Port Allegany is Now Top Dog in District Nine Class 1A as They Throttle Redbank 66-38
Tagged under: District 9, Gameday Hub, News, pfn
Phil Myers | September 7, 2024
Jim Croce had a song in 1973 called ‘Bad, Bad Leroy Brown’ who was the baddest man in the whole damn town. Well, Port Allegany probably can make that statement in Class 1A football in District Nine after the Gators simply overwhelmed Redbank Valley 66-38 before a fair-sized Saturday afternoon hometown crowd. The offense, led by Aiden Bliss and Tristan Kiser, rolled up 474 unofficial yards with 460 of that coming on the ground.
The combination of Port Allegany’s physicality up front, and the power and speed of their two running backs was too much for the Redbank defense to handle. Speaking of the backs, Bliss rushed for 277 yards on 20 carries and scored 4 TDs. Kiser ran for 173 yards, carrying the ball 12 times and scoring 3 touchdowns. Kiser added another pair of scores by returning a kickoff 88 yards and minutes later running an interception back 93 yards.
“We want to punch the other team in the mouth within the rules of the game and impose our will. That’s what we did today,” stated Justin Bienkowski, Port Allegany’s head coach who was ejected from the game for two sideline violations of which neither was his fault. But that is the rule. “I’m proud of our guys. We had a relentless effort up front,” Bienkowski added.
Redbank Valley was not without some fireworks of their own. One of the best quarterbacks in District Nine, Braylon Wagner, did his best to keep the game close as he passed for 416 yards and 4 touchdowns even though he was pressured most of the time getting sacked 3 times and scrambling numerous times for positive yardage or buying time to find an open receiver. He added a rushing TD to account for all of the Bulldog touchdowns. “Braylon Wagner is a man, he’s respectful, he’s a hell of a kid,” said Bienkowski. Rylan Rupp of Redbank caught 9 passes for 164 yards and two touchdowns to lead the Bulldog receiving corps.
Port Allegany won the toss and elected to receive. Their goal was to keep possession of the ball, eat the clock up, and keep the ball away from Redbank’s quick strike offense. It didn’t quite turn out that way as the Gators gained huge chunks of yardage throughout the game behind their powerful offensive line. But don’t be fooled, Bliss and Kiser are two extremely good backs in their own right. It usually took 3 or 4 Redbank tacklers to bring the 5’11” 215-pound Bliss down. By contrast Kiser’s speed and agility made him tough to tackle too. That combination of two different styles will be difficult for anyone to handle especially throwing in the physical line play.
Redbank knew they were going to run, but couldn’t stop the Gators. Port’s QB Nick Wilfong only threw two shovel passes the whole game both to Kiser for a total of 14 yards. Bulldog coach Blane Gold said, “They have 3 guys who are really studs with Bliss and Neely and Young and they took it to us today. They just beat us up.”
The starting offensive line is worth mentioning. They are LT Juuso Young, LG Carson Neely, C Ethan Tarbox, RG Tyler Fillhart, and RT Brayden Babcock. This is an amazing stat: 19 out of the 39 offensive plays that Port Allegany ran went for 10 yards or more. On top of that, only once did the Gators have to punt. Juuso Young said that he didn’t expect to win by that margin, but that he and his teammates worked hard during the week. He was all smiles saying it is really fun blocking for the likes of Bliss, Kiser, and Wilfong.
Redbank tied the score at 8 with seven minutes left in the first and then came within five points twice before the kickoff return and the pick six by Kiser kind of broke the Coach Gold’s team. In fact, after the Bulldogs recorded a safety to make the score 15-10, they had a chance to take the lead but the Port defense rose to the occasion and forced a punt.
When Bliss scored late in the 3rd quarter to give Port a 59-24 lead, that started the continuous running Mercy Rule clock.
Port Allegany will take their 3-0 record to Brockway next Friday to play the 2-1 Rovers. Redbank, now 2-1, will attempt to recover their winning ways when they are home against the 1-2 Ridgway Elkers.
Score by Quarters:
Redbank Valley – 10 14 0 14 – 38
Port Allegany – 15 23 14 7 – 66
Scoring Summary:
First Quarter:
PA – Aiden Bliss 9-yard run, (Nick Wilfong run 2-pt conversion), 9:02
RV – Breckin Minich 21-yard pass from Braylon Wagner, (Wagner run 2-pt conversion), 6:59
PA – Bliss 18-yard run, (Jarrod Funk PAT), 3:55
RV – safety, Port Allegany recovers fumble in their own end zone, 2:12
Second Quarter:
PA – Tristan Kiser 11-yard run, (Funk PAT), 9:43
RV – Rylan Rupp 8-yard pass from Wagner, (Kieran Fricko PAT), 5:58
PA – Kiser 88-yard kickoff return, (Bliss run 2-pt conversion), 5:44
PA – Kiser 93-yard interception return, (Wilfong 2-pt conversion), 2:57
RV – Wagner 1-yard run, (Fricko PAT), 0:05
Third Quarter:
PA – Bliss 3-yard run, (Funk PAT), 9:10
PA – Kiser 1-yard run, (Funk PAT), 3:23
PA – Bliss 18-yard run, (Funk PAT), 1:37
Fourth Quarter:
RV – Drew Byers 32-yard pass from Wagner, (Fricko PAT), 11:22
RV – Rupp 29-yard pass from Wagner, (Fricko PAT), 8:26
PA – Kiser 66-yard run, (Funk PAT), 7:54
Individual Stats:
Rushing: PA – Bliss 20-277, Kiser 12-173, Wilfong 2-23, Kellen Veilleux 2-6, Team 2-(-19). Totals: 38-460. RV – Austin Eastlick 9-34, Wagner 11-32, Broc Monrean 2-19, Jaxon Huffman 1-0 Totals: 23-85.
Receiving: PA – Kiser 2-14. RV – Rupp 9-164, Huffman 5-91, Minich 5-58, Carson Gould 4-44, Byers 2-48, Broc Monrean 1-11. Totals: 26-416.
Passing: PA – Wilfong 2 for 2, 14 yards. RV – Wagner 26 for 45, 416 yards, 2 INT.
Interceptions: PA – Kiser-1, Bliss -1.
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