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Penn Hills is heading to Hershey after defeating the defending 5A champs, Archbishop Wood

Tagged under: District 12, News, pfn

| December 1, 2018

Cephas celebrates after throwing 37 yard td pass to Martin

Despite putting the ball on the ground 6 times in the first half, Penn Hills found a way to win. Their defense led the way and Dante Cephas had him a night. The senior WR/DB collected three turnovers for the Indians, 2 interceptions and a fumble recovery, threw a two point conversion pass and added a 62 yard scoring run leading Penn Hills to a 20-13 win over the defending 5A Champion Archbishop Wood. “We made some really big stops, and a couple things not going our way in the first half we challenged our guys at half time for someone to step up and make a play” said Penn Hills Head Coach Jon LeDonne.

Wood held Penn Hills on downs on the first drive of the game, but Hardy collected his first interception halting that drive. On their second series of the night, Penn Hills was stopped on downs and attempted a punt. The snap from center sailed right over the punters head, and was recovered at the 28, giving Archbishop Wood great field position but the Indian defense stood tall, forcing the Vikings to settle for a 25 yard Bob Hennessey field goal with 2 minutes left in the first quarter.  The lead didn’t last long.  Terry “Tank” Smith ( who finished with 146 yards on 13 carries) took the hand off from Hollis Mathis and went straight through the heart of the Viking defense for a 75 yard scoring run. Hollis reeled in the two point pass from Hardy to make it an 8-3 lead with 1:32 left in the first.

The Vikings next drive took them into Indian territory but Leroy Pendleton fumbled the ball and Cephas recovered. Penn Hills couldn’t move the ball and punted to the Wood 38. Once again the defense held and the Vikings got another field goal from Hennessey, this from 39 yards out making it 8-6 Penn Hills with 4:05 left in the half. Wood had one more chance at scoring in the first half, but a 47 yard field goal attempt fell short. “Our defense came up big for us tonight” said LeDonne. “They made a couple key stops and anytime you can force a team like that to settle for a field goal it’s a win.”

It took a couple series in the second half, but that explosive Indians offense got rolling. With 1:25 left in the third, Hardy went around the left end and straight to the endzone for his 62 yard scoring run. The point after failed leaving the score 14-6 Penn Hills.

 

“They played very well on both sides of the ball. They had a couple big plays. Those types of offenses you can’t give up the big play and we did” said Wood Head Coach Kyle Adkins. We didn’t capitalize in the first half. They gave us some chances there in the first half and your not going to win if you have to settle for field goals.” With the ball at their own 38, the Vikings again couldn’t find an answer for the defensive speed Penn Hills brought to the game. After forcing a punt, it took just two plays for the Indians to pull away. On the second play, Cephas took a sweep play to the left, pulled up and found a wide open Ricky Martin for the 37 yard td. “We knew they were going to be keying on the sweep so we put that play in this week” said LeDonne. Again the two point play failed leaving the score 20-6 with 11.26 left in the fourth quarter.

The Vikings struck back after getting good field position at the 38 when Jack Colyar found an open Cardel Pigford for a 27 yard strike. On the play, Cephas stumbled and fell leaving the receiver open for the catch. The Indian defense stepped up the rest of the game, hold the Wood defense to under 25 yards on their final three drives.

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