Valley View Does It Again-Cougars rally late in the fourth quarter to stun Berwick.

Tagged under: District 2, Gameday Hub, News

PFN Staff | September 3, 2022

For Berwick, it was another disappointing trip to John F Henze’s veteran’s memorial stadium in Blakley. The Bulldogs once again led going into the fourth quarter before watching their lead vanish.

The Cougars would get their only score of the first half on a fake punt from the 50-yard line. Running-back Jalliw Ferrer took the snap and ran the ball to the 20-yard line, setting up kicker Jacob Nielsen for a 17-yard field goal. Three plays later the Cougars took a 3-0 lead with 2:43 left in the quarter.

It wouldn’t take long for the Bulldogs to answer back.  Three plays into their second drive, Drey Wilk took a direct snap ,bounced it to the outside, and ran 43 yards for the Berwick score, giving the Bulldogs a 7-3 lead with 1:35 left in the quarter.

Both team’s patented defensive battled in the second quarter as the Berwick went Into halftime with a 7-3 lead.

@DreytonWilk6 43 yard touchdown run with a 1:35 left in the first quarter makes it Berwick 7 Valley View 3 @PaFootballNews pic.twitter.com/ptKEMacLA1

— Fieldofdreams22.com (@district2footb1) September 2, 2022

The defensive battle would continue midway into the third quarter before Berwick got a big-time sack from Alex Hacker forcing the Cougars to punt from its own end zone. Hackers big time sack paid dividends as two plays later running back Bo Sheptock would take it in from 26 yards out to give Berwick a 14-3 lead with 7:15 remaining in the third quarter.

@sheptock_bo 26 yard touchdown run with 7:15 left in the third quarter puts Berwick up 14-3 @PaFootballNews pic.twitter.com/Uh11FwoBL8

— Fieldofdreams22.com (@district2footb1) September 3, 2022

Berwick had a 14-3 lead heading into the fourth quarter, but we have seen this story before. One of the Cougar’s biggest plays of the night came from defensive linemen Robert Alteri. Following a blocked punt by Alex Hacker, the Bulldogs were set up inside the Cougars’ 20 looking to put the final nail in the coffin before a Berwick fumble recovered by Alteri would be the beginning of the end for Berwick. After the fumble recovery, the Cougars would march downfield with a 12-play 76-yard drive that was capped off by a Connor Hilling 6-yard touchdown run to make the score 14-9 Berwick. Howanitz would connect with Dominic Memo on the two-point conversion making the score 14-11 Berwick with 10:09 left in the game.

The Cougar’s defense came through forcing a Berwick punt on their ensuing drive that stop would set up the Cougars for a lead-changing score. The Cougars would go on an 8-play 56-yard drive that was set up when Adam Howanitz connected with A.J Kucharski on a 24-yard pass setting up Howanitz for the go-ahead QB sneak to give the Cougars an 18-14 lead with 3:39 remaining in the game. The Bulldogs finally responded to Cougar’s comeback. In just 17 seconds after the go-ahead touchdown quarterback Matt Loncyznyski connected with running back Bo Sheptock for a 77-yard touchdown to put Berwick back on top 21-18 with 3:22 left in the game.

The Cougars responded back and went on an 11-play 80-yard drive that was sealed when Howanitz connected with wide receiver James Lipuaro for a 26-yard pass setting up Howanitz for the game-winning QB Sneak with 53 seconds left. The Cougars would get 2 more sacks on Berwick’s final drive of the game to add insult to injury and end the hopes of a gritty Dawgs team that we are sure to hear more of this season.

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