Crawford was the Falcon’s top receiver with six catches for 69 yards.

A-C Valley is back in action next Friday night at Karns City, while Redbank Valley will host Moniteau the same night. Both games start at 7 p.m.

NOTE: The Thursday night game on the Friday preceding the annual Autumn Leaf Festival Farmer’s and Crafter’s Day is becoming a tradition at Redbank Valley. It marked the third straight year the Bulldogs have played on that Thursday night with Redbank Valley going 3-0 in those games.

BOX SCORE

A 0 0 0 0 0

R 0 0 6 13 19

SCORE BY QUARTER

Third Quarter

R – Ron Geist 21 run (Kick no good) :55

Fourth quarter

R – Tyson Truitt 36 pass from Chris Merwin (run failed) 10:47

R – Geist 4 run (Evans kick) 2:53

TEAM STATS

A R

First downs 8 11

Rushes-yards 27-25 44-247

Passing 123 36

Comp-att-int 12-27-3 1-8-1

punts 7-29 4-29

fumbles, lost 2-1 4-3

pen.-yards 5-35 3-34

INDIVIDUAL STATS

Rushing: A-C Valley: Zach Heeter 14-37, Mike Stewart 13 (-12). Redbank Valley: Ron Geist 28-259, Chris Merwin -- 11 (-36), Tyson Schreckengost 3-2, Scott Smith 2-22.

Passing: A-C Valley: Mike Stewart 12-for--27 123 yards 3 ints. Redbank Valley: Chris Merwin 1-for-8 36 yards 1 td 1int.

Receiving: A-C Valley: Adam Crawford 6-69, Zach Heeter 2-20, Josh Defibaugh 2-6, Corey Clawson 1-27. Randy Merwin 1-1. Redbank Valley: Tyson Truitt 1-36.

Interceptions -- A-C Valley: Mike Stewart. Redbank Valley: Tyson Truitt 2, Lee Jordan.

Fumble recovery – Redbank Valley: Scott Smith.