By The Daily Item
Shikellamy burst from the starting gate in the Braves' 55-26 victory at Mifflinburg. The Braves scored touchdowns on their first six possessions, and their first punt didn't come until 2:48 was left in the first half.
And, despite kicking off to start the second half, Shikellamy picked right up where it had left off when Billy Petersen recoverd a fumble on the kickoff at the Shikellamy 45. Seven plays later the Braves were in the end zone again, as quarterback Garrett Pope pushed the pile forward on a 10-yard TD run that but the Braves up 48-12.
FUTURE AIR ATTACK?: Warrior Run has struggled all season, and Friday night's 35-0 loss to Lewisburg was no exception. The Defenders turned the ball over five times, including four interceptions.
But the Defenders did have some big plays through the air, too.
Freshman quarterback Garrett Moser completed six passes for 115 yards. Senior tight end Ryan Beaver had a big catch for 35 yards in the second quarter, and sophomore wide receiver Devin Hoy made a leaping catch for a 27-yard gain in the third quarter.
Late in the fourth, sophomore running back Austin Oberdorf caught two passes for a combined 53 yards. With Moser, Hoy and Oberdorf all back for at least the next two years, the Defenders might have a dangerous passing attack on the way.
SAVING THE BEST FOR FIRST: Upper Dauphin ran senior flanker Ty Raubenstine on a Wildcat three times on Friday night against Tri-Valley, but only the first one paid off.
On the Trojans' second series, when they regained the lead 14-7, Raubenstine took the direct snap and went 50 yards to the Bulldogs' 20.
"We wanted to set the tone early," Raubenstine said.
But the Trojans tried the play two more times, with Raubenstine stopped for no gain on both of them.
SELFISH TROJANS: Both Raubenstine and senior tailback Tyler Grosser said they really wanted to win the game, thus capturing the Twin Valley Conference championship outright for the Trojans. Had Tri-Valley won, it would have been a four-way tie among UDA, Tri-Valley, Line Mountain and Millersburg.
"We didn't want to share it with anybody," said Raubenstine.
Grosser said that as Tri-Valley was driving late for a score that could have tied or won the game, he was thinking, "If they score this could be our championship season going right out the door. And we stopped them on fourth-and-long. I didn't know what to think. I was just thinking we are the sole champions.' It was a great feeling seeing everyone storming the field. I love it."
Tri-Valley's last gasp came on a fourth-and-16 when both the defender and receiver fell and the pass fell incomplete in the end zone.
SOME TIMELY DEFENSE: The game, for the most part, was the shootout that most people expected, but both teams made great defensive plays at opportune times or this game might have put a strain on the scoreboard.
Said Grosser, who also plays free safety, "We knew if we were going to win this game, we were going to have to play defense. If we didn't play defense, they were going to score 50 points. In the second half, they were getting the veer option on us and we were making some great adjustments. We held them to a lot of three-and-outs, held on fourth-and-long. It's the things you have to do to win a football game and we made the right adjustments."
Coach Carmen DeFrancesco agreed. "We have a pretty good defense, they have a pretty good defense. I coached (Tri-Valley head coach) Mike Kogut in high school. He's a heck of a coach.
"It was a shootout like we thought it would be and then both teams settled in. They made adjustments, our coaching staff made adjustments. My hat's off to that (Tri-Valley) coaching staff. It was a chess match," DeFrancesco said. "Our coaches had a heck of a defensive plan and our kids carried it out."
SO LONG AGO: When DeFrancesco took over as UDA head coach, the program was struggling and his young team finished 1-10 that season. The Trojans improved to 5-6 last year and then to 9-1 and counting in 2009.
"You don't know what it was like here two years ago. It was not good. I would drive home every night, and I had a long drive home and every night, you start thinking Am I going to get this thing turned around.' The game of football teaches you a lot. You find a lot out about yourself under adversity and our kids learned a lot about themselves. It prepares the kids for life."
ON THE VERGE: Danville running backs Mikeal Owens-Wright and Russell Heath had a big night on the ground at Jersey Shore on Friday, combining for 295 yards rushing and five touchdowns.
Heath ran for 157 yards and four scores, giving him 979 yards heading into Friday's playoff game against Loyalsock. Heath is trying to become the first Danville back to rush for 1,000 yards since Carmen DeFrancesco (the UDA coach's son) in 1999.
TOP OF THE HEAP: Mike Klembara, whose Lourdes Regional team clinched the All-America Conference title with a win over Vo-Tech on Friday, will step down after this season according to published reports.
Klembara, who also coaches the Lourdes girls basketball team, has a 125-60-2 mark with the Red Raiders in two tenures. He will remain the girls basketball coach and will lead Lourdes into the Eastern Conference playoffs against Muncy this weekend.
