Photo of Anthony Benson by Apex Imaging and Mike Schnelle
All Recaps posted
KANE 39, ELK COUNTY CATHOLIC 0
ST. MARYS – Behind Shane Rolick, John English and a stifling defense, sixth-seeded Kane avenged a regular-season loss to third-seeded Elk County Catholic with a 39-0 win over the Crusaders at Dutch Country Stadium in St. Marys Saturday night.
Rolick and English combined for 226 yards and five touchdowns, and the Wolves’ defense limited ECC to 119 total yards of offense and scored a touchdown of its own in the win.
English ran 20 times for 136 yards and scored on runs of 2, 5 and 2 yards, while Rolick ran six times for 61 yards with a 16-yard touchdown run and added two catches for 29 yards with a 12-yard scoring catch from Jack Kocjancic.
Kane scored twice in a span of 3:37 midway through the first quarter to grab a 13-0 lead at the end of the quarter with Rolick getting the Wolves on the board with on the 12-yard touchdown catch before he added his scoring run.
English’s first touchdown of the game, a 2-yard run midway through the second quarter, built the lead to 19-0 at halftime, and when James Lingenfelter intercepted a Mitchell Smith pass early in the third quarter and returned it 43 yards for a touchdown the rout was on with Kane leading 26-0.
A pair of English touchdown runs, one in the third quarter and one in the fourth, close out the scoring.
Kane outgained ECC, which had beaten the Wolves 13-12 in the regular season, 345-119.
Smith, returning to the field after missing last week with an injury, was 3 of 10 passing for 73 yards with two interceptions. He also ran 11 times for 19 yards. Dan Singer led the rushing attack with 20 yards on six carries, and Ryan Seelye had two catches for 43 yards. ECC turned the ball over six times fumbling it away four times and throwing a pair of interceptions.
Kane, which was the Class AA runner-up in each of the last two seasons, faces defending champion Clarion in the semifinals at 1 p.m. Saturday at DuBois’ Mansell Stadium.
BROCKWAY 28, REDBANK VALLEY 14
NEW BETHLEHEM — After losing five of their last six games to close the regular season, the Brockway Rovers certainly didn’t blast their way into the District 9 Class A playoffs.
Friday night on the road against Redbank Valley, the Rovers powered their way into the semifinals with a stunning 28-14 win. The fifth-seeded Rovers will now meet the eighth-seeded Union Knights in next weekend’s semifinals.
After both teams scored in each of their first two possessions of the game for a 14-14 tie, Brockway (6-5) pulled away in the fourth quarter and broke the deadlock with two touchdowns. Anthony Benson scored on a pair of 2-yard runs to set the final score.
Benson ran for 99 yards on 20 carries. He started the game’s scoring with a 16-yard run in the first quarter. Anthony Isabella, who started the game in the wildcat taking direct snaps out of the shotgun formation, ran for 70 yards on 15 carries. He also completed a 35-yard pass.
Otherwise, quarterback Hunter Miller was taking the snaps and he completed 8 of 10 passes for 85 yards. Miller scored the Rovers’ other touchdown on a 4-yard run at the end of the first quarter.
Meanwhile, Redbank Valley’s season ended with three straight losses at 8-3. Quarterback Jake Dougherty threw a pair of TD passes to Nick Shoemaker covering 1 and 18 yards on the Bulldogs’ first two possessions. From there, the Bulldogs couldn’t find the end zone. Dougherty completed 18 of 25 passes for 140 yards with two interceptions, both of them by the Rovers’ Isabella.
Brockway didn’t punt once, but the Rovers did try in a key sequence of the game at the end of the first half. Punting from their own 28, the Rovers ran into trouble when a poor snap went over the head of punter Jarrett Esposito. With the ball laying at the 2 and the Bulldogs punt rush converging. Esposito turned toward the end zone and booted it soccer style through the back of the end zone.
The Rovers were flagged for an illegal kick. However, instead of being given the option of taking the safety or a 15-yard penalty and re-play of fourth down, officials penalized the Rovers half the distance to the goal line with the loss of down and gave the Bulldogs the option of taking the ball at the 1.
So the Bulldogs took the incorrect penalty and the two points off the board and went for a touchdown with 52.8 seconds on the clock. However, the decision came up empty as offensive pass interference on the first play pushed the ball back to the 16. After an incomplete pass, Dougherty was intercepted by Isabella at the 1 and two plays later it was halftime.
The Rovers took over in the second half and held the Bulldogs to 67 yards of offense and five first downs, three of them coming in the final possession of the game.
After the Rovers came up empty in a 14-play, 65-yard drive to start the second half when Miller was picked off at the goal line by Connor Shoemaker, they scored in their only other two possessions of the half. Benson scored on his first 2-yarder with 9:27 left in the game. And nursing a 21-14 lead after holding the Bulldogs on a three-and-out, the Rovers put the game away with a 12-play, 49-yard capped by Benson’s second 2-yarder with 1:48 left.
Brockway has never lost to Redbank Valley in the postseason, improving to 4-0.
UNION 18, RIDGWAY 14
RIDGWAY — For the first time in team history, the Union Golden Knights won a playoff game and they made some District 9 history in the process thanks to their second win of the season against Allegheny Mountain League champion and top-seeded Ridgway in the Class A quarterfinals Friday night.
