By Bryan Swan

EMPORIUM – The defending District 9 Class A champions survived Friday night as Cameron County pulled out a 29-22 victory over Port Allegany to advance into the semifinals.

The Raiders never trailed in the contest, but a 26-yard field goal by Port Allegany’s Camrin Stuckey evened the score at 22 with 1:37 left in regulation.

However, the Red Raiders weren’t to be denied. Quarterback Jason Blose started Cameron’s ensuing drive with 44-yard run before Andy Lippert scored from 10 yards out to put the defending champs back on top with 44 seconds left to play.

Port Allegany quickly found themselves in Red Raider territory following the kick off. Matt Bodamer completed a 29-yard pass to Ryan Bodamer on the Gators first play of the drive to Cameron’s 32-yard line.

The Gators had 24 seconds remaining to find pay dirt, but three of Bodamer’s passes fell incomplete before Cody Beer knocked down Bodamer’s final pass attempt to end the contest.

Cameron County (10-1) will play second-seeded Clarion. The Bobcats (8-3) advanced with a 29-2 victory over the seventh seed, Elk County Catholic.

“We knew we had to come back and march down the field and score,” Cameron County head coach John Fragale said. “I didn’t know whether to play it or not. I didn’t want a turnover to give it to them. We had a pass play called for Jason when he broke that. Once we got down the field, it was game time. The kids showed what they were made of.”

The Red Raiders took a two-touchdown lead in the first quarter using an efficient ground game. The Gators had no answer for Cameron’s running attack the rest of the evening as the Red Raiders totaled 412 rushing yards on 54 carries.

“We just couldn’t stop the long run,” Port Allegany head coach Mike Bodamer said. “The QB sneak killed us all night long. The run defense was poor. We were trying to stop the run so he would have to throw. Those six or seven long runs killed us. We didn’t have enough fire power to come back.”

Four players combined to pile up all the rushing yards. Blose led the way with 169 yards and one score on 18 carries while Lippert had two TDs and 118 yards on 17 totes. Tanner Johnson added a 79-yard score as well.

Defensively, Cameron County had two special teams plays that helped make the difference. Andrew Fragale blocked an extra point in the second quarter that left the Gators deficit at one, at 14-13. 

Fragale got through the line again in the fourth quarter, coming up with another block on Seth Lowery’s PAT, leaving the Gators behind by three, at 22-19, with 8:39 to play.

Port Allegany was able to get the ball back though after it forced Cameron to punt for the second time in the game.

The Gators took over at their 39 with a little more than five minutes to play. Matt Bodamer picked up a first down with a third-down completion to Ryan Bodamer for 20 yards, and a 15-yard personal foul call against the Red Raiders was tacked on at the end of the play to move Port to the Cameron 24.

The Red Raiders pushed their counterparts to fourth-and-6, but Matt Bodamer scrambled for seven yards to move the chains. However, the Cameron County defense held tough though, allowing only the field goal to Stuckey to tie things up.

Lippert started the Red Raiders ensuing possession with a 20-yard kickoff return to their 40-yard line. On the next play, Blose dropped back to pass, he avoided pressure, and scrambled up the middle and cut to the outside before he was brought down at the Gator 17-yard line.

Two penalties move Cameron back though, setting up first-and-20 from the 26, but Hunter Bardo got 16 yards back with a run on second down. Lippert scored on the next play to give the Red Raiders the lead.

“We needed to stop them once or twice, but we just couldn’t do it when we needed too,” Bodamer said. “I thought for sure we’d go to overtime again, but broken plays killed us.”

The Red Raiders committed nine penalties for 85 yards while Port was flagged four times for 31 yards.

Matt Bodamer finished 11 of 22 for 228 yards with two touchdowns and  no interceptions. Stuckey pulled in five passes for 97 yards with two scores while Ryan Bodamer had three for 67.

Cameron County ran only eight plays in the first quarter, but it had 18 points to show for it. Blose ran for 54 yards on the Red Raiders third play of the game before Stuckey saved a touchdown by bringing him down at the six. Blose finished off the drive with a QB keeper from the one for the score.

The Red Raiders needed two plays two score on their next possession. Johnson took the handoff around the end and he avoided one tackle and side-stepped another before going 79 yards to pay dirt. Bardo added the extra point to make it 14-0 with 3:43 left in the first.

Leading 14-13 at the half, Cameron County dominated the time of possession in the third quarter, where the Red Raiders ran 19 plays to Port Allegany’s four.

“At half time, we had some issues. Port took it to us in the second quarter and they were out hitting us,” Fragale said. “I got on the kids and told them that if you want to win the ball game, then it’s got to come from you. You’re the ones that have to do it. It’s hard motivating them sometimes because they expect to win. When they get behind, they really kick it in.”

Cameron received the ball to start the third, and it went 74 yards in nine plays before Lippert scored from four yards. The Red Raiders went for two, and Blose found Ryan Grimm in the back of the end zone to make it 22-13.

NOTES: Lippert pushed his season rushing total to 1,306 yards and 18 touchdowns. Blose’s big game put him over 600 yards. He has 645 yards and six TDs.

CAMERON COUNTY 29,

PORT ALLEGANY 22

Score By Quarters

Port Allegany             0          13        0                      9 — 22

Cameron Co.                         14        0          8                      7 — 29

Scoring Summary

First Quarter

C - Jason Blose 1 run (Hunter Bardo kick), 6:21.

C - Tanner Johnson 79 run (Bardo kick), 3:43.

Second Quarter

P - Adam Greenman fumble recovery in end zone (Seth Lowery kick), 11:49.

P - Camrin Stuckey 11 pass from Matt Bodamer (Kick blocked), 4:33.

Third Quarter

C - Andy Lippert 4 run (Ryan Grimm from Blose), 7:51.

Fourth Quarter

P - Stuckey 31 pass from Bodamer (Kick blocked), 8:39.

P - Stuckey 26 field goal, 1:37.

C - Lippert 10 run (Bardo kick), :44.

            P          C

First Downs    14        14

Rushes-Yards  35-89   54-412

Passing Yards 228      18

Comp-Att-Int  11-23-0            2-10-0

Total Yardage 317      430

Punts-Average            2-30.5  2-29

Fumbles-lost    2-1       3-0

Penalties-Yards           4-31     9-85

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

Rushing - Port Allegany: Seth Lowery 18-81, Ryan Bodamer 6-22, Matt Bodamer 5-(-3), Zach Ramadhan 2-3, Scott Larson 2-1, Camrin Stuckey 1-0, Team 1-(-15). Cameron County: Jason Blose 18-169, Andy Lippert 17-118, Hunter Bardo 5-45, Tanner Johnson 4-80.

Passing - Port Allegany: Matt Bodamer 11 of 22, 228 yards, 2 TDs, 0 Int; Ryan Bodamer 0 of 1, 0 yards, 0 TD, 0 Int. Cameron County: Jason Blose 2 of 10, 18 yards, 0 TD, 0 Int.

Receiving - Port Allegany: Camrin Stuckey 5-97, Ryan Bodamer 3-67, Zach Ramadhan 2-41, Lucas Kline 1-23. Cameron County: Andy Lippert 1-9, Tanner Johnson 1-9.

Interceptions - Port Allegany: None. Cameron County: None.