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Altoona once again uses turnovers to advance in playoffs with 29-14 win over Williamsport @AltoonaAthletic @Millionaire_FB

Tagged under: District 4, District 6, Gameday Hub, News

| October 31, 2020

The ball slips away from Williamsport quarterback Dallas Gries

 

Much like in last weeks win over State College, the Mountain Lions took advantage of forced turnovers to pull out a win. Aaron Carothers, last weeks hero, picked off a pass in the endzone to halt one Williamsport scoring drive, then Edwin Franklin delivered the biggest turnover of the night, intercepting a Frank Marrone pass and racing 94 yards for the score to put Altoona up 29-14 late in the fourth. “If we’re lined up and do what we’re supposed to do, good things happen. We won the turnover battle tonight and that’s just a tribute to the hard the kids put in” said Altoona head coach Vince Nedimyer.

Altoona jumped out of the gates with a 65 yard drive that ended with an 8 yard run from Ethan Stroup. The methodical, 8 play drive was indicative of the Mountain Lion offense the entire first half. They controlled the ball for nearly 16 minutes.

 

Williamsport battled back with their first drive, getting within scoring distance but that’s when Carothers stepped in front of Marrones pass to end the drive. “You can’t give the ball up like that when you’re in scoring position” said Williamsport head coach Chuck Crews. “We had several opportunities but we couldn’t finish.” Neither team would score until Altoona caught another break. Facing a fourth and 5 the Millionaires attempt at a fake punt came up short giving Altoona the ball at the Millionaire 34. Marcus Day hit Tyreke Green from 21 yards out to take a 14-0 lead into the break.


After exchanging turnovers and punts to start the second half, Williamsport made another big mistake when the return man on Altoona’s punt muffed the ball. The Mt Lions recovered and Day went in from three yards out for his second score of the night.

 

That’s when things seemed to turn around for Williamsport. Dallas Griess, who has missed much of the season with injury, stepped up and hit Nassir Jones for a 22 yard completion, then made a highlight reel run around the left end for a 28 yard td run to pull the Millionaires within 13 points. The point after failed.

 

“He’s a heck of an athlete. We prepared for him all week” Nedimyer said of the return of Griess. “He’s just explosive, we knew he was injured but we didn’t know when. You can’t practice for that speed.  Following the td, the Williamsport defense felt the momentum, forced the Mt Lions to punt, getting the ball at the Altoona 34.  Keith Freeman ripped off a 19 yard run and Nasir Hennington finished the drive from 8 yards out. Griess ran for the 2 pointer and Williamsport was within 7 with 7:43 left to play.

 

Altoona made their biggest mistake of the night on the next series. Pinned at their 13 after the kick, the ball popped loose on the first play and Williamsport recovered. After 2 runs, Griess took himself out of the lineup with a stinger to his arm. That’s when Marrone was picked off by Franklin, who raced 94 yards for the capper.

 

Williamsport had one more chance to make a game of it but another turnover deep in Altoona territory ended their chance for the comeback win.

Williamsport will look to fill their schedule with a couple more games to close out their season while Altoona advances to face Delaware Valley at a place and time TBD

 

Gallery Mike Frazier

Follow PA Football News on Twitter @PaFootballNews

 
 
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