Resiliency and Big Plays by USO Spell Defeat for Punxsutawney

Tagged under: District 8, District 9, Gameday Hub, News, Playoffs

Billy Splain | November 5, 2024

Resiliency is the ability to bounce back from challenges, adversity or difficult situations.  That is exactly what University Prep, also known as USO, did when they defeated the Punxsutawney Chucks 38-26 at Brookville’s Blue Raider field Saturday afternoon in a Class 4A District 8-9 sub-regional game.  The USO Wildcats clawed their way back from a deficit on four different occasions including twice in the fourth quarter.  “It was one of those games where we had to dig deep and believe in ourselves, believe in our teammates, believe in the coaching staff, our program,” stated USO’s head coach Lou Berry.

Punxsy was playing without three linemen on both sides of the ball due to injuries, but played well enough to win the game in their absence.  On offense, the Chucks fought for every yard against a quick and athletic defense that put lots of pressure on the quarterback all day long.  On defense, Punxsy allowed 282 yards, but four plays accounted for 221 yards.  Otherwise, the ‘D’ played great giving up a total of 61 yards on the other 36 plays.

But in the end, it was those big plays, produced by a couple University Prep players, that did in Punxsutawney and earned the Wildcats their 6^th victory of the year.  Down 7-0 in the second stanza when Chuck QB Maddox Hetrick scored, University of Buffalo commit, Xair Stevenson found a huge hole off the left side of the line and won the footrace to the end zone.  With a 2-point conversion tacked on, that score gave USO their first lead of the contest.

Beau Thomas (#9) of Punxsy catches a pass from Maddox Hetrick to give the Chucks a 14-8 lead at the half. Also pictured is #1 Max Presloid. Photo by Sykotyk.

Down 14-8 at the intermission, the Wildcats scored again when Zion Hauser caught a 24-yard touchdown pass from Daimere Adair on a slant route.  Another 2-point conversion put the Wildcats on top 16-14 heading into the fourth quarter.  “Where resiliency kept us in the game, we then started to make things happen as opposed to waiting for things to happen.  That’s what I thought turned the tide of the game,” said Berry.

That is when the fireworks really started as the teams combined for 34 points.  That is where adversity reared its head and caused University Prep to dig deep and come up with plays that would help the cause in the end.  Let’s also point out that Punxsutawney was facing some adversity with missing players and being stunned by big plays after taking leads four times.  The Chucks had some resiliency too in battling back after USO took leads.  In fact, Punxsy overcame deficits three times.  They just couldn’t muster a fourth like University Prep did.

Early in the fourth, Owen Roken capped off a Punxsy drive with a 37-yard field goal to give his team the lead back at 17-16.  Maddox Hetrick increased that lead to 23-16 when he stepped in front of an Adair pass and raced about 29 yards for the pick six. But here come the Wildcats and their resiliency.

Just seconds later Stevenson threw up a jump ball so to speak and Hauser came down with it.  The ball was like a high fly that went far enough for Hauser to adjust and outleap the defender.  At 5’7” Mr. Hauser can touch a basketball rim said Coach Berry.  With the defender a little off-balance Hauser came down with the ball and dashed the rest of the way to the end zone to complete an 80-yard pass play.  That was big play number three for USO and that along with another 2-point conversion had University Prep leading 24-23.

Back came the Chucks who drove to the USO 7 before stalling out.  Roken nailed his second field goal with 2:05 left to send Punxsy back on top 26-24.  The way the defense had been playing, it looked to the fans rooting for Punxsutawney that the win was only two minutes away.

But it was a long two minutes for the Chuck faithful.  Big play number four happened on the first play from scrimmage after Punxsy took the lead.  Mr. Stevenson found space around the outside cut the corner and was gone darting down the Punxsy sideline for 80 yards to give University Prep a 32-26 lead after the Wildcats’ fourth 2-point conversion. A pick six by Hauser a minute later gave the squad from D8 the 38-26 triumph.

Xair Stevenson (#9 in white) on his way to scoring the winning touchdown for University Prep. Photo by Sykotyk.

“When you are considered a Division I player, you need to be different from everyone else,” said Berry.  He’s (Stevenson) not a running back.  He’s just a playmaker.  We usually have him at receiver but we’re struggling to make plays from the backfield.  So, hey, we’ll put the ball in his hands and see what happens.  Usually good things happen,” a very happy Coach Berry continued.

Punxsutawney was led by Maddox Hetrick who threw for 157 yards and a touchdown.  He ran for two more scores.  Jordan Rutan was the top ground gainer for Punxsy with 71 yards rushing.  Punxsy’s offense gained 285 hard-earned yards.

USO was led by Xair Stevenson who rushed for 159 yards on 12 carries, caught a pass for 9 yards, and threw a pass for an 80-yard TD.

University Prep is now 6-4 on the year and will play state ranked and unbeaten Clearfield next week at a time and site still to be determined.  Punxsy ended their year 5-6 but return some very good players next year.  Look for the Chucks to make a lot of noise in the coming years.

Score by Quarters:

USO (University Prep) – 0 8 8 22 – 38

Punxsutawney – 0 14 0 12 – 26

Scoring Summary:

First Quarter:

No Scoring

Second Quarter:

P – Maddox Hetrick 2-yard run, (Owen Roken PAT), 11:55

USO – Xair Stevenson 37-yard run, (2-pt conversion – Micah Saunders pass from Daimere Adair), 9:49

P – Beau Thomas 3-yard pass from Hetrick, (Roken PAT), 3:00

Third Quarter:

USO – Zion Hauser 24-yard pass from Adair, (2-pt conversion – Me’Laun Stamper run), 7:18

Fourth Quarter:

P – Roken 37-yard field goal, 9:58

P – Hetrick 29-yard interception return, (PAT failed – fumbled snap), 9:12

USO – Hauser 80-yard half-back pass from Stevenson, (2-pt conversion run), 8:56

P – Roken 28-yard field goal, 2:05

USO – Stevenson 80-yard run, (2-pt conversion – Hauser pass from Adair), 1:43

USO – Hauser 45-yard interception return, (2-pt attempt failed), 0:41

Individual Stats:

Rushing: USO – Xair Stevenson 12-159, Damondtae Stevenson 2-5, Me’Laun Stamper 1-2, Donnie Moorefield 2-1, Daimere Adair 1-(16), Team 3-(12). Totals: 21-139.  P – Jordan Rutan 15-71, Maddox Hetrick 15-37, Beau Thomas 9-20. Totals: 39-128.

Receiving: USO – Zion Hauser 3-116, Micah Saunders 2-18, Xair Stevenson 1-9. Totals: 6-143.  P – Beau Thomas 6-64, Logan Moore 4-44, Max Presloid 2-19, Noah Kengersky 2-15, Jaden Greenblatt 1-15. Totals: 15-157.

Passing: USO – Daimere Adair 4-14-1, 51 yards; 1 TD, Amir Pollard 1-4, 12 yards; Xair Stevenson 1-1, 80 yards, 1 TD.  Totals 6-19-1, 143 yards, 2 TDs.  P – Maddox Hetrick 15-27-2, 157 yards, 1 TD.

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