Cambria Heights Makes History with a Little Help from Ryan Haluska @CH_Highlanders @WestShamokinSH

Tagged under: District 6, Gameday Hub, News

Phil Myers | September 25, 2021

The Cambria Heights Highlander football team treated the 2021 homecoming crowd to something that hasn’t happened since 1978. The Highlanders are now 5-0 for the first time in 43 years as they defeated a game West Shamokin squad 42-21 before a rather large homecoming throng. The hero of the game was Ryan Haluska who ran the ball 25 times for 229 yards and four touchdowns. He added a fifth score when he returned a fumble 19 yards. Later in the game he recovered another fumble. And he also escorted the eventual 2021 homecoming queen, Alexia Nemec. “It was quite a night,” he happily stated after the game.

Ryan Haluska escorting soon to be named 2021 homecoming queen, Alexia Nemec.

The 19-yard fumble return gave Cambria Heights a 29-7 lead going into the locker room. Cambria Heights head coach, Jarrod Lewis said, “it was huge, it was a big play, we were obviously excited about that.” Coach Jon McCullough of West Shamokin had this to say, “that was big, but that’s not the sole reason we lost this ball game. We couldn’t stop them from running the ball. Honestly, that was the biggest part of it. I give them a lot of credit, they’re a really good football team.”

West Shamokin Head Coach Jon McCullough on left and Cambria Heights Head Coach Jarrod Lewis on right.

The score was tied at 7 after one quarter of play on Haluska’s 5-yard run off tackle and Bo Swartz’s 6-yard TD pass to Owen Stover on fourth down. But the Highlanders would score the next 35 points to invoke the mercy rule in the third quarter. Two minutes into the second quarter quarterback Ty Stockley scored on a 5-yard run to put Cambria Heights up for good at 14-7. Five minutes later Haluska scored his second rushing TD. Then came the play that electrified the hometown fans. Haluska scooped up a loose ball and ran 19 yards on the last play of the half. Stockley caused the fumble when he was in the process of sacking Swartz just before he could get a pass off.

As the third quarter progressed, the Highlanders scored two more times, both on Haluska runs, one of 12 yards and the other from one yard out. Cambria Heights only attempted two passes the whole game, one in each half. Neither were completed. Stockley added 87 rushing yards for the Highlanders, who had a total of 349 yards for the game all via the ground game. “We knew we were going to be in for a challenge,” said McCullough, “we’re a pretty good football team too. These last two weeks, it’s been pretty rough. I told them we’ve got to forget about it and a new season starts on Monday.”

Swartz ran in on a one-yard keeper two seconds before the third quarter ended. He hit Stover again in the fourth quarter for a 17-yard touchdown to account for all three West Shamokin touchdowns and set the final at 42-21. Swartz had another good game for the Wolves by throwing for 178 yards and the two touchdowns. Owen Stover had a great game as he grabbed 8 passes for 140 yards and 2 scores. Micah Linhart ran for 77 yards for the Wolves.

Bo Swartz.

Lewis summarized his thoughts by saying, “They have a lot of good athletes and in the first half after their second drive we were able to hold them in check. Offensively, I thought the boys played really well. Defensively, we played good too, we gave up a couple scores late, but overall, I thought we played well defensively. We do what we got to do to win.”

Cambria Heights will put their unblemished record on the line next week when they travel to Marion Center. West Shamokin, now 2-2 on the year, will host Northern Cambria. Both bands did a fine job at halftime. The Highlander marching band, which incorporates bagpipes, was assisted by former band members for the evening.