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By Matt Michelone
sports@altoonamirror.com
ALEXANDRIA -- You couldn't have written a better script for No. 3 seed Juniata Valley, as it opened up its District 6 Class 1A quarterfinal game against No. 6 Penns Manor with a 45-yard pass from Jett Rand to Luke Uplinger.
That first drive stalled out, however, four plays later, and the Comets proceeded to take the lead on a 26-yard run by Brayden Pytash on the ensuing drive.
In the second quarter, the Comets offense got short fields, capitalizing on short punts from the Green Hornets and from there the problems continued to mount.
The Comets' run game proved to be too much for the Hornets as they racked up an astounding 401 yards on 65 carries as they pulled off the 34-14 upset at A.R. Simkins Memorial Field.
Much of that damage came at the hands of Carter Smith who recorded 162 yards on 17 carries with two touchdowns.
"The kids came out, played hard, had the right attitude," Juniata Valley coach Bill Musser said. "We came out in the second half, I thought we played hard. I thought the young kids saw what they can do when they put their mind to it."
The Hornets passing game had to carry a lot of the load for an offense that was struggling to find rhythm during the opening half.
"They were telling us that if we were going to have success, we were going to have to put the ball in the air," Musser said, "We took advantage of some situations where we had those openings, had those spots."
Play of the game: Smith's 26-yard touchdown run to end the first drive of the second half helped put the game away.
Player of the game: Smith
Unsung heroes: The Comet offensive line who helped set off Brayden Pytash for a 16 rush for 94-yard day on the ground, and the Comet defensive line who created havoc all night for the Hornet run game.
Most vital statistic: The Comets recorded 401 yards on the ground on 65 total carries.
Penns Manor coach Bill Packer: "Our offense just played well tonight. A couple we should've got in early, but we didn't. Overall, I'm real pleased. Our line created some real nice holes, and our backs ran hard. There are times where those guys make big blocks for Carter, and Carter makes blocks for (his teammates) off the edge. They work off of each other and do a great job.''
Musser: "I said it all year, we had to become physically mature, we had to become mentally mature, and believe it or not over the last couple of weeks, I think our younger kids got mentally more mature and they understand what we need to do to become better in the future.''
Comet RB/LB Smith: "We're a mentally tough football team. That's what good football teams are. We give up one play, and we bounce back. We've struggled in the first half this season a little bit, but we continually got better and it's working out for us now. Getting control quickly definitely helped us.''
Notable: Penns Manor had 10 first downs to Juniata Valley's four in the first half. ... No Hornet had more than 22 yards on the ground. ... Jett Rand finished the night completing 16 of 32 passes for 188 yards and had two touchdowns ... Both teams committed a combined seven penalties for 50 yards.
Records: Penns Manor (6-5), Juniata Valley (7-4)
Next week: Penns Manor will travel to Purchase Line next Friday in the District 6 Class 1A semifinals. Juniata Valley's season is finished.
SCORE BY QUARTERS
Penns Manor 8 12 14 0 - 34
Juniata Valley 0 0 8 6 - 14
First Quarter
PM--Pytash 26 run (Smith run), 9:15.
Second Quarter
PM--Pytash 7 run (pass failed), 8:47.
PM--Smith 58 run (run failed), 3:47.
Third Quarter
PM--Smith 26 run (Smith pass from Lieb), 8:13.
JV--Weirich 4 pass from Rand (Clarke pass from Rand), 7:13.
PM--Leasure 8 run (run failed), 1:24.
Fourth Quarter
JV--Norris 12 pass from and (pass failed), 5:13.
TEAM STATISTICS PM JV
First downs 17 9
Total yards 407 215
Rushes-yards 65-401 16-27
Yards passing 6 188
Passing (comp.-att.-int.) 1-2-0 16-33-2
Punts-avg. 3-30 5-27.4
Fumbles-lost 3-2 1-1
Penalties-yards 4-35 3-15
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING--Penns Manor, Leasure 17-85, Smith 17-162, Pytash 16-94, Williams 6-22, Lieb 6-17, Snyder 4-22, Ford, 1-7, TEAM 1-(-1). Juniata Valley, Weirich 2-2, Clark 1-(-3), Uplinger 4-9, Prough 3-7, Brantner 1-1. Rand 2-(-11), Johnson 3-22.
PASSING--Penns Manor, Williams 1-2-0-6. Juniata Valley, Rand 16-32-2-188, Clark 0-1-0-0.
RECEIVING--Penns Manor, Smith 1-6. Juniata Valley, Uplinger 2-57, Weirich 6-29, Prough 2-50, Clark 1-1, Norris 3-37, Brantner 1-14.