By Andy Close

BRADFORD — Port Allegany quarterback Matt Bodamer said earlier this week that much of the Gators’ offense is derived from Oregon’s spread attack, which is all about speed and scoring quickly.

The Gators (11-0) certainly did that Friday, with five of their scoring drives taking under three minutes in a 48-7 District 9 Class A semifinal win over Elk County Catholic Friday.

It was a slow start, actually, by Port Allegany standards, as they led just 21-7 at halftime, their smallest lead at the break this season.

“The first half I thought was the sloppiest we have played all year,”

said Port Allegany coach Mike Bodamer.

Despite the sloppy player, the Gators rode the big play ability of Tyce Miller and a couple of key defense stands in the first half.

The Crusaders, trailing 7-0 on their opening offensive possession, drove the ball down to the Port Allegany six, chewing up almost the entire first quarter clock. Facing a fourth-and-one, however, Brock McCullough was stuffed by a trio of Gators led by Victor Bandish.

The second stop came after Elk QB Mitchell Vallone scored on a 37-yard scamper to make the score 21-7.

The usually sure-handed Miller fumbled the ensuing kickoff right into the arms of ECC’s Dan Jacobs.

Again, the Port defense came up big, as Johnny Sena stopped Vallone one-yard short on a fourth-and-5, from the Gators’ 30.

“Those couple of stops I thought we stepped up to the plate, but for the most part they pushed us around on offense in the first half,”

coach Bodamer said.

Record-setting quarterback Matt Bodamer was over 300 yards passing and

100 yards rushing, but the stars of the night for Port were Miller and Tyler Shaffer.

Shaffer opened the scoring with a 17-yard touchdown run, showing off his electrifying speed in the process.

Bodamer and Miller connected on a pair of second quarter touchdowns, but it was the senior receiver that did most of the work.

His first TD catch, a 65-yarder, saw him leap over ECC defensive back Dan Singer and race in for the score.

The second may have been more impressive, as he caught an out-route from Bodamer at the 50 near the sideline, shook his defender and cut across the entire length of the field, with a block down field from Nick Conway aiding the effort.

“Tyce is just an athlete,” Bodamer said of Miller who caught eight passes for a whopping 205 yards. “He’s been doing that for three years. It doesn’t amaze me now.”

The second half, or more particularly the fourth quarter, belonged to the defense and Shaffer.

The Gators limited ECC to just 57 yards of offense in the final 24 minutes, and came up with a splash play from Shaffer to put the mercy rule in effect for the 10th time in their 11 games this season.

Shaffer, a junior who has come on strong in the second half of the season, intercepted Vallone at his own 34 and wasn’t touched as he took it back 64 yards to make it 42-7.

That play was sandwiched around two more scoring runs of 14 and seven yards, giving him four total touchdowns for the game.

“Speed kills,” Bodamer said simply of Shaffer. “Tyler just hits that edge so quick. We limited him to one move, one move and go and he responded to that pretty well. He made some really nice cuts on those runs and I think the interception was really the back breaker.”

Port Allegany returns to the District 9 championship game for the third-consecutive season, where they await the winner of Clarion and Brockway.

Elk County Catholic finishes with a record of 8-3.

PORT ALLEGANY 48, ELK COUNTY CATHOLIC 7

Score by Quarters

ECC 0 7 0 0 – 7

Port 7 14 7 20 – 48

Scoring Summary

First Quarter

P — Tyler Shaffer 17 run (Sam Kysor kick). 8:33

Second Quarter

P — Tyce Miller 65 pass from Matt Bodamer (Kysor kick), 11:40

P — Miller 59 pass from Bodamer (Kysor kick), 7:25

E — Mitchell Vallone 37 run (Ryan Seelye kick), 5:58

Third Quarter

P — Trent Neal 7 run (Kysor kick), 10:08

Fourth Quarter

P — Shaffer 14 run (Kysor kick), 11:52

P — Shaffer 64 interception return (Kysor kick), 9:43

P — Shaffer 7 run, (Kick failed),0:36

                                                ECC                PA

First Downs                            9                      20

Rushes-Yards                          35-127             33-263

Passing Yards                         64                    320

Passing: Comp-Att-Int            7-14-2              15-23-0

Total Yards                             191                  583

Fumbles-Lost                          1-0                   2-1

Penalties-Yards                       4-22                 4-50

Punts-Avg.                              3-33.4              1-17.0

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

Rushing – Elk County Catholic: Mitchell Vallone 6-43, Hank Cappiello 15-42, Brock McCullough 14-42;  Port Allegany: Matt Bodamer 15-140, Tyler Shaffer 8-81, Trent Neal 8-58, Jordan Seefeldt 1-(-1)1, Team 1-(-15).

Passing - Elk County Catholic: Mitchell Vallone 7-of-14, 64 yards, 2 INTs; Matt Bodamer 15-of-23, 320 yards, 2 touchdowns.

Receiving -  Elk County Catholic: 4-59, Clayton Housler 1-5, Hank Cappiello 1-(1), Ryan Childs 1-1; Port Allegany Tyce Miller 8-205, Trey Miller 2-70, Nick Conway 3-16, Trent Neal 1-15, Tyler Shaffer 1-14.