ALEXANDRIA - Juniata Valley entered Friday's game having scored in all but one quarter this season.
Glendale tripled that number, holding the Green Hornets off the scoreboard in the first and third quarters. Juniata Valley scored more than enough points in the second and fourth quarters, however, to slip past the Vikings, 41-30, as a heavy fog rolled in at A.R. Simkins Memorial Field.
The win gives Juniata Valley the Inter-County Conference Silver Division championship. Both teams entered the game 4-0 in the division, making it a winner-take-all contest.
Trailing 10-0 at the end of the first quarter, the Green Hornets scored three touchdowns in the second quarter, all of which came on fourth down plays.
"As a coach, you start thinking to yourself 'Is this going to work?'" Juniata Valley coach Mike Smith said.
It worked all three times. A reverse to Caleb Wagner followed by a throwback screen from Caleb Taylor to Brett Grissinger and another Taylor to Grissinger touchdown with six seconds left put Valley up 21-10 at halftime.
"We got our offense in a groove in the second quarter. That really helped stabilize us," Smith said. "I'm not sure why, but we were out of sync at the start."
Grissinger scored two more touchdowns in the fourth quarter to finish with four. The senior back racked up 184 yards of offense, 94 rushing and 90 receiving.
Jesse Claar grinded out 115 yards and a touchdown on 29 carries.
"They started running on all cylinders in the second quarter," Glendale coach Matt Irvine said. "The kids gave a tremendous effort, played with a lot of heart, but an 11-point deficit proved too much to overcome."
Glendale almost immediately cut the Valley lead to three when Doug Twigg returned the second half kickoff 69 yards to set up a Gary Witherow 3-yard touchdown run.
The score remained 21-18 headed to the fourth quarter, but Claar quickly put the Hornets up two scores with an 8-yard touchdown run on the second play of the period.
Two plays after that, Glendale was back within three points when Damon Braniff ripped off a 51-yard scoring run right through the middle of the Valley defense. Braniff finished with 134 yards and two touchdowns on 19 carries.
Juniata Valley kept rolling along, though, as Grissinger sandwiched a pair of touchdown runs around a Witherow-to-Twigg scoring pass to seal the win.
Special teams also set up the Vikings two scores in the first quarter. Two plays after Chris Wilson blocked a punt, Damon Braniff ripped off a 25-yard TD run around right end.
Glendale's Taylor Jersey recovered a fumble on the ensuing kickoff, leading to a Derrian Matchock 21-yard field goal and an early 10-0 lead.
"We talked all week about how both teams have good offenses and good defenses and that special teams play would be one of the biggest parts of the game," Irvine said. "Unfortunately, we didn't put it all together."
SCORE BY QUARTERS
Glendale10 0 8 12 - 30
Juniata Valley0 21 0 20 - 41
First quarter
G-Braniff 25 run (Matchock kick), 5:16.
G-Matchock 21 field goal, 3:58.
Second quarter
JV-Wagner 4 run (Staber kick), 8:36.
JV-Grissinger 21 pass from Taylor (Staber kick), 4:00.
JV-Grissinger 2 pass from Taylor (Staber kick), :06.
Third quarter
G-Witherow 3 run (Witherow from Twigg), 10:01.
Fourth quarter
JV-Claar 8 run (kick failed), 11:31.
G-Braniff 51 run (pass failed), 10:54.
JV-Grissinger 7 run (Staber kick), 5:21.
G-Twigg 8 pass from Witherow (kick failed), 2:12.
JV-Grissinger 30 run (Staber kick), 1:17.
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING: Glendale-Braniff 19-134, Witherow 8-6, Conklin 1-2, Twigg 1-1, TEAM 1-(-1). Juniata Valley-Claar 29-115, Grissinger 15-94, Wagner 5-20, Taylor 2-4, Gable 1-(-1), Gardner 1-(-2), TEAM 1-(-1).
PASSING: Glendale-Witherow 5-10-1-42. Juniata Valley-Taylor 5-8-0-90, Grissinger 0-1-0-0.
RECEIVING: Glendale-Twigg 3-22, Jersey 1-5, Hommer 1-15. Juniata Valley-Grissinger 4-86, Claar 1-4.
INTERCEPTIONS: Juniata Valley-Low.
TEAM STATISTICSGJV
First downs1019
Yards rushing30-14254-229
Passing (cmp.-att.-int.)5-10-15-9-0
Yards passing4290
Total yards184319
Fumbles-lost1-01-1
Penalties-yards5-341-15
Punts-avg.4-26.33-20.3
