MEADVILLE, Pa. (EYT/D9) — Braylon Wagner had been close to returning to the lineup at quarterback for the last two weeks.
But something always seemed to stop him.
A twinge in his shoulder here. A bout of soreness there.
Finally this week, the record-setting Redbank Valley sophomore was good to go.
He sure was.
(Pictured above, Redbank Valley coach Blane Gold talks with his team after the Bulldogs rolled to a 44-0 win over Cambridge Springs to advance to the PIAA Class A semifinals)
Wagner threw for 203 yards and four touchdowns — all in the first half, the Bulldog defense forced five turnovers and held the Cambridge Springs vaunted rushing attack to 51 yards in rolling the Blue Devils, 44-0, in the PIAA Class A quarterfinals at Bender Field on a frigid Friday night.
“It felt great,” said Wagner, who hadn’t played since he was injured in the second half against Central Clarion on Oct. 27. “I got to be back with my guys. I definitely probably wasn’t 100%, but they made me look 100%.”
Especially Ashton Kahle.
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The senior speedster has been nearly unstoppable during the playoff push. Last week he had 247 yards receiving in a win over Port Allegany to claim the District 9 Class A title and on Friday against shellshocked Cambridge Springs, he caught five more passes for 86 yards and touchdowns of 39 and 32 from Wagner.
The first got the ball rolling for Redbank with 7:42 remaining in the first quarter. The second came after a 1-yard touchdown run by Drew Byers and gave the Bulldogs a commanding 22-0 lead early in the second quarter.
“We didn’t score on our first offensive drive, so to come back on the second and be able to put the ball in the end zone was huge,” Kahle said. “Going forward we kept scoring and scoring and not letting off the gas. It was just a big momentum push early in the game.”
The momentum kept rolling.
Redbank Valley (12-1) went up 30-0 when Mason Clouse caught a short pass, made a few Cambridge Springs tacklers miss and sprinted away for a 57-yard touchdown midway through the second quarter.
The Bulldogs’ speed was something the Devils seemed wholly unprepared for.
“Having team speed is a real asset in high school football nowadays,” Kahle said. “If you have really fast players that can fly around and make all sorts of plays, it’s just phenomenal.”
That speed was also key on defense as Cambridge Springs found very little running room, especially on the edge.
(Ashton Kahle, left, and Braylon Wagner were named Hager Paving Incorporated Players of the Game)
“No disrespect to District 10 single-A — I’m from District 10 and I have the upmost respect for District 10 — but we told these guys that they hadn’t seen speed like this. They hadn’t seen a spread like this. Tonight was all about executing and making sure that we got the timing down pat. Basically our philosophy was to get more touches for Mason and Ashton.”
Mason Clouse caught three passes for 107 yards.
Last week, Kahle went over 1,000 yards receiving on the season — the first player in Redbank history to reach that milestone. Clouse joined him on Friday night.
“As far as competitors go, you don’t get much more competitive people than Mason and Ashton,” Gold said. “It’s really cool for both of them, as good of friends as they are, that they were able to be the first ones to do it together.”
Having Wagner back was a boon for Redbank, even with the performance turned in by backup Jaxon Huffman last week.
Wagner came in with 2,541 yards and 39 touchdowns passes (a single-season school record) in 10 games played.
“We did a little riverboat gambling last week — Braylon probably could have played,” Gold said. “But we felt that we could win that game with Jaxon. At halftime (the Bulldogs trailed Port 7-6), people probably thought I was crazy. But we stayed the course and everything that we planned paid off.”
Wagner said letting that first deep pass rip — and watching it land on the money into a wide-open Kahle’s hands in stride — let him know he was OK.
“It definitely gave me a lot of confidence,” Wagner said. “I wasn’t really sure about my shoulder and being able to throw that on the money was good for me.”
And also for Redbank.
Wagner connected with running back Drew Byers in the flat and Byers did the rest, breaking an open-field tackle and slipping into the end zone from the 10 to give Wagner his fourth TD pass of the first half.
It also triggered the second-half mercy rule, up 37-0.
The short touchdown was set up by an interception by Carson Gould, who returned the pick all the way to the Cambridge Springs 10.
Redbank Valley intercepted four passes and also recovered a fumble on the way to the shutout.
Brock George also got into the act. His 52-yard gallop set up his own 15-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter to put the exclamation point on the victory.
Redbank Valley ran the ball well, especially in the second half.
Byers finished with 80 yards on 16 carries and is creeping up on 1,000 for the season. George finished with 67 on just two carries.
“This is two weeks in a row that, for a running game that struggled earlier in the year, we’ve been able to put the game away on the ground, which mades me really, really happy,” Gold said.
Redbank’s defense was stifling all game.
Brett Kania, who came into the night with 1,284 yards rushing for Cambridge Springs, was held to 26.
The Devils (12-2) were led by Preston Gorton, who rushed for 28 yards.
Morgan Applebee went 15-of-24 for 109 yards and three interceptions. Brandon Hoover was also picked off on a trick play.
Now Redbank Valley will face District 7 champion Fort Cherry (14-0) at a WPIAL site next Friday with a trip to the state championship game on the line.
The Rangers knocked off South Side, 42-28, in the WPIAL championship game on Friday afternoon.
Fort Cherry is led by sophomore quarterback Matt Sieg, who is already being recruited by top Division I college programs, including Penn State.
“James Franklin isn’t landing his helicopter at our school on Friday afternoons to wish any of us good luck,” Gold said. “(Sieg) is like a power-five version of (Central Clarion’s) Jase Ferguson. They run a similar offense to Central Clarion’s. So as much negativity that we had coming out of that game with injuries and stuff, we’re able to look at that game and say, ‘What did we do well?’ so that we can be as prepared as possible for this game.”
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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