Tyler Rodgers

HOLLIDAYSBURG — Just a year ago, Hollidaysburg beat Allderdice out of the Pittsburgh City League twice by margins of 42 and 33 points.

The difference one year can make was very evident on Friday evening when the two teams met again at Tiger Stadium. The Dragons had a 16-14 lead in the fourth quarter, but could not hang on as Hollidaysburg got a spark on defense on an interception from Tyler Rodgers. The Hollidaysburg offense went to work from there to gut out a 28-16 victory over Allderdice.

“We kept talking about, ‘Someone needs to make a play,'” Hollidaysburg coach Homer DeLattre said. “We were able to get the big play with Tyler’s interception. That really swung the momentum.”

For the second week in a row, Hollidaysburg’s opponent did not get to Tiger Stadium until a half hour before kickoff. There was confusion involving Allderdice’s athletic trainer before leaving the school in Pittsburgh.

Kickoff was pushed back to 7:15 to accommodate the Allderdice players with time to warm up.

“They deserved some time to warm up,” DeLattre said. “It’s not safe to put a kid out there without warming up. He said he needed about 20 minutes, and that was fine.”

“Homer is a class act,” Allderdice coach Mark Matson said. “He did not have to do that for us. I really appreciate him giving us those 10 minutes. It helped us a lot.”

Play of the game: With nine minutes to play in the game and Hollidaysburg trailing 16-14, Rodgers stepped in front of a Tre Ford pass for an interception and took it down to the Dragons’ 39-yard line. The big play set up the go-ahead touchdown four plays later on a Carter Muth 20-yard run.

Player of the game: Muth ran for 112 yards on 18 carries to go with a pair of touchdowns. Of the 112 yards, 80 of them came in the second half.

Unsung heroes: Even though they only caught four passes from quarterback Cole DeLattre, all four receptions were pretty big ones. Two of them went for touchdowns — one for 17 yards from Kasen Metzger, and another from 45 yards to Ethan Coke.

Most vital statistic: On all four of their scoring drives, the Tigers were working with short fields. Hollidaysburg started each of those possessions in Allderdice territory for all four touchdowns.

Coach DeLattre: “(Allderdice) gave good effort. That’s a good football team. They have some really good football players. We talked about being cohesive. No matter what happens, we’re a family. We’re a team. I think that showed tonight.”

Matson: “Last year these guys smoked us twice. At 14-0 our guys were quitting. They just thought, ‘This one is over.’ The fight they had the whole time tonight, they never stopped. I’m so proud of these guys. It’s just a night and day difference from last year’s team.”

Rodgers: “I watched film and I saw those crossers they ran. I was just ready for that crosser (on the interception. It feels really good to come back and turn it around.”

Notable: Before the game, Hollidaysburg honored the 1985 District 6 Class 4A championship team. … The Tigers had three interceptions on the night — one each from Rodgers, DeLattre and Vincent Albarano. … Ford led Allderdice with 152 passing yards and a touchdown. Nasir Scott had 52 rushing yards on 16 carries for the Dragons.

Records: Hollidaysburg (2-0); Allderdice (1-1).

Next week: Hollidaysburg travels to Allegany, Md. Allderdice visits Perry Traditional Academy.

SCORE BY QUARTERS

Allderdice 0 8 8 0 — 16

Hollidaysburg 7 7 0 14 — 28

First Quarter

H–Muth 5 run (Walters kick), 3:46.

Second Quarter

H–Metzger 17 pass from DeLattre (Walters kick), 9:10.

A–Turner 15 pass from Ford (Lee pass from Ford), :04.

Third Quarter

A–Simms 3 run (Stead pass from Ford), 4:15.

Fourth Quarter

H–Muth 20 run (Walters kick), 6:52.

H–Coke 45 pass from DeLattre (Walters kick), 4:37.

TEAM STATISTICS A H

First downs 15 16

Total yards 235 264

Rushes-yards 38-83 36-167

Yards passing 152 97

Passing (comp.-att.-int.) 11-23-3 4-12-1

Punts-avg. 5-30.4 3-40.6

Fumbles-lost 4-1 3-1

Penalties-yards 8-65 6-58

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING–Allderdice, Scott 16-52, Simms 8-25, Ford 12-6, Stead 2-0. Hollidaysburg, Muth 18-112, DeLattre 11-57, Snyder 2-6, Banks 2-0, Team 3-(-8).

PASSING–Allderdice, Ford 11-22-152-1-3; Noel 0-1-0-0-0. Hollidaysburg, DeLattre 4-12-97-2-1.

RECEIVING–Allderdice, Beachaum 4-65, Turner 4-52, Stead 3-35. Hollidaysburg, Coke 2-52, Stultz 1-28, Metzger 1-17.