Tigers dominate DuBois
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HOLLIDAYSBURG -- After earning a comfortable 22-0 halftime lead, the Hollidaysburg football team encountered some turbulence at the outset of the third quarter from DuBois in the form of two quick scores.
"We made a couple of key plays, got a couple of quick scores, but they are such a solid team," DuBois coach Justin Marshall said of his club that cut the lead to 22-10 at one point. "We were trying to claw back, but they don't make a lot of mistakes."
What Hollidaysburg did make was more offense -- in the form of three touchdowns in the final 6:13 of the third quarter en route to a 50-16 victory on senior night at Tiger Stadium.
"We may have lost a little bit of our intensity, not giving as good an effort,'' said Hollidaysburg coach Homer DeLattre of the start of the third quarter.
The start of the game, however, was a completely different thing for the Golden Tigers (5-4),who opened the game with a 10-play, 64-yard drive that ended with a Brady Walters 17-yard touchdown pass to Jacob Sensenig. A two-point rush attempt by Mason McCready made it 8-0.
Bryce Martellacci picked off DuBois quarterback Eric Schneider on the Beavers' first play of the game. Four plays later, Hunter Barr scored on an 11-yard, and Ethan Pinter's PAT made it 14-0 at only the 7:20 mark of the first.
"We talked about starting better, starting faster so we changed some things up in practice this week," DeLattre said. "It seemed to help us."
The Tigers' defense also helped out a bit, too. Down 15-0, Schneider led the Beavers (3-6) on a 16-play, 60-yard drive that got his team down to the Tigers' 9-yard line. However, on a fourth-and-goal from the 4, his pass attempt fell incomplete and the Tigers took over.
"That has been the story for us this year. We have had success on a weekly basis of moving the ball, but too many times we don't finish drives," Marshall said.
"That was a huge momentum swing," DeLattre added. "You're talking that it could have been 15-7, but our defense stopped them.
Nate Fisher added a 2-yard touchdown run in the second quarter for a 22-0 lead. He and Barr combined for 18 carries and 105 yards on the ground in just three quarters of play.
"They are a great duo. They are very good downhill runners," DeLattre said Fisher and Barr. "I was also very pleased with the play of our offensive line and how we were able to run the ball."
DuBois' Dylan McCluskey got the Beavers back into it at 22-10 on a 1-yard touchdown run and then a 29-yard field goal off a Tiger turnover at the 6:54 mark of the third quarter. And they did so without the services of starters Blaise Carney and Chase Husted, who did not return after first-half injuries.
"No. 37 (Carney) and 22 (Husted) were giving us some trouble, and 18 (Schneider) is really good. He was our focus," DeLattre said. "We told our guys during the timeouts to just contain (Schneider). Keep him bottled up."
The Tigers did, and in the process got two touchdown runs from Fisher (8 yards) and Barr (5) for a 36-10 lead. McClusker caught a 42-yard touchdown pass from Schneider at the 1:43 mark to make it 36-16, but the Tigers answered when Walters scrambled right, then cut back left and wound up running about 50 yards just for a 33-yard touchdown run. With four seconds left in the third, Hollidaysburg was up 43-16. Walters finished with 129 yards on 10 carries.
"I have known Coach DeLattre a long time, and they are a well-coached team. They don't make a lot of mistakes. They just kept doing what they do. They are a very patient team (on offense0 and things sort of piled up on us from there."
Hollidaysburg got its final touchdown from Martellacci, the backup quarterback, on a 5-yard run with 4:23 to go in the game to set the final.
Game notes: Hollidaysburg is at Central -- which lost to Huntingdon Friday night -- to close out the regular season, and from what DeLattre has been told, his team will most likely have a playoff game with District 8's Brashear once the postseason begins in November. … Martellacci rushed for 66 yards on just 5 carries in the final frame.
SCORE BY QUARTERS
DuBois 0 0 16 0 -- 16
Hollidaysburg 15 7 21 7 -- 50
First Quarter
H--Sensenig 17 pass from Walters(McCready run), 8:31
H--Barr 11 run (Pinter kick), 7:20
Second Quarter
H--Fisher 2 run (Pinter kick), 10:21
Third Quarter
D--McCluskey 1 run (McCluskey kick), 8:03
D--McCluskey 29 FG, 6:54
H--Fisher 8 run (Pinter kick), 6:13
H--Barr 5 run (Pinter kick),3:56
D--McCluskey 42 pass from Schneider (kick failed)
H--Walters 33 run (Pinter kick), :04
Fourth Quarter
H--Martellacci 5 run (Pinter kick), 4:23
TEAM STATISTICS D H
First downs 16 21
Total yards 283 433
Rushes-yards 40-141 45-347
Yards passing 142 86
Passing (comp.-att.-int.) 11-26-1 7-13-1
Punts-avg. 3-38.3 0-0
Fumbles-lost 3-1 2-2
Penalties-yards 8-58 4-40
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING--DuBois, McCluskey 2-4, Eisman 1-(-2), Donahue 2-1, Schneider 24-115, Carney 1-1, Kovalyak 1-5, Castro 4-15, Henery 4-0, Estrada 1-2. Hollidaysburg, Walters 10-129, Fisher 12-66, Barr 6-39, Weakland 2-18, Drass 2-4, Martellacci 5-66, Shawley 3-13, Smith 1-0, Weyant 2-14, TEAM 2-(-2).
PASSING--DuBois, Schneider 11-26-1-142. Hollidaysburg, Walters 7-13-1-86
RECEIVING--DuBois, DiLullo 1-13, Saunders1-14, Husted 3-52, Donahue3-8, McCluskey 3-55. Hollidaysburg, Sensenig 2-34, Dellinger 1-0, Weakland 1-14, Fisher 2-32, Moss 1-6.