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Hollidaysburg defense comes up with huge stop to preserve the lead and win over Jersey Shore

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

| October 5, 2024


“Our defense has been an asset all year. They’ve gotten us where we are (now 6-1) so we knew we were going to hang that responsibility on them”. That’s what Hollidaysburg head coach Homer Delattre said about his decision to go for the stop when Jersey Shore had the ball and a first down at the Tiger two yard line with just 1:00 to play instead of letting them score with time on the clock. The Tiger defense, holding on to a 27-25 lead, made the first two stops. Then with just 25 seconds left in the game the Bulldogs lined up on the one, snapped the ball and then the unthinkable happened. The ball was jarred loose and Hollidaysburg’s Josh Banks pounced on the prize. Hollidaysburg ran off the clock for the win.


“All I could think of was “get to that ball!” said Banks of his game winning fumble recovery. The game itself was a spectacular display of football by both teams and gave the standing room only homecoming crowd quite a treat. Both teams exchanged punts to start the game but it was Jersey Shore that struck first. Starting on their own 20, quarterback Elijah Jordan led the Bulldogs on a 9 play drive that featured a nice mix of pass and run. On second down he connected with Evan Snyder for their first of three td connections, this one a 20 yard td pass. The kick missed keeping the score at 6-0 midway through the first quarter.


Things settled down for a little while, then midway through the second quarter when the Bulldogs again went on a long drive. Starting at their own 31, Brodie Herr carried the ball four times and also threw a pass to Paul Hale. On first down Jordan and Snyder connected a second time to put Shore up 13-0 with 55 seconds left in the first quarter.

The Tigers reached into their bag of tricks on their next series. Thanks to a 47 yard return by Gavin Bell, Hollidaysburg was set up on the Bulldog 36. Maddox Bainey took the snap, pitched it to Cole DeLattre and the coaches son lobbed the ball to a wide open Bell for the score. The kick closed the gap to 13-7.


Hollidaysburg then cut into the lead again after Aiden Bilek blocked a Bulldog punt attempt, setting the Tigers up at the 9. Paul Wedel hit a 35 yard field goal to make it a 13-10 Jersey Shore lead. With the momentum on their side, the Tiger defense stiffened and forced another Shore punt. Bainey hit Jay Albarano for a 20 yard gain, then after getting sacked he found Albarano for a 41 yard gain to the 2. Bainey gave the Tigers the lead with 7:53 left in the second.


“I get nervous at the start of the game but once I find my groove I’m ok” said Bainey of his game. Hollidaysburg had one more chance to score but a field goal attempt missed it’s mark and we went into the break with Hollidaysburg leading 17-13.

“You have to give credit to them and Tommy (Gravish) said DeLattre. “They played a heck of a game”. That they did. The Bulldogs had an 80 yard td run called back on a holding penalty on their first drive of the second half, but they persevered and, aided by a 15 yard penalty, found themselves on the Tiger 27. Jordan hit Snyder for a 5 yard gain, then he found Trent Severino for the 22 yard score to put the Bulldogs back on top 19-17 with 6:16 left in the third quarter.

The Tigers came right back with a long, time consuming drive of their own. Starting at their own 13 after a penalty during the runback, Bainey kept his cool and drove the Tigers downfield completing 7 passes and running the ball three times. His last completed pass was a great td pass to Brady Steiner in the corner of the endzone.


Holding on to the 24-19 lead, the Tiger defense made another stop getting their offense the ball on the Shore 49. Wedel hit his second field goal of the night to close out the scoring before the big stop of the night.

“We’ll learn from it like men do, like a great heavyweight fighter, we’ll train harder and come out fighting” said Gravish.

Jersey Shore will look to rebound next week when they travel to Penn Wood. The Tigers will host Selinsgrove.

 

Hollidaysburg 27, Jersey Shore 25

SCORE BY QUARTERS

Jersey Shore 13 0 6 6—25

Hollidaysburg 7 10 7 3—27

FIRST QUARTER

J—Snyder 19 pass from Jordan (kick failed), 7:06.

JS—Snyder 13 pass from Jordan (Herr kick), 0:55.

H—Bell 36 pass from DeLattre (Wedel kick), 0:37.

SECOND QUARTER

H—Wedel 35 FG, 10:22.

H—Bainey 2 run (Wedel kick), 7:53.

THIRD QUARTER

JS—Severino 14 pass from Jordan (pass failed), 6:16.

H—Steiner 22 pass from Bainey (Wedel kick), 1:44.

FOURTH QUARTER

H—Wedel 35 FG, 10:11.

JS—Snyder 27 pass from Jordan (pass failed), 7:45.

TEAM STATISTICS JS H

First downs 23 17

Total yards 413 308

Rushes-yards 47-242 31-51

Yards passing 171 257

Passing (comp.-att.-int.)15-32-1 22-37-0

Punts/avg. 4-38.8 4-37.5

Fumbles-lost 3-1 1-0

Penalties-yards 5-60 8-90

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING: Jersey Shore: Jordan 22-77, Herr 11-61, Sechrist 10-49, Snyder 1-32, Pauling 3-23. Hollidaysburg: Bainey 16-23, Mullin 6-18, Baronner 7-10.

PASSING: Jersey Shore: Jordan 14-30-1-167, Sechrist 1-1-0-4, Watkins 0-1-0-0. Hollidaysburg: Bainey 20-36-0-221; DeLattre 1-1-0-36.

RECEIVING: Jersey Shore: Snyder 5-78, Severino 5-51, Watkins 4-24, Sechrist 1-18. Hollidaysburg: Bell 7-112, Albarano 5-67, Steiner 4-44, DeLattre 5-34.

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