JOHNSTOWN - Bishop Guilfoyle opened the second half of its game against Richland with a 13-play, 80-yard scoring drive. The Marauders added a late touchdown by Nick Little to outscore the Rams, 12-0, in the second half. Unfortunately for Bishop Guilfoyle, Richland had already put up 35 points in a dominant first half. Bishop Guilfoyle coach Justin Wheeler saw the second half as a positive for his team.
"We are happy with our effort in the second half," said Wheeler, whose club lost, 35-12, Friday night. "I told the guys that Richland is a tremendous football team. They are well coached. They have tremendous talent. They don't have much weakness. We knew we had to play a great game, and we came out and had some mistakes early in the game that cost us. Richland is a team you can't give mistakes to. They capitalized on all of our mistakes."
The Marauders converted three third downs on their opening drive of the second half. They used their running game on 12 of the 13 plays, and grounded out 72 of their 80 yards via the run. The drive was capped off with a Sam McCloskey 8-yard scoring scamper.
Bishop Guilfoyle played to the final horn. The defense stopped Richland on a fourth down at the 5-yard line late in the game. The Marauders then drove the ball 95 yards on eight plays for a touchdown in the final seconds. The big play of the drive was a 79-yard catch-and-run from Brandon Chadbourn to Nate Nardelli that set up Guilfoyle at the Rams 25. Five plays later, Little scored on a six-yard run with just over a second left in the game to set the final.
Richland used an up-tempo offense to quickly take control in the first half. The Rams used quick passes, power runs, and quick play calling that allowed them to get into a good tempo. The Rams scored on their first four drives to grab a 28-0 lead.
The Rams got a scoring run of 13 yards and touchdown passes of 43 and 17 yards by quarterback Matt Shaffer, and a touchdown pass of 21 yards by Nico Pecora.
While the Rams were racking up points, the Marauders struggled offensively in the first half. They did not get a first down until the final play of the opening quarter, and only had four first downs in the first half. Richland punctuated the first half with a 32-yard fumble recovery for a touchdown by Elijah Metzgar.
"I was just happy that we came out and played to our standard," Richland coach Brandon Bailey said. "Our kids did a great job on offense, defense, and special teams, getting a scoop and score with Elijah Metzgar there at the end of the half. I don't think you could have played a much better first half of football."
After mixed results in their first two games, Wheeler is still thinking long-term with his football team.
"This is a great football team, and this is a tough conference," he said. "Our goal is to get into the playoffs, and that goal is still with us. We need to come out, and we need to play hard. Next week we have another great opponent, Cambria Heights. We have to play like we did in the second half for four quarters to give ourselves a chance to win."SCORE BY QUARTERS
Bishop Guilfoyle 0 0 6 6 - 12
Richland 21 14 0 0 - 35
First quarter
R-Shaffer 13 run (Colvin kick), 8:08.
R-Shertzer 43 pass from Shaffer (kick failed), 4:41.
R-Flick 21 pass from Pecora (Solarczyk run), :55.
Second quarter
R-Shertzer 17 pass from Shaffer (Colvin kick), 4:10.
R-Metzgar 32 fumble return (Colvin kick), 3:53.
Third quarter
BG-McCloskey 8 run (kick blocked), 4:06.
Fourth quarter
BG-Little 6 run (kick failed), :01.
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING: Bishop Guilfoyle-Rossman 13-82, Little 4-24, McCloskey 4-18, Irwin 3-15, Luther 1-4, Kitt 1-1, Chadbourn 16-1. Richland-Solarczyk 11-127, Shaffer 8-47, Fesko 2-8, Snopko 1-5, Farina 4-3, TEAM 1-(-1).
PASSING: Bishop Guilfoyle-Chadbourn 6-12-0-157. Richland-Shaffer 12-17-1-151, Pecora 4-5-0-62.
RECEIVING: Bishop Guilfoyle-Nardelli 2-128, Irwin 2-19, Kitt 1-8, Rossman 1-2. Richland-Shertzer 5-85, Flick 6-73, Bergman 1-27, Rizzo 2-14, Naglic 1-8, Joy 1-6.
INTERCEPTIONS: Bishop Guilfoyle-Irwin. Richland-None.
TEAM STATISTICS BG R
First downs15 21
Rushes-yards 42-145 27-189
Passing (comp.-att.-int.) 6-12-0 16-22-1
Yards passing 157 213
Total yards 302 402
Fumbles-lost3-1 1-0
Penalties-yards 5-43 5-45
Punts-avg.3-35.7 0-0
