The game plan was simple for the Moniteau Warriors: Give the ball to running back James Shope early and often.
In wet and muddy conditions Friday night, the Warriors senior scored his team's first three touchdowns and rushed for 193 yards on 33 carries in a 30-12 win over the Brookville Raiders.
Shope carried the ball 20 times for 153 yards in the first half as Moniteau asserted its superiority on both lines, putting the Raiders on their heels right off the bat.
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It's never a good sign when water is being pumped off a football field 10 minutes before kickoff, but that's exactly the conditions Curwensville and Elk County Catholic had to deal with Friday night at Dutch Country Stadium in St. Marys.
The heavyweight snow that fell in Elk County overnight and through the day Friday put a couple of inches on the ground and turned Dutch Country Stadium into a quagmire as water had to be pumped out of the end zone right up to kickoff.
The horrid conditions didn't seem to phase Curwensville as an eight-yard touchdown grab by Jed Greslick late in the first half sparked a second-half surge by the Golden Tide, who came away with a dominating 28-8 victory over the Crusaders.
Greslick ran for 100 yards in the game, but it was Golden Tide quarterback Sam Gardner who made some big plays through the air on a snowy night in St. Marys. Gardner, who threw for 95 yards in his previous three games, including none last week, hit 5 of 6 passes Friday for 80 yards and two scores to help offset the poor running conditions. Gardner also ran for a touchdown as he played a part in three of the four Golden Tide scores in the game.
Curwensville ran for 183 yards on 51 carries in the game and fumbled just twice, losing one.
Conversely, ECC fumbled six times, all by QB Joe Jacob, mostly on snaps. Elk County only lost two of Jacob's fumbles, but the second resulted in ECC only running one play in the third quarter as Curwensville dominated time of possession. The Tide held Ridgway to just three offensive plays in the third quarter last week.
Cameron Co. 14, Port Allegany 7
The top two Allegheny Mountain League heavyweights from the north collided Saturday afternoon in a physical battle for the No. 1 spot in the division and once again Cameron County answered the bell Saturday to edge Port Allegany, 14-7, to improve to 7-0 on the year.
The win locked up the AML North regular-season title for the Cameron County as the Red Raiders took a two-game lead over both Port and Coudersport with two games to play. Since Cameron beat both Port and Coudy, it owns the tiebreaker against both teams even if they would tie at the end of the year.
Cameron County needed some late heroics after Lucas Kline scored on a 15-yard pass from Matt Bodamer. Seth Lowery's extra point gave the Gators a 7-6 advantage with 3:15 remaining in the third.
The Red Raiders bounced right back with a score on their next possession.
Quarterback Jason Blose kept the drive alive on fourth-and-two from the Gators' 17 with a 14-yard scramble up the middle to bring the quarter to a close.
Andy Lippert punched it in on the first play of the fourth to regain the lead for Cameron County. The Red Raiders went for two, and Lippert needed a second effort on the conversion to make it 14-7 with 11:55 left in regulation.
Punxsutawney 6, Redbank Valley 0
Giving up a touchdown on their opponent's first possession, the Redbank Valley Bulldogs have nobody to blame but themselves as the first-quarter TD was the only score in a 6-0 Punxsutawney victory Friday night.
Following a punt on its first possession of the game, Redbank gave up the long home run as Punxsutawney connected on a 71-yard touchdown pass on its fifth snap of the night as quarterback Logan Weaver found Braedon Pennington and the Punxsy wide receiver dashed down the right side to complete a 71-yard touchdown strike, giving the Chucks a 6-0 lead with 6:35 remaining in the opening period.
While the Bulldogs kept Punxsy out of the end zone for the remainder of the night, Redbank also did a good job of keeping itself out the end zone as the Bulldog habit of shooting themselves in the foot during the 2009 season continued.
Several promising drives slithered to a halt on the slippery turf as Redbank kept lending a hand in stopping itself with a barrage of mistakes. Center snaps weren't the biggest contributor to the Bulldogs downfall as in previous games, but Redbank aided and abetted its own demise with a plethora of ill-timed penalties.
Finishing the game with 114 yards of offense, the Bulldogs ran for 84 and threw for 30 in losing their fourth straight contest. Pat Goheen topped the ball carriers with 61 yards on 14 attempts and Curtis Lee added 23 on eight carries. Bain hit on two of 12 passes with Brady Shuster making both catches for 30 yards.
Running for 126 yards, Punxsutawney threw for 142 and rolled up 268 yards of offense. Quarterback Logan Weaver connected on seven of 14 throws for 142 yards with one touchdown and a pair of interceptions. Braedon Pennington caught three passes for 80 yards and Zak Dickey made three grabs for 47. Brennan Niver topped the Chuck runners with 86 yards on 23 carries.
Keystone 43, C-L 20
Keystone and Clarion-Limestone both like to throw the ball, but on Friday evening the Panthers proved they have a solid running game as well with Dan Reed and Zach Smith combining for 267 yards and five touchdowns in a 43-20 victory over the Lions on Senior Night in Strattanville.
Reed rushed 14 times for 125 yards with three touchdowns. Smith finished with 142 yards on 18 carries and two scores as the Panthers held a 310-30 advantage in yards on the ground.
"It was a night where you had to run the ball," said Keystone head coach Jason Nellis. "Both teams like to pass, but this weather limited the passing game a bit. We are blessed to have several guys who can run the football. Dan and Brett both had good games tonight, but we had a few other guys who ran the ball well tonight also so it is nice to have that depth."
Jonathan Pezzuti scored all three touchdowns for C-L with a 35-yard interception return and two pass receptions for scores.
Karns City 35, Clarion 13
The Karns City hex continues for the Clarion High School football team.
For the fifth straight season and the eighth time in nine years, the Gremlins knocked off the Bobcats with a 35-13 win Friday night at Karns City.
The game was close for a half with Karns City (7-0 overall, 7-0 KSAC) holding a 14-13 lead thanks to a late first-half touchdown. But the second half belonged to the Gremlins, as they scored 21 unanswered points while outgaining Clarion (5-2, 5-2) 193-51 with many of the Bobcats yards coming on their last drive of the game.
Bubba Rue got both touchdowns scoring on runs of 7 and 1. But Karns City did a good job of shutting down the Bobcat senior limiting him to eight yards rushing on seven carries. Kevin Grejda did most of the damage on the ground for Clarion rushing 11 times for 82 yards.
Aaron Markle paced Karns City with 73 yards rushing on 14 carries, while Dylan Hipple had 37 yards on 12 totes and was 6 of 8 passing for 44 yards. Zach Barney also ran for 17 yards and scored the Gremlins final touchdown of the game with 3:45 to play on a 16-yard carry.
Kane 7, Ridgway 0
Kane got a one-yard touchdown run by junior quarterback Alex Anderson in the third quarter and made those points stand up in a 7-0 victory over Ridgway that kept the Wolves in a first-place tie with Brockway and Curwensville atop the Allegheny Mountain League South Division standings.
Both teams struggled to get their offenses going in the first half on a snowy night at Paul R. Miller Stadium in Kane.
