Highlanders upend Trojans

Tagged under: District 6, Gameday Hub, pfn

Greg Ricupero | September 13, 2020

Saturday September 12, 2020
Week #1 LHAC Greater Johnstown vs Cambria Heights
By Gregory Ricupero
Last Meeting: Cambria Heights 34-14 at Johnstown 10/14/19

If you have never been to Patton you need to go. The first thing you notice when you get to Patton is the beautiful Athletic complex, a vast upgrade over their former field. What’s that great sound? It’s bagpipes as the Highlander band goes marching by. (IMHO-Best Band in the Conference).
Johnstown came into the game knowing that they would have to score a lot of points to win. They got the ball first and scored. The Trojans spread offense scored in about two minutes as Bryce Yoder caught a short pass on the right sideline from Simeon Kobal and raced 69 yards to make it 6-0. The kick was no good. Things went downhill for the Trojans after that. That’s also when the Highlanders junior fullback Ryan Haluska took over. Haluska scored three straight touchdowns on three straight possessions in just under a quarter as Cambria Heights built a 21-6 lead with just over eleven minutes to go in the second quarter. The Highlanders were able to control the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball during this period. Game over right? No, the Trojans fought back and were stopped twice on downs inside the CH 20. The Highlanders were force to punt from their own goal line with just seconds left in the half. A muffed punt gave them the ball back with 16 seconds just inside Johnstown territory. Three plays later Ryan Bearer hit Jared Fox in the corner of the end zone to give CH a 28-6 halftime lead.
That series of events seemed to take the air out of the Trojans sails. But just to make sure Bearer hit Ian Eckenrode on a 48 yard TD pass on the second play of the second half on a beautiful play action fake. After that both defenses dug in and the scoring stopped until the 4th quarter. Haluska would score his 4th touchdown of the game with less then eight minutes to go to start the mercy rule. The Heritage Conference wouldn’t want to see the Highlanders next year.

Player of the Game Ryan Haluska 4 touchdowns and 198 rushing

J 6-0-0-0= 6
CH 13-15-7-6=41

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