Cumberland Valley Gets Big Senior Night Win Over State College

Tagged under: District 3, District 6, Gameday Hub, News

Todd Ross | October 21, 2023

In a low scoring battle, the Cumberland Valley Eagles were able to come away with a 17-10 win thanks to an inspired Senior Night performance from number 1, Bryce Staretz.

Cumberland Valley started the game receiving the open kickoff and worked effectively, but as they reached the redzone the State College defense stepped up and Cumberland Valley settled for a 25 yard Andrew Rice field goal.

The teams exchanged the ball twice then right before the end of the first quarter Cumberland Valley intercepted a pass giving them excellent field position. Shortly after, Senior Bryce Staretz came through with a 6 yard touchdown run to extend the lead for the Eagles. 

State College got on the board midway through the second quarter thanks to a 61 yard Ty Salazer pick six making it 7-10, Cumberland Valley still leading. 

The third quarter had no real action. State College received the kickoff and drive down the field before eventually having to punt, and Cumberland Valley was still in their drive when we entered the fourth quarter.

That fourth quarter started with a bang as senior tackle Justin Castro-Dixon recovered a fumble giving State College the ball. However, nothing came from it as the Little Lions punted the ball back to Cumberland Valley. 

State College then put up the first points of the fourth quarter when senior kicker John Zipf hit a 30 yard field goal to tie the game. 

Cumberland Valley responded with a score of their own as Senior Bryce Staretz scored his second of the game, this time a 39 yarder, to put the Eagles up 17-10 with just 3 minutes left in the game.

State College had a chance to tie the game up but as they attempted a third and goal rush from the one, they fumbled the football and it was recovered by the Cumberland Valley defense. This let the offense knee the ball out for the 17-10 win.

Bryce Staretz was man of the match tonight with a stat line of 20 carries for 134 yards and two touchdowns, averaging 6.7 yards per carry. I got a chance to interview him along with head football coach Josh Oswalt.

First I spoke with coach Oswalt about his overall thoughts on the game, “That’s just a battle, Coach Lintal does a great job with his guys. It’s always a battle when we play them. I’m just proud of our guys for finding a way. I told them before they went down there to kick the field goal to tie it, I looked down at my offense and told them I need one good drive and that’s exactly what we got, so one good drive we put it in the endzone and let our defense figure it out and stand strong in the end.” Next I asked him about what was going through his head as his defense defended on State Colleges final drive, “Find a way to get the ball, I mean or stop them on fourth down cause their tempo their offense, the way he calls his offense can score from anywhere on the field.” 

Next I talked to Senior running back Bryce Staretz about his performance, “My performance, I did well I mean could’ve done better in the earlier half but overall our team really stepped up, I have to give it to our line opening those holes at the end there, that’s the only way I could’ve scored, our quarterback and wide receivers they really got the pass game going in the beginning and our defense really stepped up.” Next I asked about how it felt to win on senior night, “Ah man it’s amazing, imma miss this field imma miss this team so I’m gonna give it my all this season.”

Cumberland Valley will look to continue their hot streak to 5 straight next week after a disappointing 1-4 start and State College will look to get back in the win column on Senior Night.

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