Penns Valley Squeaks Past Bellefonte
Tagged under: District 6, News
Kerry Shawley | September 23, 2023
Before tonight, Bellefonte and Penns Valley had faced off on the gridiron thirty-one times. While Bellefonte held a narrow 17-14 lead in the series, it had not been a series that produced a lot of close games. There had only been five contests in the series that had been decided by less than ten points.
The game tonight certainly bucked that trend.
With 3:36 remaining in the game, Bellefonte scored to bring the Raiders to within one point of the Rams at 20-19. Rather than kick the extra point, Bellefonte went for two. Junior quarterback Liam Halterman rolled out, but his pass fell incomplete and the Penns Valley Rams were able to hold on for a victory to move their record to 4-1.
Bellefonte got off to a fast start. After holding Penns Valley to a three and out following the opening kickoff, Bellefonte took over on their own 33-yard line. It appeared that Penns Valley had forced a punt following a sack on third down, but a personal foul allowed Bellefonte to keep possession and they took advantage. After moving the ball across midfield, Halterman hooked up with William Garrison to set Bellefonte up on the four-yard line. Sherman Lowry then carried it in from the four. The extra point was blocked, and the Raiders led 6-0 with 4:10 remaining in the first quarter.
Penns Valley wasted little time responding. Following the kickoff, Ty Watson broke free on a 37-yard run to move the ball to the Bellefonte 45. Jackson Romig ran for 18-yards to move it to the Raider 21. On 4th down, Romig hit Josh Lieb for 13-yards to the one-yard line. Watson would take it in one play later, and following the missed extra point, the score was tied 6-6 with seventeen seconds remaining in the first quarter.
Both teams had some success moving the ball in the second quarter but it did not result in any points and the teams went into the half tied at six.
Following the second half kickoff, Bellefonte took possession at their own 26-yard line. The Rams defense forced a three and out and following the punt, the Rams took over on their own 48 with 10:05 remaining in the third quarter.
A 17-yard Watson run got things started. On 4th down, Romig scrambled for 6-yards to keep the drive alive. A few plays later, Romig hit John Meyer for a 13-yard touchdown. The Watson extra point made the score 13-6 with 7:41 remaining in the third quarter.
Bellefonte took possession on their own 28-yard line. The Raiders relied heavily on the running of Lowry to move the ball into Ram territory. They were also aided by a face mask penalty that gave them a first down on the Ram 18-yard line. On second down, Lowry ran for 8-yards to move the ball to the five-yard line. After a penalty moved the ball back to the ten, Halterman broke a tackle in the backfield, and ran it in to bring the Raiders within a point. The Logan Proctor extra point would tie the game at 13-13 with 2:44 remaining in the quarter.
The tie would last fifteen seconds. John Meyer took the kickoff and faked a reverse and ran it all the way back for a touchdown to give the Rams the lead. The Watson extra point made the score 20-13 with 2:29 remaining in the third quarter.
After forcing a punt, the Rams took possession of the ball on the Raider thirty-one with 23 seconds remaining in the quarter. A holding penalty on first down moved the ball back to the twenty-one and that is where the Rams would start their drive at the beginning of the final quarter.
Romig and Watson executed a beautiful screen pass for 26-yards to move the ball to the 47. Watson ran for seven yards on first down, but another holding penalty negated a nice Romig to Meyer connection and the Rams would end up having to punt.
The Raiders would take over on their own 27-yard line with exactly 10:00 minutes remaining. Relying mainly on the legs of Halterman and Lowry, the Raiders ate up 6 minutes and 24 seconds off the clock; the Raiders also used up all of their timeouts on the drive. It would be Halterman’s arm that would bring the Raiders to within 20-19 when he hit Robert Gabrovsek from eight yards out.
Following the failed conversion attempt, the Rams recovered the onside kick attempt. Watson was able to run for a first down which allowed the Rams to run out the clock and their 20-19 victory was secured.
Bellefonte fell to 0-5 with the defeat, but following this game, they are clearly trending in the right direction. Halterman was outstanding all night, especially with his legs. Lowry was also very good, especially in the second half.
Watson, Romig, and Meyer all made big plays for the Rams and tight end Leib also stepped up. The Rams were without the services of big play receiver, Danin Kerstetter, who was out due to injury.
Penns Valley travels to Clearfield next Friday while Bellefonte will be at home against Bald Eagle
Friday’s contest marked the 40th anniversary of the resumption of the Penns Valley rivalry. That game bore striking similarities to this year’s contest. Prior to the 1983 season, Penns Valley and Bellefonte had not played a football game for thirty-three years. Penns Valley head coach, Martin Tobias was the quarterback of that team and was responsible for both Ram touchdowns, scoring on runs of eight and thirty-four yards. With 3:16 remaining in the game, Ram lineman, Carl Douthit blocked a punt to set the Rams up on the Bellefonte 41-yard line. The Rams covered those 41-yards in just two minutes, and following the Tobias score, they also went for two. Penns Valley was successful on the conversion when Tobias executed a perfectly timed pitch to tailback, Guy Leach who ran it in for the winning points. Penns Valley also won that game by one-point, 15-14. The game winning touchdown was set up by a blocked punt by Carl Douthit with just 3:16 remaining in the game.
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