×

Tigers overwhelm Central

Mirror photo by Gary M. Baranec Hunter Barr of the Golden Tigers tackles Central QB Braden Kitt in the second quarter on Friday in Roaring Spring.

ROARING SPRING — Hollidaysburg quarterback Brady Walters needed 108 yards from scrimmage Friday night against Central to become the school’s all-time leader in that category.

Not only did he do that, but he also contributed to all six touchdowns in the Golden Tigers’ 42-0 regular-season ending win over the Scarlet Dragons.

“They had too many things that they could do that we couldn’t stop,” said Central coach Dave Baker, whose team ended its season at 3-7. “Hollidaysburg has a good team. They were just better than us.”

Walters rushed 11 times for 90 yards and completed 5-of-8 passes for 75 yards and two touchdowns. He rushed for four touchdowns. What impressed Hollidaysburg coach Homer DeLattre even more was that Walters had no interceptions and no fumbles. In fact, no one fumbled on offense on a night in which the rain grew harder as the game went on.

“That was pretty good for our first time in it,” DeLattre said of the bad weather. “We haven’t really had this challenge this year. But we talked about it before we got on the bus. These field conditions were made for really good offensive, lines and I think we have one.”

Hollidaysburg (6-4) scored on its first drive of the night, a 10-play, 87-yard drive that featured eight runs by Nate Fisher. The final play, however, was a 24-yard touchdown pass from Walters to Ben Drass. The two-point run failed, making it 6-0.

Central followed with its best drive of the night as junior quarterback Braden Kitt took his team from its 33 down to the Tigers’ 3-yard line. However, four stops by the Tiger defense was a key moment in the first quarter.

“That is a couple of weeks in a row that our defense did that. We did that against Tyrone, DuBois … Our defense has played better and better each week, and that is a tribute to our coaches and our kids for buying in,” DeLattre said.

Baker also believed it was a turning point, but still thought the Golden Tigers were just too much for his young Dragons who were dealing with a lot of injuries toward the end of the season.

“We may have held them off for a little bit longer, but the result still would have been that they were just a stronger team than us,” he said. “We were struggling coming into the game. We are dealing with injuries, but everyone is this time of year. That is the nature of high school football.”

Walters scored on two runs of 3 and 6 yards in the second quarter and hit tight end Gus Dellinger, who rumbled 41 yards for another score, to put Hollidaysburg up, 28-0, at halftime.

“Our No. 1 must-do was control the line of scrimmage on both sides, and I think we did that. No. 2 was make sure the turnover ratio (4-to-0) was in our favor, and it was,” DeLattre said.

Hollidaysburg scored two more times in the third quarter for 42-0 lead, thanks to runs of 12 and 14 yards by Walters. The mercy rule kicked in at the 8:03 mark of the third quarter. Despite the score, and like the 2018 season, Baker still saw effort from his Dragons.

“Our seniors made a good effort. They stayed with it this year. We had a good game against Bellefonte and we almost beat them, and against Huntingdon, they handled us but we were in that game for a long time,” he said. “There were just times this year where we got overmatched, like Hollidaysburg (tonight).”

The Golden Tigers will now prep for a playoff game against District 8’s Brashear at Saint Francis this upcoming Friday night. They can feel good about a ground attack that amassed 252 yards on 44 carries, with Fisher getting 67 on 12 carries and Hunter Barr netting 42 on 8 carries, and neither them or Walters played in the fourth quarter Friday night.

“We talked at halftime about some of our laws for the second half. Maintain the lead and put teams away early in the second half. That was a discussion,” said DeLattre, whose club held Central to just 120 yards of offense. “If we want to have a successful program, we have to dominate for four quarters and not just a half or three quarters. I was proud of the way we responded (tonight).”

SCORE BY QUARTERS

Hollidaysburg 6 22 14 0 — 42

Central 0 0 0 0 — 0

First Quarter

H–Drass 24 pass from Walters (run failed), 6:22

Second Quarter

H–Walters 3 run (Fisher run), 7:18

H–Dellinger 41 pass from Walters (Pinter kick), 5:31

H–Walters 6 run (Pinter kick), 1:18

Third Quarter

H–Walters 12 run (Pinter kick), 8:03

H–Walters 14 run (Pinter kick), 4:44

TEAM STATISTICS H C

First downs 17 8

Total yards 327 120

Rushes-yards 44-252 28-74

Yards passing 75 46

Passing (comp.-att.-int.) 5-8-0 7-19-2

Punts-avg. 2-38.0 3-26.3

Fumbles-lost 0-0 2-2

Penalties-yards 5-60 2-20

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING–Hollidaysburg, Walters 11-90, Fisher 12-67, Barr 8-42, Moss 1-4, Weyandt 3-20, Martellacci 4-19, Paddocjk 2-7, Robertson 2-4, TEAM 1-(-1). Central, Harbaugh 2-0, Marko 1-3, Quarello 2-25, Kitt 5-(-4), Kurtz 5-17, Hoover 6-25, Parks 1-(-2), Jefferies 2-9, Leidy 1-(-2), Holsinger 2-(-2), Wagner 2-4.

PASSING–Hollidaysburg, Walters 5-8-0-75. Central, Kitt 7-19-2-46.

RECEIVING–Hollidaysburg, Sensenig 2-15, Dellinger 1-41, Drass 1-24, Fisher 1-(-5). Central, Albright 1-4, McConahy 1-20, Walters 1-9, Parks 3-11, Kurtz 1-2.

NEWSLETTER

Today's breaking news and more in your inbox

I'm interested in (please check all that apply)
Are you a paying subscriber to the newspaper? *
   

COMMENTS

Starting at $4.39/week.

Subscribe Today