SELINSGROVE ENDS BRADFORD'S SEASON

SELINSGROVE 28, BRADFORD 0

Nov. 23, 2007 at DuBois (PIAA Class AAA First Round)

By Rich Rhoades

DuBOIS – For the second straight year, Selinsgrove punched out Bradford’s season.

Mike Ritter scored three times, two of them on passes from quarterback Eric Deckard, as the Seals blanked the Owls 28-0 in their PIAA Class AAA state playoff opener at DuBois’ E.J. Mansell Stadium Friday night.

Selinsgrove (11-2) won its fourth straight opening-round state playoff game and now meets WPIAL champion Thomas Jefferson next weekend.

Bradford finished 8-3.

Last year, it was a 48-14 Selinsgrove win over the Owls. Bradford head coach Steve Ackerman saw a lot of similarities, just not as many points.

“Mistakes,” Ackerman said. “We didn’t show the kids the film from last year until yesterday and showed them the opportunities we missed. It was almost the same type of game. (Last year) it was 14-7 with about five minutes to go in the second quarter and they tacked 14 more points on the board because of mistakes. The same thing happened here tonight.”

Just about. Selinsgrove led 7-0 at halftime scoring on its first possession of the game thanks to a 25-yard Deckard to Ritter touchdown pass on fourth-and-9.

The Owls managed to hang on despite just four first downs in the first half. They took the second-half kickoff and marched into Seals territory before Taylor O’Brien, playing for the first time since getting hurt in Week 6, fumbled the ball away at the Seals’ 37.

For the Owls, desperately needed momentum slipped away.

“We’re down 7-0 and get the ball inside the 20 and start driving to their 40 and fumble the ball away,” Ackerman said. “You go deep into the season and those mistakes will kill you, and we had several of them.”

Selinsgrove used eight plays to cash in the turnover for a touchdown when Deckard hit Ritter again for a 17-yard score on second-and-16 with 4:20 left in the third quarter.

The Seals nearly scored again on what would have been a 70-yard interception return by linebacker Bryce Auker, but an illegal block penalty called it back and gave them the ball at the Bradford 22.  It was one of 15 penalties for 110 yards on the night for Selinsgrove. But on the next play, the Seals fumbled it away at the Owls’ 5.

No matter. Bradford punted it away, and Selinsgrove scored on two straight possessions, the first on Ritter’s 32-yard end-around.

For Ritter, it’s been a big-play season for the speedy 5-foot-11, 187-pound senior. He now has 17 touchdowns – two rushing, eight receiving, two on interception returns, two on kick returns and three on punt returns.

Freshman Seth Lauver scored the final points of the night on a 1-yard run with 3:19 left in the game.

For being shut out, Bradford had decent field position. Of the Owls’ 10 possessions, they reached Seals territory six times. Three drives started on the Seals’ side of the field.

Early in the second quarter, three O’Brien runs totaling 26 yards got the Owls’ to the Seals’ 20 where they tried a 37-yard field goal with Cody Nuzzo, but he didn’t get a good leg on it and it fell short in the end zone.

Matt Teribery’s interception helped the Owls get good field position late in the first half.

The Owls called timeout on second-and-3 from the Seals’ 26 with 1:40 remaining, but Nick Johnson was hit with a two-yard loss and quarterback Kyle Yurkewicz was sacked for another 7-yard loss to end the threat.

Down 14-0 in the second half, the Owls reached the Selinsgrove 34, but two plays later Auker intercepted Yurkewicz.

With the clock running out in the game, the Owls came up short on fourth down at the Seals’ 19.

The shutout still didn’t diminish what the Owls accomplished this year, winning their second straight District 9 Class AAA title along with the final D9 League crown.

“I’m more proud of this team than any I’ve coached just because of what we accomplished,” Ackerman said. “We wouldn’t use injuries all year as a crutch. We weren’t going to talk about it. We figured if we talked about them, then we would say that’s why we lost that game. We did without them and played. These kids accomplished a lot.”

NOTES: Selinsgrove outgained the Owls, 340-149 … O’Brien, who originally was going to be out for the season, came back and led the Owls with 61 yards on 16 carries. Johnson finished with 49 on 13 attempts. Yurkewicz was 0-for-4  passing with the interception … Deckard, who had a slow first half passing at 3-for-13, finished the second half strong and completed all four of his passes. He threw for 117 yards … Ritter caught three balls for 48 yards and rushed for 58 yards on three carries … This will be the third time in four years that the Seals will play Thomas Jefferson in the second round of the PIAA playoffs. Last year, they lost to TJ 27-14 and in 2004 it was another 20-14 loss ... Bradford was shutout for the first time in 25 games. The last time the Owls failed to reach the scoreboard was ironically at Mansell Stadium, prior to the new turf, Oct. 21, 2005, when DuBois blanked the Owls 37-0 … District 9 Class AAA champions have now lost five straight PIAA Playoff games since Bradford upset Perry 13-7 in 2003 to reach the PIAA semifinal game. That season, the Owls fell to a Neil Walker-led Pine-Richland club in the semifinals. Clearfield then fell to Perry in 2004 and 2005 before Bradford has lost the last two seasons to Selinsgrove.

SELINSGROVE 28, BRADFORD 0

Score By Quarters

Selinsgrove     7          0          7          14        -           28

Bradford        0          0          0          0          -           0

Scoring Summary

First Quarter

S — Mike Ritter 25 pass from Eric Deckard (Tim Walls kick), 7:45.

Third Quarter

S — Mike Ritter 17 pass from Eric Deckard (Tim Walls kick), 4:20.

Fourth Quarter

S — Mike Ritter 32 run (Tim Walls kick), 8:19.

S — Seth Lauver 1 run (Tim Walls kick), 3:19.

                                                S                      B

First Downs                            17                    13

Rushes-Yards                          32-223             47-149

Passing: Comp-Att-Int            7-17-1              0-5-1

Passing Yards                         117                  0

Total Yards                             340                  149

Fumbles-Lost                          1-1                   4-1

Penalties-Yards                       15-110             10-68

Punts-Avg                               2-34.5              6-33.8

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

Rushing — Selinsgrove: Eric Deckard 11-88, Mike Ritter 3-58, Seth Lauver 11-47, Bryant Trautman 2-17, Trevor Kerstetter 4-14, Team 1-(-1). Bradford: Taylor O’Brien 16-61, Nick Johnson 13-49, Dan McMurtrie 10-36, Steve Hill 4-14, Kyle Yurkewicz 4-(-11).

Passing — Selinsgrove: Eric Deckard 7-of-17, 117 yards, 1 TD, 1 Int. Bradford: Kyle Yurkewicz 0-for-4, 1 Int.; Nick Johnson 0-1.

Receiving — Selinsgrove: Bryce Auker 3-57, Mike Ritter 3-48, Ryan Keiser 1-12.

Interceptions — Selinsgrove: Bryce Auker.

Sacks — Selinsgrove: Chad Drzewiecki.

Kick returns — Selinsgrove: Mike Ritter 1-18. Bradford: Nick Johnson 4-75, Cody Nuzzo 1-6.

Punt returns — Selinsgrove: Mike Ritter 3-26, Bryce Auker 1-1. Bradford: Nick Johnson 1-27.

Punting — Selinsgrove: Tim Walls 2-69. Bradford: Cody Nuzzo 6-203.