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Blairsville ousts Black Knights

BLAIRSVILLE – Deion Robinson rushed for four touchdowns as Blairsville rolled to a 35-14 victory against the Moshannon Valley Black Knights in a District 6 Class A quarterfinal football playoff game at Memorial Field on Friday night.

The second-seeded Bobcats will play host to the winner of tonight’s Homer-Center at Portage game one week from tonight, also at Memorial Field.

Eric Sherkel scored both Moshannon Valley touchdowns, from 10 and 9 yards. The sophomore quarterback led the Black Knights (7-4) with 102 rushing yards. He also threw for 92 yards.

But Blairsville, the newly crowned champions of the Heritage Conference, turned two first-quarter splash plays by Cameron Livingston into a 14-0 lead at the end of the first period.

“We now know we can’t make mistakes like we did tonight,” Moshannon Valley head coach Michael Keith said. “We moved the ball and then we would turn it over, or we would get a penalty.”

The Bobcats assumed early momentum and control of the game after forcing the Black Knights to punt for the second time in less than six minutes. Livington’s 56-yard punt return gave the Bobcats (11-0) a 7-0 lead.

“You can’t give up a punt return for a touchdown. We kicked ourselves in the foot a few times,” Keith said. “[The punt return] gives them momentum, and momentum is such an important part of a football game. When a team gets momentum, that’s a heck of an advantage.”

Livingston’s 19-yard interception return halted Moshannon Valley’s next possession, and staked the Bobcats at the Blairsville 37. Robinson finished the drive with a 9-yard scoring run.

“That tailback they have is a really good runner,” Keith said. “And they deserved to win the game.”

Robinson tacked on touchdown runs of 40, 5 and 27 yards. His third touchdown run of the night came in a six-play drive that was aided by three defensive penalties.

“We gave them 35 yards in penalties and set them up [for] a score,” Keith said. “You can’t do that and win football games.”

Sherkel’s running and passing helped the Black Knights attain a 266-241 edge in total yards. Sherkel completed 12 of 23 passes but was intercepted twice.

“He’s a good runner,” Blairsville coach Rick Artley said. “We were coming upfield on his fakes, and he was able to get to the edge. We knew that, playing them last year.”

SCORE BY QUARTERS

Moshannon Valley0 0 0 14 – 14

Blairsville14 14 0 7 – 35

First quarter

B-Livingston, 56 punt return), 6:15 (Stipack kick)

B-Robinson, 9 run, :05 (Stipack kick)

Second quarter

B-Robinson, 40 run, 4:05 (Stipack kick)

B-Robinson, 5 run, 4:05 (Stipack kick)

Fourth quarter

MV-Sherkel, 10 run, 10:57 (Stiles kick)

B-Robinson, 27 run, 9:16 (Stipack kick)

MV-Sherkel, 9 run, 3:48 (Stiles kick)

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING: Moshannon Valley Sherkel 25-102 (2 TD), Thomas 18-79, Neff 2-6, Murawski 1-(-4), TEAM 1-(-9). Blairsville Robinson 21-156 (4 TD), Thompson 5-34, Livingston 2-5, Sundayu 1-(01), TEAM 2-(-2).

PASSING: Moshannon Valley Sherkel 12-23-2-92. Blairsville Thompson 5-9-0-49.

RECEIVING: Moshannon Valley Neff 5-56, Murawski 4-18, Swoope 2-12, Dipko 1-6. Blairsville Robinson 4-41, Ricky Shirley 1-8.

INTERCEPTIONS: B-Livingston 1-19, Thompson 1-0.

TEAM STATISTICSSNC

First downs1613

Rushes-yards47-17446-192

Passing (comp.-att.-int.)12-23-25-9-0

Yards passing9249

Total yards266241

Fumbles-lost1-01-1

Penalties-yards7-801-5

Punts-avg.6-25.84-36.2

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