Jersey Shore comes up short against Scranton Prep

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Ryan States | October 18, 2025

Photo: Richard Finner Kane

Dunmore, Pa. — It was certainly a game to forget for the (6-3) Jersey Shore Bulldogs on Friday Oct. 18th, traveling up to Dunmore, Pennsylvania to take on the (5-4) Scranton Prep Cavaliers. Scranton Prep came into the game on a hot streak, and the winners of three out of their last four games caught fire against the Shore. 

For Jersey Shore it was a mistaken riddled game on both sides of the ball in Friday’s game, with multiple turnovers, a failed punt, and some breakdowns in open field tackling being the main focus points. Meanwhile for the Cavaliers it was like a night at the track with QB Will McPartland and receiver Noah Krzywiec each having incredible individual games. Pair that with a great night from the offensive line and a turnover free game, and it seemed like all the stars were aligning for the Cavaliers. 

Notably the reason why Scranton Prep has four losses on the year, is because the Cavaliers started the season 0-3 while McPartland was out from an injury he sustained last season. But ever since their star dual-threat QB returned, things have been nothing but up. Also of note Friday’s win marked career victory No. 100 for Cavaliers head coach Terry Gallagher. Gallagher is already the winningest coach in Scranton Prep history, and the Gatorade bath he received after his 100th win with the program is a moment he wont soon forget.

Jersey Shore got off to a hot start in the first quarter, driving down the length of the field with relative ease before running back Bo Sechrist ran in a 5-yard touchdown to put the Bulldogs up 7-0. Scranton Prep however was quick to respond, having their own long sustained drive before McPartland took a QB power up the middle for a 2-yard score to tie it at seven. Then after two straight Bulldogs turnovers on their next two drives, the Cavs found paydirt again, this time it was Krzyweic taking a push pass 41-yards to the house at the end of the quarter. 

Kriswiec and McPartland each found the endzone again on their next two drives, as suddenly Jersey Shore found themselves staring at a 28-7 deficit midway through the second quarter. Multiple stalled offensive drives and some breakdowns in open field tackling seemingly left the Bulldogs without any bite left. But on their sixth drive of the game, Shore showed that maybe you can teach an old dog new tricks. Trailing by 21 forced head coach Tom Gravish to try and find any way to spark life into the offence, and they did so by pulling out some previously unseen trick plays. Reverse passes, designed laterals, fake reverses, you name it and Jersey Shore tried it.

Delving deep into the playbook immediately began to pay off, as receiver Luke Ryan took a reverse pass over 50-yards downfield with an incredible individual effort. Ryan shook three Scranton defenders, before carrying another two for an extra 15-yards all the way to the Cavaliers 5-yard line on a play of sheer willpower, but when he reached for the endzone the ball ended up popping out. Luckily fellow wideout Carter Rhinehart was only a few feet behind Ryan when the ball came loose and he was able to quickly pounce on the ball and finish off the spectacular play by carrying it over the goalline. 

“It was the best effort we’ve had in a while offensively. That’s what we look for in a Bulldog player.” Gravish noted after the game when talking about Ryan’s catch and run.

Right before halftime Scranton Prep would respond again, with receiver AJ Croom snatching a jump ball out of the air for a 20-yard touchdown catch. Then after the half the scoring began to dry up for both teams, a Pauling rushing touchdown would add to the Bulldogs total but the Cavaliers added a field goal and pair of touchdowns of their own to add an extra garnish to their 51-19 win. 

While it is certainly a disappointing result from the Bulldogs perspective, time will tell how major this defeat will turn out to be. Currently Jersey Shore sits in second in the Heartland D1 conference standings, closely trailed by (8-1) Athens High School. With a Shore loss and Athens win on Friday the question becomes will the Wildcats leapfrog Jersey Shore in the standings with one game left in the regular season? Only the top two seeds host the first round of Heartland playoffs, so staying inside that top two is crucial. 

Despite the pressure of the upcoming standings, coach Gravish is laser focused on just going 1-0 every week, making clear his only goal for now is to beat (0-9) Central Mountain next week.

“We aren’t worried about playoffs, we just want that Central Mountain [game]. We want to try and get win number seven, that’s our goal. It’s senior night, it’s a home rivalry game. That’s our goal, then we go from there.”

UP NEXT: Jersey Shore returns home for their senior night, hosting rivals Central Mountain on Friday, Oct, 24th. Kickoff will be at Thomson Street Stadium at 7 P.M. EST.

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