RIMERSBURG, Pa. – A 25-point fourth quarter helped Union/A-C Valley pull away from visiting Ridgway for a 51-13 win at Vindunas Field in Rimersburg.
Also see: D9 Region 1/Clearfield recaps
The Falcon Knights (5-4 overall, 5-2 D9 R2) led 16-7 at halftime and 24-13 going the fourth quarter before exploding for four touchdowns in the final 12 minutes including a pair from the backups.
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The story of the game was big plays for Union/A-C Valley, as five of its seven touchdowns covered at least 20 yards including three that went over 60 yards.
Trey Fleming accounted for two of those, including a 97-yard touchdown reception from Brody Dittman and a 62-yard reception from Dittman.
Fleming, who also caught a pair of two-point conversion passes, finished the night with four catches for 225 yards and was named the Allegheny Grille of Foxburg Player of the Game.
He talked about his night and the win, which clinched playoff eligibility for the Falcon Knights, on the Cole Orthodontic Associates postgame interview.
Fleming’s 97-yard catch and run was the biggest play of the game and came on a third-and-12 play for Union/A-C Valley, who had taken over at its own 5-yard line following a Cameron Larkin fumble on Ridgway’s opening drive of the second half. Owen Terwint forced the fumble
Three plays later, Fleming caught a slant pass around the 18-yard line, broke to the far sideline, and outraced the Elker defense to the end zone.
That score put Union/A-C Valley ahead 24-7 just under five minutes into the second half, a marked turnaround from what could have been a 16-14 game.
Ridgway did answer back with a 37-yard Larkin touchdown run to make it 24-13 going to the fourth quarter, but Owen Bish scored on an 18-yard run 14 seconds into the quarter and just over three minutes later Fleming scored on the 62-yard pass from Dittman to put the game out of reach.
Additional long Falcon Knight scoring plays came from Logan Skibinski (23-yard run) that put Union/ACV ahead 8-7, a 68-yard Dittman to Zach Cooper touchdown pass that made it 16-7, and a late Michael Yerkey 43-yard run.
Ridgway actually scored first when it got a big play from its defense, as Alex Merrit intercepted a Dittman pass and took it 28 yards for a score midway through the first quarter.
Dittman had a monster night as well going 8 of 16 for 304 yards, three touchdowns, and an interception with Cooper catching two passes for 70 yards.
Bish ran five times for 71 yards and a touchdown to lead the Falcon Knight ground attack.
Lark was 15 of 25 passing for 113 yards and an interception while rushing 15 times for 91 yards. Larkin fumbled twice and the interception came at the 10-yard line at the end of the first half with the Elkers (2-7, 2-5) driving.
Eric Hoffman led the receiving corps for Ridgway with seven catches for 62 yards.
SMETHPORT 14. KANE 6
SMETHPORT, Pa. – Smethport closed out its season with a 14-6 win over visiting Kane thanks to a monster game on the ground from Jonah Ganoe.
Ganoe ran 29 times for 249 yards and two touchdowns on first-half runs of 73 and 57 yards for the Hubbers (2-7, 1-6 R2)
Kane (0-9, 0-7) didn’t get on the board until 2:32 left to play when Nate McCormack scored on a 6-yard pass from Kyle Zook.
Ganoe accounted for all but 42 of Smethport’s offense.
Reese Bechakas ran 20 times for 118 yards while Dane Anderson ran 10 times for 52 yards.
Zook was 6 of 22 passing for 40 yards and the touchdown.
CAMERON COUNTY 38, OTTO-ELDRED 8
DUKE CENTER, Pa. – Maddox Baughman and Malakai Zucal each scored two rushing touchdowns to lead visiting Cameron County to a 38-8 win over Otto-Eldred.
Zucal ran 19 times for 197 yards including touchdowns of 8 and 4 yards, while Baughman ran 12 times for 48 yards with scores of 9 and 2 yards. Baughman was also 5 of 6 passing for 63 yards and an interception.
Jesop Farabaugh also scored on a 6-yard run for the Red Raiders (7-2, 4-1 R3).
Otto-Eldred (6-3, 3-2) scored on a 4-yard Shane Magee to David Schenfield scoring pass.
Magee was 25 of 38 for 241 yards, a touchdown, and four interceptions.
Shene Thomas caught nine passes for 119 yards, while Schenfield had six for 41 yards and Manning Splain four for 48 yards.
Zucal, Jakeb Narby, Farabaugh, and Landon Farren had interceptions for Cameron County.
COUDERSPORT 48, BUCKTAIL 20
RENOVO, Pa. – Gavyn Ayers ran 11 times for 157 times and six touchdowns to lead Coudersport to a 48-20 win at Bucktail.
Ayers, who was also 5 of 12 passing for 103 yards, accounted for 260 of Coudersport’s 320 yards of total offense.
Jackson Moss also had three catches for 71 yards for the Falcons (6-3, 5-0 D9 R3), who led 41-6 at halftime.
Braylon Fantaski had the biggest play for Bucktail, a 91-yard kickoff return for a touchdown.
Brody Pentz led the offense for the Bucks (5-4, 2-3) with 13 carries for 75 yards.
PORT ALLEGANY 50, KEYSTONE 13
PORT ALLEGANY, Pa. – Peyton Stiles and Aiden Bliss combined to rush for 334 yards and five touchdowns, as Port Allegany rolled past visiting Keystone, 50-13.
Bliss 18 times for 181 yards scoring on runs of 52 and 12 yards while Stiles added 12 carries for 153 yards with touchdown runs of 54, 33, and 8 yards. Stiles also caught a 14-yard touchdown pass, one of two catches for 44 yards for Stiles.
The Gators (7-2, 6-1 D9 R2) led 31-7 at halftime before scoring the first 19 points of the second half to put the game into the Mercy Rule.
Nick Wilfong added a rushing touchdown for Port Allegany and was 3 of 5 passing for 58 yards and a touchdown. He also made eight tackles on defense.
Dom Corcetti was 17 of 34 passing for 179 yards, two touchdowns, and an interception for Keystone (3-6, 3-4) with Drew Claugenhaupt catching seven passes for 82 yards and Drew Keth hauling down seven passes for 69 yards and a touchdown (15 yards).
Eli Nellis also caught a touchdown and had three catches for 28 yards for Keystone.
ELK COUNTY CATHOLIC 24, SHEFFIELD 0
ST. MARYS, Pa. – Noah Cherry scored three touchdowns to lead Elk County Catholic to a 24-0 win over visiting Sheffield.
Cherry scored on first-half runs of 5, 14, and 37 yards, as the Crusaders (2-7) beat Sheffield (0-8) for the second time this season and handed the Wolverines their 27th straight loss.
ECC also got a 38-yard field goal from Will Wortman, as the Crusaders scored all their points by the 5:20 mark of the second quarter.,
GLENDALE 30, CURWENSVILLE 8
CURWENSVILLE, Pa. -Logan Skebeck threw four touchdown passes and ran for a fifth to lead visiting Glendale to a 30-8 win over Curwensville.
Skebeck was 13 of 17 passing for 164 yards and ran 13 times for 34 yards.
He threw a pair of touchdowns to Joey Kitko and one each to Connor Potutschnig and Troy Misiyra.
Glendale (3-6 overall, 3-4 ICC North) led 30-0 at halftime before Curwensville (1-8, 1-6) scored in the second half on a Sammy Gustafson touchdown run. Gustafson ran 13 times for 82 yards.
