Selinsgrove joins Southern Columbia and Danville for D4 trifecta in Quarterfinals

Tagged under: District 11, District 4, Gameday Hub, News

Billy Splain | November 18, 2023

Picture via John Peters, Story provided by @LSVSports

It’s a 29 mile drive from Selinsgrove to Danville then to Southern Columbia. Shades of old when Berwick, Mt. Carmel and Southern dominated the playoff scene, three schools also close together. But not this close. The Seals dispatched of Bethlehem Catholic 28-13 to advance to the PIAA quarterfinal round against Juniata, a 21-7 winner over Meadville.

Tucker Teats ran for 219 yards and 3 touchdowns to lead the Seals to the win.

“Heck of a night. Early on the sled was tough. As we wore them down the line started making holes. He doesn’t need a big hole to go through” said Seals head coach Derek Hicks.

The Seals jumped out to a 3-0 lead with a 22 yard field goal and that’s how the first quarter ended. Teats got his first td of the night when the Seals faked a field goal on fourth and 3 for a 7 yard gain, then Teats got loose for a 36 yard td to surpass the 2,000 yard mark and put the score at 10-0 Seals with 10:23 remaining in the second quarter.

The teams traded turnovers then Becahi qb Cayden Vassa hit Jacob Sutton on a wheel route to close the gap to 10-7 with 5:12 left in the half.

A 15-yard personal foul on a facemask penalty and a 48-yard pass from quarterback Mark Pastore to Andrew Sassaman got the Seals to within two yards of the goal line, where fullback Ethan Miller punched it into the end zone 3:05 before half time. The Seals forced the Hawks three and out and ge]ot ball back at their own 16 with 1:20. They went to the air twice and were forced to punt. The punt was blocked by Devin Greene. Hawks took overv at the five and Vassa to Carter Vassa hooked up in the near back corner for 5 yd TD. The extra point blocked and the score at halftime was 16-13 Seals.

In the third quarter, the teams traded possessions. Becahi got to the Seals 28 but the Selinsgrove defense held. It took just one play to increase their lead. Teats burst through the line and went 72 yards for the score.  Teats would score one more time from 11 yards out with 2:04 left in the game to “Seal the Win”.

Going in, you see 7-5 and you think maybe they don’t belong and you look at the losses then you’re like “wow, those are tough teams that beat them. Then you look at film and you see they’re a pretty good team” said Hicks.

“You look at District 4 and traditionally we always have a couple teams that make a state run. A lot of times we don’t get that statewide but we play some darn good football in this area” he said of the three schools moving on.

Note: South Williamsport also advanced. That’s four schools within 70 miles of each other.

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