PUNXSUTAWNEY, Pa. (EYT/D9) — It was a test for both teams.
And both passed in their own ways.
(Mason Clouse breaks free on his 63-yard punt return for a touchdown/Photo by Madison McFarland.)
In the end, though, the Redbank Valley football team got the higher grade, using two big special teams plays and three touchdown passes from Cam Wagner to beat Punxsutawney, 28-14, on the road on Friday night in a battle of early unbeatens.
“We’re a single-A school that went toe to toe with a good triple-A football team and we got the win,” said Redbank Valley coach Blane Gold. “We’re gonna enjoy the weekend, but obviously we have a real big one next week.”
Redbank Valley, Keystone, and Union/A-C Valley sports coverage on Explore and D9Sports.com is brought to you by Heeter Lumber.
Even with a clash against arch rival Keystone on the horizon, the Bulldogs were focused on Punxsutawney.
And for good reason.
The Chucks were also 2-0 and off to their best start in more than a decade.
Redbank Valley jumped out to a 14-0 lead on the strength of a 63-yard punt return by Mason Clouse early in the first quarter and a 50-yard touchdown pass from Wagner to Aiden Ortz in the second quarter.
Punxsutawney, though, took the Bulldogs’ best punches and stayed standing.
“You just have to tip your cap — they have a lot of skill guys,” said Chucks’ coach Alan Nichol. “They’re all that I was afraid of in their ability to make plays in open space.”
Punxsutawney didn’t abandon its game plan, even down by two scores.
Zeke Bennett had a big day for the Chucks, rushing for 157 yards. His 3-yard TD run late in the first half closed the gap to 14-7.
Wagner connected with Tate Minich on a 22-yard TD on a jet motion pop pass to extend the lead to 21-7 before Punxsy closed again to one score on a 9-yard run by Seth Miller. That came one play after he connected with Noah Weaver for a first down on fourth-and-16.
Redbank Valley put the game out of reach thanks to a punt return by Ashton Kahle to the Punxsy 2. Wagner then hit Minich on another jet motion pop pass for a 28-14 lead.
“It was a good, hard-fought game,” Nichol said. “Those two punt returns were hard to overcome and we had some execution problems, bad handles on snaps and things that you can’t do. You can’t get behind the sticks against a really good team because they bring pressure. That made it difficult for us.
“There are things we need to improve on,” Nichol added. “And I think we can take that next step to be a championship program. The effort was there. The desire was there. The blocking and tackling was good. We were able to compete with them. They definitely knew they were in a game, I know that.”
So does Gold, who said his team also has some things to clean up.
“We’re just a scrappy team that’s pretty fast and we just get tremendous effort,” Gold said. “Offensively, we were sloppy tonight. We went out on downs on the 2 yard line at one point and we had the ball around the 15 and threw an interception, so there’s obviously some things we still need to clean up. We didn’t have a running game tonight — they controlled the line of scrimmage at times. But, you know, a win’s a win and we’ll take that any day of the week.”
Redbank Valley, Keystone, and Union/A-C Valley sports coverage on Explore and D9Sports.com is brought to you by Heeter Lumber.
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