Jersey Shore Handles Selinsgrove on the Road

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Ryan States | September 6, 2025

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Selinsgrove, Pa – Playing on the road is never easy, especially when you’re traveling to take on a bitter rival. That was the situation that Jersey Shore (3-0) found themselves in on Friday, Sept. 6th as they made the hour drive up to Selinsgrove (0-3) to take on the Seals. And while a rough start was cause for some concern, the Bulldogs found life late in the first quarter and never looked back, going on to beat the Seals in a convincing 49-6 victory in their Heartland-I conference opener.

Coming into the game it was definitely a tale of two very different seasons as both teams came into the year facing similar problems. Both Shore and Grove lost much of their talent from their district playoff teams from years past, and were forced to start many players who prior to this season never saw any high school snaps. But while the Bulldogs have seemingly not lost a step, the losses have hit the Seals much harder.

Selinsgrove started off the season with a close 18-7 loss to Juniata, before following that up with a 62-0 defeat at the hands of Twin Valley. Meanwhile Jersey Shore came into Friday’s game off of two big wins versus Dallas (PA) and Delaware Valley.

The start of the first quarter was one to forget for the Bulldogs, as a fumble on the opening drive set Selinsgrove up deep in Shore territory. While the Seals failed to capitalize on the initial turnover, they would be the first to score in the game, as Andrew Gesumaria ran it in from 30-yards out to give Selinsgrove an early lead. But a partially blocked extra point meant that the lead was only 6-0. 

It looked like the initial punch from the Seals awoke something on the Jersey Shore sideline, as immediately following the score Jersey Shore got to work establishing their dominance. A long sustained drive was capped off with a Luke Ryan 12-yard touchdown run to give the Bulldogs a lead they would never relinquish. 

In the second quarter it was all Shore all the time, as they put up three scores in 12 minutes of play, with Nolan Pauling and Bo Sechrist (twice) each finding the endzone as the lead ballooned all the way to 35-6 right before halftime. Notably that second Sechrist touchdown was set up thanks to a sack fumble from Connor Yingling.

After an eventful first half the final two quarters of the game felt much more tame by comparison, as the only two scores came from Sechrist and Herrit in the fourth quarter when the game was already out of reach. 

Shore’s defense played a major factor in the win as well, forcing three turnovers, as they hounded Seals quarterback Rocco Amato all night long. The Bulldogs certainly have not been afraid to be blitz heavy this season, and such again was the case Friday, as they sent five or six rushers on what felt like every down and that relentless pressure completely shut down the Seals offence. 

After the game Bulldogs head coach Tom Gravish sounded very pleased with his team’s performance.

 “I was really proud of our guys on how they answered the bell after giving up that early score.” Gravish said, “They [Selinsgrove] have some talented people on that team, some returning starters. But we challenged our guys and they answered the bell.”

Next week will be one for the story books, as Jersey Shore goes on the road to take on undefeated Shamokin (3-0), in a game that could end up determining the winner of the Heartland-I. That game is set to kick off in Shamokin, with a start time of 7 p.m.

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