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Penn Cambria Remains Unbeaten, Hands Bedford First Loss

Tagged under: District 5, District 6, Gameday Hub, News, pfn

| October 1, 2022


Penn Cambria is for real.  Just ask the Bedford Bisons.  On a beautiful night for football in Cresson, the hometown heroes took advantage of a couple Bedford turnovers in the first half and the Panther defense pitched a shutout in the second half to send Bedford home with their first loss of the season, 27-20.

Garrett Harrold #11 during warm-ups. Coach Felus is far right with black vest and blue hat.

Led by dual threat quarterback Garrett Harrold and running back Zach Grove the Panther offense piled up over 400 yards on the night.  Harrold accounted for 261 yards and a pair of scores.  He threw for 134 yards and a touchdown.  He also ran for 127 yards and another touchdown.  Grove carried the ball 13 times for 133 yards, scoring twice.  Six of those carries and 56 yards were in the fourth quarter.  The Panther head coach, Nick Felus, said this about Grove, “what can you say about Grove?  He gets stronger and stronger as the game goes on.  We talk about the fourth quarter with this team.  We can finish games in the fourth quarter.  Credit our offensive line, it was Grove time!”

Penn Cambria (in black) with the ball. Harrold in shotgun with 5 receivers.

With the game on the line and Penn Cambria clinging to a tenuous 27-20 lead, the Panther defense forced a Bedford punt that pinned the home team deep in their own territory at the ten and 6:11 left on the clock.  But a 17-yard pass by Harrold to Vinny Chirdon, a 14-yard run by Harrold, and a 32-yard run by Grove took the Panthers out of danger and into the Bisons’ real estate.  Grove also had runs of 6, 7, and 7 yards in that drive.  Penn Cambria did not score, but they took over four minutes off the clock and gave Bedford, a team that likes to run, the ball back with under two minutes to go and practically the length of the field, 94 yards, to traverse to possibly tie the game.

Bedford did get one first down, but four straight incomplete passes sealed the deal for Penn Cambria.  “That was a total team win,” stated an extremely happy Coach Felus, “they gave an unbelievable effort tonight.  A lot of people doubted us and that’s fine.  We’re okay with that role.  These kids are resilient.  They took a lot of pride this week in preparing.  They feel like they belong in the conversation.  They want to open some eyes and I think tonight we opened some eyes!”

In a seesaw back and forth first half, Penn Cambria received the opening kickoff and drove 65 yards in 9 plays to take a 7-0 lead when Grove rambled in from the seven.  Bedford answered with a score of their own when they marched 74 yards in 12 plays.  Ethan Weber scored the first of his 3 touchdowns on a 9-yard run to tie the game.  Weber had himself quite a night and almost singlehandedly kept the Bisons in the game and within striking distance as he carried the rock 19 times for 202 yards, caught 3 passes for 14 yards, and returned 4 kickoffs for 71 yards.

Things really heated up in the second quarter.  Luke Shuagis captured a 34-yard touchdown pass from Harrold on a third down after Andy Wyland recovered a Bedford fumble at the Bisons 38-yard line.  That gave Penn Cambria the lead back at 14-7.  Less than a minute later Weber broke loose and ran 56 yards to tie the game at 14.

Bedford (in white) with ball. QB Kevin Ressler in shotgun and Weber is the sidecar.

Bedford’s defense, who played well, forced a second straight punt by the Panthers.  The ball appeared to hit one of the punt returners in the foot when it landed and Penn Cambria alertly fell on the ball.  The referee signaled that the ball did indeed strike a Bedford player and that the Panthers recovered at the Bison 28-yard line.  On second and three from the 21, Harrold darted up the middle and found room to beat the defenders to the end zone.  Now Penn Cambria led 21-14.

Weber did it again after an indecisive kickoff return gave Bedford the ball at their own 14.  Weber took the handoff, went outside, broke a couple of tackles, stayed in bounds and galloped 86 yards to score his and Bedford’s third touchdown of the game.  The extra point attempt was blocked and after each team had a couple more possessions that came up empty, including Penn Cambria’s drive that made it to the Bedford 23 as time expired, the score was 21-20 at the intermission.

The only scoring in the second half came on Penn Cambria’s first possession.  Grove scored on a 2-yard run to cap the 6-play 74-yard drive.  The key play in that possession was a 48-yard pass from Harrold to Carter McDermott.  Bedford drove to the Panther 24 late in the third quarter, but turned the ball over on downs.  They never threatened again thanks to the Penn Cambria defense.  “Our defensive staff made some adjustments at half time and we did some things to take what they were doing away.  To hold them scoreless in the second half was huge,” said Felus.  They also held Weber to 31 yards after he gained 171 in the first half.

Next week Penn Cambria, now 6-0, hosts Somerset who is 0-6.  For Bedford, it doesn’t get any easier.  They will travel to Richland and put their 5-1 record on the line against the 6-0 Rams.

Score by Quarters:

Bedford –           7 13 0 0 – 20
Penn Cambria – 7 14 6 0 – 27

First Quarter:

PC – Zach Grove 7 yd run, (Andrew Dillon PAT), 7:56

B – Ethan Weber 9 yd run, (Owen Horne PAT), 1:41

Second Quarter:

PC – Luke Shuagis 34 yd pass from Garrett Harrold, (Dillon PAT), 8:54

B – Weber 56 yd run, (Horne PAT), 8:00

PC – Harrold 21 yd run, (Dillon PAT), 6:40

B – Weber 86 yd run, (PAT – blocked), 6:20

Third Quarter:

PC – Grove 2 yd run, (PAT – no good), 7:45

Fourth Quarter:

no scoring.

@Protime_PFN

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