Dugan Gallagher ran for all three of Union’s touchdowns and 129 yards on 27 carries in an 18-14 win over the Elkers (9-2), getting the eighth-seeded Knights (6-5) into next week’s semifinals against Brockway. Union is the first eighth seed to beat a top seed since District 9 expanded the Class A field to eight teams in 2004.
Ridgway led 14-6 at halftime before Gallagher scored on a pair of 3-yard runs in the third and fourth quarters. His second TD put the Knights ahead for good with 8:47 left in regulation. He ran for a 2-yard TD in the first quarter.
Ben MacDonald ran for both of Ridgway’s touchdowns on runs of 1 and 3 yards in the second quarter. He finished with 63 yards on 19 carries. He and the Elkers had a chance to win the game late, but MacDonald was stuffed on a fourth-and-2 play from inside the Union 10 with a minute left in the game.
Usually relying on a passing game led by Lane Cicciarelli, the Knights concentrated on getting Gallagher involved. Cicciarelli completed 5 of 8 passes for 64 yards with an interception.
CLARION 34, CURWENSVILLE 13
CLARION — Shaking off an injury to their star running back Ian Corbett, the Clarion Bobcats pulled away from Curwensville in the second half for a 34-13 win in the Class A quarterfinals Friday night at Clarion University’s Memorial Stadium.
Corbett left the game with an upper body injury midway through the second quarter. By that point, he ran for 126 yards on eight carries with touchdown runs of 6 and 79 yards, both of those coming in the first quarter. His status for the next game is uncertain.
Freshman Colton Rapp helped fill the void and ran for 125 yards on 14 carries. Destin Strauser gained 68 yards on eight carries with a 5-yard TD run in the fourth quarter. Jacob Troutman scored on a 17-yard run in the third quarter.
Clarion (10-1) jumped out to a 16-0 lead on Corbett’s two first-quarter runs. But Curwensville (6-5) got back in the game on back-to-back Nick Stewart TD runs of 3 yards in the second quarter and 56 yards with 7:27 left in the third quarter to get within 16-13. Stewart was a workhorse, running for 188 yards on 35 carries.
The Bobcats put the game away, though, with three unanswered touchdowns to close things out. Troutman and Strauser scored on their runs while Ethan Straffin returned a fumble 6 yards to set the final score with 24 seconds left in the game.
CLEARFIELD 42, JOHNSTOWN 27
HYDE — Piling up 35 points in the second quarter, the Clearfield Bison opened up the District 5-6-8-9 Class AAA Sub-Regional playoffs with a 42-27 win over the Johnstown Trojans Friday night.
The Bison (9-2) led 42-7 at halftime, putting the PIAA’s Mercy Rule running clock into motion the entire second half. During that time, Johnstown (7-4) scored its final 20 points.
Erik Sellers ran for three touchdowns, all 1-yarders and two of them coming in the second-quarter blitzkrieg. Jake Wingate and Seth Caldwell each scored on second-quarter runs of 15 and 2 yards while Ryan Lezzer capped the first-half scoring with a 34-yard interception return with 3:14 left before halftime.
Corey Shimmel ran for 159 yards on 21 carries, Caldwell gained 63 yards on 12 attempts and Sellers went for 53 yards on 16 carries. The Bison ran for 315 yards on a whopping 63 carries.
Johnstown quarterback Jeremy Updyke threw three TD passes, including a 53-yarder to A.J. Fisher less than two minutes into the game. He threw two to Kareem Gibson in the second half. The Bison picked off three Trojans passes.
ST. MARYS 7, MONITEAU 6
ST. MARYS — In a low-scoring affair at Dutch Country Stadium, it came down with point-after conversions as the St. Marys Flying Dutchmen edged visiting Moniteau, 7-6, in their Class AA semifinal Friday night.
After Josh McBride’s 20-yard run and failed two-point conversion put Moniteau (6-5) up 6-0, the Dutch (8-3) scored on T.J. Hogan’s 1-yard run with 50 seconds left in the first half. Zach Fox booted the point-after kick and that was the difference.
St. Marys won despite getting outgained 179-82 by Moniteau. Hogan ran for 63 yards on 17 carries. McBride ran for 112 yards on 22 carries for the Warriors, who also turned the ball over four times, including a fumble at their own 40 that set up St. Marys’ touchdown.
SOMERSET 50, PUNXSUTAWNEY 12
SOMERSET — Despite running just 17 plays in the first half, Somerset blasted its way to 50 points by halftime and settled for a 50-12 win over the Punxsutawney Chucks in the other District 5-6-8-9 Class AAA sub-regional semifinal. The Golden Eagles now meet Clearfield in next weekend’s final.
Somerset (10-1) led 28-6 after the first quarter and scored three more touchdowns in the second quarter to finish its scoring by halftime. The Golden Eagles forced six turnovers, including five interceptions, in the lopsided affair.
Quarterback Dylan Barnes completed just 4 of 6 passes for 195 yards and three touchdowns while Raven Beeman caught two of those passes for 130 yards and TD grabs of 44 and 86 yards.
Punxsutawney (6-5) scored twice on a Dakota Thomas 15-yard pass to Braxton Giaviadoni in the first quarter and Travis Perry’s 1-yard run in the fourth quarter. Perry Arrington ran for 109 yards on 18 carries.
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