Hollidaysburg Wins Third Straight by Defeating Linsly, West Virginia @HollidaysburgF @CoachHDeLattre @LinslyFootball

Tagged under: Beyond The Keystone, District 6, Gameday Hub, News

Phil Myers | October 30, 2021

Joe Paterno used to emphasize that his defenses used the ‘bend but don’t break’ philosophy.  The saying actually comes from Aesop’s fables, but that same wisdom also comes from ancient writings.  Hollidaysburg’s coach, Homer DeLattre adheres to that philosophy too, “that’s what we talk about, we bend but we don’t break.”  Many a football game has been won over the years using that same philosophy.  Add another one Friday night when the Hollidaysburg Golden Tigers came from behind to defeat the Linsly Cadets out of Wheeling, West Virginia by a score of 19-14 at Tiger Stadium in Hollidaysburg.

Hollidaysburg in dark jerseys. Linsly in the white.

Linsly dominated the first half by running twice as many plays as Hollidaysburg and by having the ball twice as long.  Yet they trailed at half time 10-7 mostly because of the Tiger defense.  That unit pinned their ears back when the Cadets entered Hollidaysburg territory and refused to yield.  Six times in that first half did Linsly enter Tiger country, scoring only once.  Four times the Cadets penetrated the red zone and four times they were turned away, three times on downs and once on a missed field goal.  LInsly ran 15 plays in the red zone in those first two quarters and only gained 16 yards.  The other 33 plays the Cadets ran gained 223 yards or 6.7 yards per play outside of the red zone.

The second half found the Cadets moving the pigskin into Tiger territory four more times and coming up empty on each of those occasions, including having the ball at the ‘Burg’s 22 with just over a minute remaining and the game in the balance.  “I thought we played well in all three phases, defense especially.  We gave up a few big plays, but for the most part I thought our defense played really well.  They kept us in the game,” stated Coach DeLattre.

Hollidaysburg’s offense had two big pass plays that set up both touchdowns.  The first came late in quarter one when QB Jake McGinnins found Drew Wyland on a crossing pattern.  That pass, catch, and run covered 61 yards and ended with Wyland being tackled at the Linsly 3-yard line.  McGinnis called his own number on the next play to tie the game at seven at that point.

Hollidaysburg (dark) looking to sideline for play.

The second Tiger long pass play was with four minutes left in the game and the home team trailing 14-13.  McGinnis hit Avery Sloan in stride down the sideline for 54 yards.  “It was a play we ran earlier.  We were able to make a nice play there.  Avery was able to catch the ball and break some tackles.  It was a big play for us,” said DeLattre.  Four plays later Xander Bainey bulled his way in from the one with two and a half minutes remaining to ultimately give the Golden Tigers the victory.

The two-point conversion pass failed giving the Cadets a chance to score and win.  Linsly drove 61 yards in just five plays to the Tiger 22.  But a play reminiscent of Jake Tatum’s (Oakland Raiders) hit that resulted in Franco Harris’ Immaculate Reception for the Steelers resulted in not another Immaculate Reception but a Drew Wyland interception to seal the deal for Hollidaysburg.

Linsly opened the scoring when Aiden Sanders took the hand off and went 12 yards for the touchdown.  That was the second play of a 28-yard drive that began after an Alex Taylor interception of a McGinnis pass.

Linsly (white) with the ball and looking to sidelines for the play call.

Right after Hollidaysburg tied the game, the home team’s Ian Shuey intercepted the ball, returning it seven yards to the Cadet 13.  Eventually, Ben Sosnowski nailed a 27-yard field goal to give the Golden Tigers their first lead of the game at 10-7.  That lead held up into intermission because on the last play of the half with the ball at Hollidaysburg’s four, Linsly eschewed kicking a field goal and failed to connect on a pass into the end zone.

Sosnowski gave his team a 13-7 advantage by easily booting a 41-yard field goal with 8:28 on the third quarter clock.  The Cadets came right back when QB Luca DiLorenzo hit a wide-open Felix Reitter for a 64-yard touchdown toss.  Mateo Dimitrioski’s second extra point put Linsly on top 14-13 until the Tigers eventually scored to win the game late in the last quarter.

Sosnowski fixing to kick a 27-yard FG.

“They were a really good team and that was a really good playoff caliber team heading into the post season.  I’m happy with the way we are playing right now heading into the post season with three straight wins,” was DeLattre’s sentiments after the game.

Hollidaysburg 5-4 will play Central Mountain 6-4 in the first round of the playoffs.  Linsly fell to 5-5 on the year and have lost three in a row.  Three of their five losses were by less than 10 points.

The Cadets outgained the Golden Tigers 444 to 268 and had 25 first downs to Hollidaysburg’s 12.  Besides the interceptions by Wyland and Shuey, Justin Wolfe also picked off a pass for the Tigers.  Besides Taylor’s pick, Raymond Kovalesky had an interception for the Cadets.  Linsly also recovered a fumbled punt by Hollidaysburg.

McGinnis threw for 139 yards by completing 8 of 23 passes.  He also ran for 102 yards and a score.  DiLorenzo pitched the pigskin for 243 yards and a TD by going 19 for 34.  He also caught a pass for 24 yards.  Taylor rushed for 102 yards and Reitter caught 7 passes for 105 yards and a touchdown for the Cadets.

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