Upper St. Clair remains unbeaten with win over Bethel Park
Tagged under: District 7, Gameday Hub, News
Andrew Schaffer | October 12, 2024
Coming into the game Upper St. Clair had already beaten two unbeaten teams and was looking for a third against Bethel Park. They did just that in a last minute 14-10 win over Bethel Park. “This is by far the toughest schedule I’ve ever had to take a football team through, we just played three really good football teams, four because I think McKeesport is really good too, people forget that was a war for us, so I think this has made us a better football team, when we go into the playoffs we can draw upon these games, as far as knowing we can play in big time environments and we’ve played in front of packed houses in high pressure situations, it’s going to be something, it’ll make us a better football team down the road” said Coach Junko.
Bethel Park got the ball to start the game and started at their own 20 yard line. They got out close to midfield but had to punt the ball away.
Upper St. Clair started their first drive at their own 19 yard line. The big play on the drive was a 51 yard run by Julian Dahlem down to the Bethel Park 16 yard line. Eventually he would score on a 1 yard run to make it 7-o Upper St. Clair with 1:55 in the first quarter. “That was great because we seized momentum in the first half, it felt like in the first half we were winning the battle on the line of scrimmage, we went into halftime feeling real good, we came out in the second half, we couldn’t get the same kinda drive going, not until the last drive of the fourth quarter, were we able to replicate that drive, Julian had the big run, he got sick at halftime, I tried not to get him out there as much not knowing how much he had in the tank” said Coach Junko. Dahlem played a key role in the win for Upper St. Clair he had 101 yards on 13 carries.
Bethel Park got the ball for a second time starting at their own 20 yard line. On fourth down they called a risky fake punt but it did work and that extended the drive. 2 big plays that got them into Upper St. Clair territory was 2 passes from Tanner Pfeuffer to Ryan Petras the first pass for 40 yards and the second being 18 which put them at the Upper St. Clair 12 yard line. After a couple of plays they decided to go for it on fourth down and a pass fell incomplete.
Upper St. Clair got the stop on defense and started their second drive at their own 7 yard line. It was another long drive which got into Bethel Park territory on a big run and an additional 15 yard penalty which put the ball at the Bethel Park 32 yard line. They got inside the 20 yard line but the drive stalled and they attempted a field goal which was tipped and no good.
Before the half ended Upper St. Clair started a drive at their own 39 yard line and got into Bethel Park territory but the drive ended with a fumble which made the score 7-o Upper St. Clair at the half.
Upper St. Clair got the ball to start the second half but ended up punting it away. Bethel Park started their drive at their own 18 yard line a pass to Ryan Petras got them out past midfield, a couple of penalties helped Bethel Park on the drive as well. Eventually Ja’Vaughn Moore scored on a 6 yard run tying the score at 7 with 3:10 in the third quarter. That would also be the score at the end of the third quarter.
Bethel Park had a very long drive that took up a big chunk of the fourth quarter. They were into Upper St. Clair territory and originally were going to go for it on fourth down but decided to attempt a field goal. The decision turned out to be a good one when Jackson Friday kicked a 35 yard field goal giving Bethel Park a 10-7 lead with 4:09 remaining in the game.
Upper St. Clair needed a big drive and they did exactly that. The drive started on their own 35 yard line. On the second play Ethan Hellman completed a pass to his brother Van Hellmann down to the Bethel Park 47 yard line. After 2 big runs by John Banbury they were at the Bethel Park 19 yard line. On third down Ethan Hellmann found Charlie Bywalski for a 24 yard touchdown pass putting Upper St. Clair on top 14-10 with 48 seconds remaining in the game. “The big thing on the drive was John Banbury really got it going on the ground, and I think his runs really sparked us and we started to get our push back, and then Ethan Hellmann makes a big throw to his brother to get us down there, and we hit the big play to Charlie, so I think those 2 kids in the backfield were the key, and those are guys John and Ethan who have been a part of this thing and they stepped up when we needed a play” said Coach Junko.
John Banbury also had a big game for Upper St. Clair he had 103 yards rushing on 19 carries. The 14-10 over Bethel Park makes Upper St. Clair 8-0 on the season. Next week Upper St. Clair hosts Moon and Bethel Park hosts South Fayette.
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