Hickory Pulls Away From Fort LeBoeuf, 34-17

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Shane Lux | November 8, 2025

Slippery Rock – Hickory scored 20 unanswered points in the fourth quarter to pull away from Fort LeBoeuf 34-17 Friday night at Slippery Rock University.

The victory secures the Hornets’ place in the District 10 AAA title game, where they will take on Sharon for the third straight season.

“It’s the trilogy,” Hickory head coach Bill Dungee said. “We don’t take it for granted. That’s three straight 10-win seasons for us. Now we get an opportunity to go back to the district championship against our rival, a great team over there. I know they’re going to be ready. I’m so proud of these guys and their work. With all the adversity, injury after injury this year. At one point this season, I told my son that he was without his number one and two receivers, his left tackle, and his starting running back at Canfield, and we were right with them. I’m proud of their effort tonight.”

Things didn’t come easily as Fort LeBoeuf made the trip down I-79 and gave Hickory all it wanted to handle.

The Bison held an incredible 87-28 advantage in offensive plays, pounding the ball 56 times for 287 rushing yards. In comparison, quarterback Dominic Walters completed 17 of 30 passes for 171 yards with a pair of interceptions.

“We saw on film that some of their linemen were grown men and only juniors,” said Dungee. Their backs and quarterback were tough and good football players. That’s why we planned to attack the perimeter. We didn’t want to run right into the strength of their defense. We tried to push the envelope and use our athleticism. That’s usually the plan of attack for most teams against us. It’s frustrating when we’re contributing to that disparity, like when we don’t get off the field after some penalties. I thought some of those were questionable. But the penalties that extend drives are frustrating because we know how important it is to get off the field on third downs and get our explosive athletes on the field.”

Despite the offensive disparity in snaps, Hickory’s athletes proved to be too much for the stubborn Bison.

Holding a precarious 14-10 lead in the fourth quarter, the Hornets forced a punt, stopping a 13-play drive and taking over at their 20-yard line with 9:48 to play.

In seven plays, they gained some breathing room when Christian Dungee capped the 80-yard drive with a 16-yard touchdown. Dungee had a 31-yard gain on the drive and finished the night with 116 rushing yards on nine carries.

As they had all night, Fort LeBoeuf fought back, driving inside the Hornets’ 30-yard line, where Kelvin Morrison stepped in front of a Walters pass and returned it 85 yards for a touchdown.

“I was relieved there, but no, I didn’t think the game was over,” Dungee said. “Even when we scored to make it 34-10, they were like, can we take your headsets, and I said no, this game isn’t over yet. Obviously, with our rival coming up, we want to get out of this game healthy.”

Late in the game, Marzair Gardlock’s interception and subsequent return to the Bison 10-yard line led to Morrison’s fourth touchdown of the night from five yards out, pushing the lead to 34-10 with two minutes to play.

Though they ran only 28 offensive plays, Hickory gained 278 yards of total offense, including averaging over ten yards per carry on the ground.

“We knew that was going to be a tough team. Especially a challenge for us up front, that was probably one of the best lines we faced all year,” said Hickory lineman Luke Lewis. “People have had trouble running the ball on them. That was our goal throughout the week. We practiced hard all week and ran the ball on them tonight for sure.”

Both Kelvin Morrison and Christian Dungee ran for over 100 yards, with Morrison rushing for a game-high 117 yards on 14 carries, while Dungee added 116 yards on nine attempts.

“One thing is, you never know when the play is over when it comes to running the football,” said Lewis. “You stop blocking, they cut it back, circle the field, and then the next thing you know, they’re running the complete opposite side of the field. As an offensive lineman or tight end, you have to stay on your man at all times because you never know when somebody is going to cut it back.”

It was Morrison’s 39-yard touchdown run midway through the second quarter that gave the Hornets a 14-3 lead following a quick 3-play 80-yard drive as Dungee had a 30-yard rush on the drive.

But perhaps the turning point of the game came on Fort LeBoeuf’s ensuing drive. Bison used up the remaining 6:41 of game clock, driving 78 yards in 16 plays. However, it was the 1-yard they couldn’t get that proved the difference.

In the closing seconds, the Bison had the ball at the 1-yard line, and Walters ran a sneak and was stacked up at the line of scrimmage for no gain. The ball was knocked loose by Dungee and rolled back to the 11-yard line, where Aiden Struchen recovered the ball as time expired.

“All year long that’s been us,” Dungee said. “The Farrell game, against the Tigers (Sharon), we came up with a big stop against Grove City, and Erie. So it’s been all season long; sometimes you play with that heart and grit.”

Hickory led 14-3 at intermission.

The Bison pulled to within 14-10 in the third quarter when Walters scored on a 15-yard line at the 5:43 mark of the third stanza, following a 14-play 80-yard drive.

Dominic Walters led Fort LeBoeuf with 111 yards on 21 carries, including 108 yards on 14 rushes in the second half.

The Bison had taken a 3-0 lead when Lucas Kantza booted a 42-yard field goal in the first quarter following a 10-play 38-yard drive.

Hickory answered right back, as a 52-yard pass from Dungee to Gardlock set up Morrison’s 7-yard touchdown run just over a minute later.

Fort LeBoeuf closed the scoring when Brady Black scored on a 50-yard run against the Hornet reserves with 33 seconds to play.

The Bison close a successful 2025 campaign with an 8-4 record, while Hickory braces for another battle with crosstown rival Sharon next weekend for District 10 AAA gold.

Game Highlights

Hickory 34 Fort LeBoeuf 17

Score by Quarters

Fort LeBoeuf – 3 0 7 7 – 17

Hickory – 7 7 0 20 – 34

Scoring Summary

First Quarter

FL – Lucas Kantz 42 yd field goal, 4:00 – 10-38

H – Kelvin Morrison 7 yd run, (Cullum Darraugh pat), 2:39 – 3-60

Second Quarter

H – Morrison 39 yd run, (Darraugh pat), 6:45

Third Quarter

FL – Dominic Walters 15 yd run, (Kantz pat), 5:43 – 14-80

Fourth Quarter

H – Christian Dungee 16 yd run, (Darraugh pat), 8:02 – 7-80

H – Morrison 85 yd interception return, (kick failed), 5:05

H – Morrison 5 yd run, (Darraugh pat), 2:00 – 2-10

FL – Brady Black 50 yd run, (Kantz pat), 0:33 – 4-69

Individual Stats

Rushing: FL – Skyler Sadowski 20-77, Dominic Walters 21-111, Xavier Blose 8-27, Brady Black 5-68, Aiden Struchen 2-14, Team 0-(-10). Totals: 56-287. H – Morrison 14-117, Christian Dungee 9-116. Totals: 23-233.

Receiving: FL – Sadowski 5-48, Struchen 5-42, Michael Vommaro 3-8, Blose 4-73. H – Marzair Gardlock 1-52, Morrison 1-(-5), Mearlon Peterson 1-(-2).

Passing: FL – Walters 17-for-30, 171 yards, 2 INT, Team 0-for-1. H – Dungee 3-for-5, 45 yards.

Interceptions: H – Gardlock, Morrison.

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