River Valley Stings Marion Center Thanks to Big 1st Half

Tagged under: District 6, Gameday Hub, News

Phil Myers | September 30, 2023

The River Valley Panthers scored touchdowns on all five 1^st half possessions, plus the defense chimed in with a score too as the Panthers built up an insurmountable 40-8 halftime lead over the Marion Center Stingers at Dr. John R. Mallino Stadium in Marion Center Friday night on their way to a 40-16 victory.

River Valley was led by senior quarterback Luke Woodring and junior running back Sam Yanits.  Woodring threw for 113 yards and a pair of TDs.  He also rushed for 89 yards and a score.  Yanits found the end zone twice on runs and he caught a pass for a touchdown.  Woodring and Yanits both said the Panthers wanted to get an early lead and build on it, the strategy they hope to carry into their game next week with Northern Cambria.

It took the Panthers less than a minute to put the ball into the end zone after they received the opening kickoff.  On the second play from scrimmage, Woodring scored on a 59-yard run to give River Valley the lead they would never relinquish.  On their second possession, Yanits took a pitch and scooted 53 yards for a touchdown to cap a 4-play drive.  The Panthers third score of the first quarter came on a more sustained drive that ended with Yanits’ 3-yard run.

In the second quarter, River Valley scored another trio of touchdowns when Yanits ran 11 yards, Gavin Burkhart found a seam and turned a short pass over the middle into a 66-yard touchdown, and Dominic Speal intercepted a pass and returned it 58 yards for the score.  “Our defense is flying around to the ball making key tackles and we capitalized on a couple turnovers tonight, one being a pick six,” stated River Valley’s coach Jess Houser.

Yanits finds daylight! Look at the two blocks he is getting, one by an unidentified lineman and one from #15 Gavin Burkhart.

Marion Center’s Alex Stewart had a very nice game as he ran the ball 19 times for 130 yards and a touchdown.  He also caught a couple of passes for 28 yards.  Isaac Bassa ran the ball 9 times for 49 yards.  His score in the first half cut River Valley’s lead to 27-8 at the time.  Actually, the Stingers played much better in the third and fourth quarters winning the time of possession battle and scoring the only touchdown.

Coach Houser said, “first half we did great, that’s what we did get a fast start.  We wanted to finish but we couldn’t get nothing going the second half on offense.  Much credit to them playing good defense.  We’ll have to get it going for next week.  We got Northern Cambria coming in it’s going to be a big game.”  River Valley raised its record to 5-1 and as Coach Houser said, they host the Northern Cambria Colts who are also 5-1 next Friday in a huge Heritage Conference game.

Marion Center, who fell to 1-5 on the year, will play at Penns Manor next Friday.  The Comets are 3-3.

Score by Quarters:

River Valley – 21 19 0 0 – 40

Marion Center – 0 8 8 0 – 16

Scoring Summary:

First Quarter:

RV – Luke Woodring 59-yard run, (Cole Heckathorn PAT), 11:06

RV – Sam Yanits 53-yard run, (Heckathorn PAT), 7:29

RV – Yanits 3-yard run, (Heckathorn PAT), 2:16

Second Quarter:

RV – Yanits 11-yard pass from Woodring, (PAT blocked), 7:25

MC – Isaac Bassa 1-yard run, (Camden Rising run 2-pt conversion), 10:22

RV– Gavin Burkhart 66-yard pass from Woodring, (Heckathorn PAT), 2:15

RV – Dominic Speal 58-yard interception, (2-pt conversion failed), 1:15

Third Quarter:

MC – Alex Stewart 1-yard run, (Rising to Mason Ploskunak 2-pts), 7:19

Fourth Quarter:

No Scoring

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