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Kick return sparks Huskies

EBENSBURG — Coming into the second half up only three points over Philipsburg-Osceola and looking for more, Bishop Carroll’s Maverick Farabaugh provided the spark the Huskies needed to gain some leverage.

Lined up to return the second half kickoff, Farabaugh collected the kick and ran 90 yards to the end zone, prompting a second-half breakout by Bishop Carroll (2-3) as it defeated Philipsburg-Osceola Friday night, 31-13.

“I didn’t see much, but I made a few cuts and found a lane,” Farabaugh said of his 90-yard kickoff return. “That definitely gave us some motivation to keep going and play hard.”

Neither team could find its groove on offense early on. Early three-and-outs by both teams kept it a quiet night in Ebensburg to start.

After a fumble in the second quarter by Philipsburg-Osceola, the Huskies finally broke through.

Fullback Jarrett Grove found a hole and ran 39 yards down the field to put the game’s opening points on the board.

The 5-foot-9, 185-pound senior led his team with 17 carries and 104 yards.

“It was all because of my line,” Grove said of his performance. “I’m nothing without them. They opened up a big hole for me. They’re just great at what they do.”

With just under two minutes to play, however, the Mountaineers responded. Quarterback Daniel Slogosky connected with Aaron Depto on a 30-yard catch-and-run to tie the game.

But Bishop Carroll marched right back down the field on the ensuing drive, adding three points in thanks to a 23-yard field goal by Trevor Hogue as time expired in the first half.

After Farabaugh’s touchdown to start the second half, the Huskies took over the game.

Sam Krumenacker recovered a fumble at Philipsburg-Osceola own 36-yard line just three minutes into the half, and five plays later, Hogue punched in a 5-yard touchdow­­n to make it a 23-7 game.

Hogue reached the end zone again in the fourth quarter on a 12-yard run.

“Everyone did their jobs out there and allowed me to make a few plays,” Hogue said. “It was all a team effort.”

The Mountaineers were only able to muster six points in the second half when Slogosky found Hunter Weitoish in the end zone with a 7-yard pass.

Philipsburg-Osceola was also responsible for four turnovers in the game, with three of those leading to Bishop Carroll scores.

“We had turnovers that just killed us,” Slogosky said. “We fought hard, but I think we need to fight harder to pull out a win.”

Hamid Rodkey, whose interception in the fourth quarter led to Hogue’s second touchdown of the night, said it took a strong defensive effort to shut down the Mountaineers.

“We’ve been trying to play better as a team and working together,” Rodkey said. “I think tonight was a real good team win. Everyone stepped in and contributed.”

Since it’s thrilling week-one win against East Hardy where Bishop Carroll won in overtime, the past few weeks have been troublesome for the Huskies.

The Huskies lost the following three games against East Canton, Tyrone and Bald Eagle Area by lopsided scores.

After picking up the win against Philipsburg-Osceola, coach Sean Billings said he thinks his team is headed in the right direction.

“We’re definitely making progress,” Billings said. “Putting these four quarters together was huge. That was the way that we needed to respond.”

The second-year coach did find one area of the game he wants to improve up. His team was penalized 11 times for 95 yards.

“We just got to be smarter,” Billings said of reducing the amount of penalties his team commits. “But that’s one me. We have to work on some of the fundamentals. We need to wise up, but I take the fall on that because we should be working on these kinds of things every single day.”

For the Mountaineers, they will continue to look for their first win of the season.

“We started out flat and they seemed very tentative and nervous,” P-O coach Brian McGonigal said of his team’s performance. “I don’t know if its because this was a game they felt they should win or could win, but I think it got to them. Too many turnovers and too many mistakes hurt us.”

Score by QuarterS

Philipsburg-Osceola 0 7 6 0 — 13

Bishop Carroll 0 10 13 8 — 31

Second Quarter

BC–Grove 39 run (Hogue kick), 6:28

PO–Depto 30 pass from Slogosky (Parks kick), 1:47

BC–Hogue 23 kick, 0:00

Third Quarter

BC–Farabaugh 90 kick return (Hogue kick), 11:44

BC–Hogue 5 run (kick failed), 7:59

PO–Weitoish 7 pass from Slogosky (run failed), 4:34

Fourth Quarter

BC–Hogue 12 run (Zazvrskey run), 9:34

Team statistics PO BC

First downs 8 10

Total yards 246 247

Rushing yards 63 175

Passing yards 183 72

Kick returns 5-89 3-123

Interceptions ret. 0-0 2-8

Comp-Att-Int 12-30-1 4-8-0

Punts 2-33.5 5-34.6

Fumbles-lost 4-2 3-0

Penalties-yards 5-45 11-95

Individual statistics

RUSHING: Philipsburg-Osceola, McDonald 16-45, Slogosky 7-16, Martin 5-2, Whitehead 2-0. Bishop Carroll, Grove 17-117, Hogue 5-30, Zazvrskey 15-18, Dumm 1-7, Becquet 1-3.

PASSING: Philipsburg-Osceola, Slogosky 12-27-0-183, Whitehead 0-3-1-0. Bishop Carroll, Zazvrskey 4-8-0-72.

Receiving: Philipsburg-Osceola, Chapman 4-63, Depto 2-52, Weitoish 3-26, Thompson 2-25, McDonald 2-17. Bishop Carroll, Dumm 2-55, Bohrer 1-10, Hogue 1-7.

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