UNIONTOWN - Kris Stern had 12 carries for 72 yards and two touchdowns for Hollidaysburg at Uniontown Friday night.
Then, they played the second quarter.
Stern, a 5-foot-9, 200-pound senior running back finished the night with 232 yards and four touchdowns on 32 carries as Hollidaysburg beat Uniontown, 31-0, at Bill Power Stadium.
"I get to run behind a very good line," Stern said. "They were the key to our win tonight. I knew that if I stayed behind them, good things would happen. Tonight, good things happened."
It was Hollidaysburg's first win of the season, as the Golden Tigers improved to 1-3 overall and 1-2 in Keystone Conference games. Uniontown still seeks its first win through five games and is 0-3 in conference games.
Hollidaysburg ran the ball 50 times in 54 offensive plays, which was pretty much according to plan.
"We're not very well-versed at throwing the ball," Golden Tigers coach John Barton said. "Plus, if something is working, stick with it. That's what we did tonight. We were running it pretty well, so we said, 'let's keep pushing it and see what happens.'"
What happened was the Golden Tigers simply took it to the Red Raiders and made Uniontown pay for its inability to tackle.
"You've got to tackle to play defense," Uniontown coach John Fortugna said. "We're putting the kids in the right position to make tackles. They've just got to wrap them up and bring them down."
What worked for Hollidaysburg all night began early, when four Stern runs covered 40 yards and ended in the end zone on an 8-yard run to make it 7-0 with 7:57 still to go in the first quarter.
Stern scored on a 1-yard run at the end of a 11-play, 41-yard drive to make it 14-0 with 2:12 to go in the first. Stern was back at it in the second quarter, when he ran nine times for 76 yards and scored on a 10-yard run to make it 21-0 before Andrew Dick's 38-yard field goal made it 24-0 at halftime.
Stern and his stout offensive line ended any remaining suspense by capping a six-play, 80-yard drive with a 50-yard run to paydirt with 9:07 showing on the third-quarter clock.
"Weather also had a say in our decision not to pass very much," Barton said, referring to heavy rains that greeted the teams at kickoff. "We went to the run and had success, so why pass?"
Hollidaysburg ran for 322 of its 351 yards of offense, but Barton was just as happy, if not more so, for his defense, which limited Uniontown to negative yardage in the first half (minus 3 yards and one first down via penalty) and only 100 yards for the game (80 rushing, 20 passing).
"I'm very excited about the shutout," Barton said. "Our defense has slowly gotten better each week. It was good for them to bring it all together like this."
The Golden Tigers host Albert Gallatin next week, while Uniontown prepares for a visit from Franklin Regional.
"We can't give up on the kids," Fortugna said. "We've got to prepare them to play another game. We've got to build on a few positive things we did tonight. Our power-I looked pretty good there in the fourth quarter [when the Raiders ran 12 times for 49 yards]. We've got to keep coaching."
SCORE?BY?QUARTERS
Hollidaysburg14 10 7 0 - 31
Uniontown0 0 0 0 - 0
First quarter
H-K. Stern 8 run (Dick kick), 7:57
H-K. Stern 1 run (Dick kick), 2:12
Second quarter
H-K. Stern 10 run (Dick kick), 5:21
H-Dick 38 FG, 1:32
Third quarter
H-K. Stern 50 run (Dick kick), 9:07
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING: Hollidaysburg-K. Stern 32-232, Gallagher 12-67, Urban 5-19, Miller 1-4. Uniontown-Spinetti 6-46, Sandrosky 10-31, Washington 4-17, Frazier 7-9, Wilkerson 1-2, Hall 1-2, Ricks 1-1, Ellis 2-(-7), Superick 5-(-21).
PASSING: Hollidaysburg-Gallagher 2-4-0-29, Urban 0-1-0-0. Uniontown-Superick 1-4-1-20.
RECEIVING: Hollidaysburg-K. Stern 2-29. Uniontown-Morris 1-20.
INTERCEPTIONS: Hollidaysburg-Gallagher.
TEAM STATISTICSHU
First downs147
Rushes-yards50-32237-80
Yards Passing2920
Total Yards351100
Comp-Att-Int2-5-01-4-1
Penalties-Yards5-554-16
