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Juniata Valley’s Rand, Smith dash past Glendale

By Todd Irwin 4 min read

FLINTON -- In a defensive game in which a cloud of concern for seriously injured junior linebacker-offensive lineman Danny Seilhamer hung over Dr. Roy F. Baker Field, 0-2 Glendale held a two-point lead over Juniata Valley.

But then Juniata Valley senior quarterback Jett Rand dashed the hopes of the Vikings.

Rand, who was picked off twice by Logan Skebeck, rolled out and completed a pass in the middle of the field to Gavin Smith, who won a race to the end zone for an 85-yard touchdown pass. The touchdown gave the Green Hornets a lead and the eventual 12-8 win on a warm Friday night.

"It feels good," Juniata Valley coach Bill Musser said. "The Seilhamer boy getting hurt definitely took the wind out of all of our sails for a little while. I thought both of those teams came together with some power and grit at the end. It was a great, hard-fought win. I can tell you right now at this moment I'm not sure we won that game."

"It's very disappointing," Glendale coach Chase Hill said. "We hold them all game. We had four minutes to go, had three timeouts left and our guys just folded. It's just disappointing."

Seilhamer injury: Seilhamer suffered an apparent neck injury on the second play of the second quarter while playing defense. He was down for several minutes in a quiet stadium before a Hastings ambulance took him to a hospital.

"He hurt his neck, and they're always cautious with that stuff," Hill said. "He's in our prayers of course, but I'm sure he'll be okay. He's a tough kid."

"It sucks seeing kids get hurt," Rand said. "We all know each other around here. We play them in basketball. But football is football. We prayed for him and hopefully he's healthy."

Both teams gathered on the field in a prayer circle as the ambulance was leaving and after the game.

"That was cool to see," Hill said. "They're high school kids at the end of the day. So any time you have a scary injury like that it's bigger than the game. It was good to see on both ends."

Play of the game: On third-and-8 from his own 15 Rand connected with Smith, who broke a tackle and bolted into the end zone with 7:57 left in the game. It was Smith's only reception of the game.

"Their line was getting through. They have a good line," Rand said. "I was rolling out and I was seeing my boy Gavin. He's a fast kid. I knew he was going to score once he got out of that tackle."

Player of the game: Rand completed 15 of his 26 passes for 202 yards to go with a touchdown pass and a 23-yard touchdown run.

"I'm very proud of Jett," Musser said. "Jett has done nothing but been mature and continue to mature. He continues to lead us in the proper direction."

Unsung heroes: Juniata Valley linebacker Logan Harpster made many tackles and was all over the field.

Timely blocked punt: The first half was scoreless until Glendale's Devin Kaufman blocked Konner Harker's punt deep in the end zone after the Hornets were backed up. The ball rolled out of the end zone for a safety with 6 seconds left in the half.

"All the momentum was with us going into halftime," Hill said. "It was the first lead we had all season. We were hyped up in the locker room."

Notable: Skebeck intercepted Rand twice. ... Glendale wore camouflage jerseys. ... The Vikings came through a large inflatable Pirate ship to enter the field.

Records: Juniata Valley (2-1), Glendale (0-3)

Next week: Juniata Valley visits Claysburg-Kimmel. Glendale visits Moshannon Valley.

SCORE BY QUARTERS

Juniata Valley 0 0 6 6 --12

Glendale 0 2 6 0 --8

Second Quarter

G--Safety, ball rolled out of end zone after blocked punt by Kaufman, :06

Third Quarter

JV--Rand 23 run (pass failed), 4:46

G--Dreibelbis 4 run (kick failed), 1:37

Fourth Quarter

JV--Smith 85 pass from Rand (pass failed), 7:57

TEAM STATISTICS JV G

First downs 14 11

Total yards 288 241

Rushes-yards 33-86 34-123

Yards passing 202 118

Passing (comp.-att.-int) 15-26-2 10-20-0

Punts-avg. 2-22.5 2-26

Fumbles-lost 2-0 1-1

Penalties-yards 4-22 4-20

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING--Juniata Valley, Clark 22-49, Rand 7-38, Smith 2-1, Harker 1-(-1), TEAM 1-(-1). Glendale, Myers 14-71, Brink 7-19, Skebeck 9-18, Dreibelbis 3-15, Ammerman 1-0.

PASSING--Juniata Valley, Rand 15-26-2-202. Glendale, Skebeck 10-20-0-118.

RECEIVING--Juniata Valley, Smith 1-85, Harker 4-57, Norris 4-31, Glenny 4-21, Weirich 2-8. Glendale, Ammerman 4-55, Dreibelbis 5-53, Myers 1-10.

Starting at /week.