Jersey Shore Shines in 44-20 Win Over Penn Wood
Tagged under: District 1, District 4, Gameday Hub, News, pfn
Ryan States | October 11, 2025
Jersey Shore, Pa.— For only the second time this season, the Jersey Shore Bulldogs were coming into a game off the heels of a loss. With last week’s 52-7 beat down at the hands of (8-0) Hollidaysburg, there was speculation on how the Shore would respond to their worst loss since 2019. On Friday the Bulldogs had a chance to right their wrongs from a week ago, hosting the (1-7) Penn Wood Patriots. Needless to say they passed their test with flying colors, beating the Patriots by a final score of 44-20.
While kickoff was originally scheduled for 7 P.M., a broken down Penn Wood bus ended up putting a 30 minute delay on the game.
Seemingly that delay stretched onto the field as well, as when the game did kickoff, both sides promptly went three and out on their first two drives. Both Penn Wood and Jersey Shore did a fantastic job stopping the run, but the Bulldogs quickly found a weakness is the Patriots secondary. On their third drive of the game the Shore offense got things started, with QB Nolan Pauling firing a high arching 25-yard touchdown pass to wide out Carson Watkins. Watkins and Pauling is a connection that Penn Wood got all too familiar with, as the pair went on to find each other for three total touchdowns in the game.
After finding their rhythm Jersey Shore continued to pour it on, as Carter Rhinehart took a punt return 65-yards to the house, before a Bo Sechirst receiving touchdown and a Penn Wood safety quickly ballooned the score to 23-0 in the early minutes of the second quarter.
For Penn Wood it felt like their offense was stuck in the mud, with no where to run or throw as the Jersey Shore defense began to clamp down. Add on to that multiple delay of game penalties and pre-snap issues and it looked like the Patriots would be in for a long night. But mid-way through the second quarter they found some momentum, forcing a Sechrist fumble and quickly turning that into a 20-yard TD run from QB Nasir Serrano. Then after another Pauling to Watkins touchdown, Serrano hooked up with receiver Sheldon Hannible for an 84-yard score to make it 30-13 at the half.
It is something to be said that facing a 23-0 deficit under a first year head coach in Darren Ryals the Patriots, who had not won a game since their season opener, continued to battle and never backed down. And while offensively things looked sloppy at times, the Penn Wood defense, specifically linebacker Richard Vahn performed well. Vahn was flying all over the field and his fundamental tackling in the open field is what led to Jersey Shore having issues on the ground.
While the second half saw less scoring than the first, it doesn’t mean there weren’t any fireworks, with Pauling providing some highlight moments. A 7-yard rushing touchdown made the score 37-13, but Pauling saved his best last.
With just 40 seconds in the third quarter, facing a 3rd and goal from the seven yard line Pauling took the snap, rolled to his right but found nothing open. Not one to panic, he quickly reversed field to look back to his left, running into a wall of Patriots defenders who grabbed at the sophomore quarterback trying to bring him to the ground. Miraculously Pauling managed to fight out of the scrum and fired a pass off his back foot, finding Watkins for one of the best 7-yard touchdown throws you will ever see to give the Bulldogs a commanding 44-13 lead.
Pauling was certainly the hero of the game for the Bulldogs, scoring five total touchdowns and putting a large majority of the offensive load on his back. Not only did Pauling deal out four touchdowns through the air, but he also got it done on the ground, providing the only consistent yardage in the run game as Penn Wood continued to stifle the vaunted Shore rushing attack.
Pauling was not the only star for the Shore however, as Watkins deserves his flowers as well. Not only did he have three receiving touchdowns, but Watkins added two INTs to his season total of seven on the defensive side. His two way ability proving vital.
After the game Watkins talked about his connection with Pauling, and how their chemistry came to fruition on that final touchdown.
“The funny thing is, I was supposed to run a slant route. I saw him scramble away, so I ran across the back of the endzone, he saw me throw my hand up and was able to throw it over them.”
Penn Wood would manage another score before the final whistle, but it was Jersey Shore who found the jubilation of victory, getting their season right back on track.
After the game Jersey Shore head coach Tom Gravish talked about the win and what it meant to get that vital sixth win
“We’re happy to get win number six.” Gravish noted, “A lot of people were saying prior to the season that we had lost too many weapons and too many seniors. And yeah, we are a younger team, but we are still going to line up every week and battle.”
Gravish closed by reiterating the team’s now famous mantra “Tradition never graduates.”
Up next: Things certainly do not get easier for Jersey Shore, as they travel on the road next week to take on another 5A school in (4-4) Scranton Prep. That game will take place in Scranton, PA on Oct. 17th with a kickoff time of 7 P.M.
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