NEW BETHLEHEM, Pa. – Billed as the Game of the Night, Redbank Valley quickly turned it into one of the routs of the night scoring 22 first-quarter points on its way to a 57-13 win over visiting Port Allegany.
Also see: District R2/R3/Curwensville Recaps • District 9 R1/Clearfield Recaps
The victory clinched the District 9 Football League Region 2 title for the Bulldogs, who took it away from last year’s champion in an emphatic way.
Redbank Valley (8-0, 6-0 R2) led 22-0 by the 4:15 mark of the first quarter, 36-6 by halftime, and set the PIAA’s Mercy Rule running clock into motion just over a minute into the third quarter.
Quarterback Braylon Wagner threw five more touchdown passes, completing 17 of 23 attempts for 296 yards, almost all of that in the first half with the Bulldogs running just nine offensive plays in the second half.
Wagner connected with Mason Clouse seven times for 142 yards and three TDs covering 51, 5, and 36 yards, all in the first half.
Those three scores gave Clouse 15 receiving touchdowns on the season setting the school’s single-season record.
“Not 15,’ Clouse said when asked on the Cole Orthodontics Player Interview for the Generational Wealth Management Saturday Morning Lookback Show if he thought he could set the record. “I knew I was the No. 1 guy coming back, but I didn’t expect this.”
Owen Clouse, Mason’s twin bother, returned a punt 82 yards for a touchdown down that set the lead at 22-0, and Wagner, who has thrown 33 touchdowns on the season, also hit Ashton Kahle for a 68-yard TD in the second quarter and then Ashton George for 16 yards to put the Bulldogs up 43-6 at the 10:56 mark of the third quarter.
Caden Adams returned an interception 65 yards and Drew Byers added a 39-yard run late in the third quarter to cap the Bulldogs’ scoring.
Aiden Bliss ran for both of the Gators’ touchdowns, a 27-yarder in the second quarter and a 30-yarder in the fourth quarter. He finished with 172 yards on 26 carries.
Port Allegany dropped to 6-2 overall and 5-1 in Region 2 with both losses being blowout losses to the two unbeaten teams in D9 – Central Clarion being the other one.
