Trending
LORETTO -- Bishop Guilfoyle Academy and Moshannon Valley hadn't played each other since the Marauders beat the Black Knights in the District 6 Class A championship game in 2015.
The Black Knights were coming off of a thrilling one-point win over Juniata Valley -- their first playoff win since that 2015 season.
Top-seeded Bishop Guilfoyle Academy, though, jumped out to a fast start against fourth-seeded Moshannon Valley and never looked back in a 45-14 win in a District 6 Class A semifinal on a frigid Friday night at Saint Francis University's DeGol Field.
The Marauders led 31-0 at halftime and amassed 398 yards, including 161 rushing yards on 15 carries by 6-0, 205 pound Keegan Hewitt. "I didn't think it was our best half," Bishop Guilfoyle coach Justin Wheeler said. "We had some penalties early on and we left some points on the board, but overall I love our effort. Mo Valley had some kids and they played hard."
"We slowed them down a little bit in the first half, and then they just put the heavy on us," Moshannon Valley coach Michael Keith said, "and that was it. Their front is pretty good."
Play of the game: In the third quarter, the Marauders got the ball back, and on the first play Evan Shimminger, who ran for two touchdowns and caught a TD pass, reeled off a 60-yard touchdown run to make the score 45-0 with 5:38 remaining.
Player of the game: Hewitt had a pair of 6-yard touchdown runs, but he also had six other runs of 11 or more yards and finished with 162 yards on 16 carries.
"I think I did pretty good," Hewitt said. "There's always room for improvement. The line played well, so we just kept running the ball.
"I think our team did really well. Penalties set us back a little bit, but that's going to happen. We showed how good we are tonight."
Unsung hero(es): The offensive line and the swarming BG defense. Defensive end Declan Peterson made a number of tackles.
Wheeler injured: BG threw for 193 yards in the first half. Jay Wheeler completed 7 of 14 passes for 148 yards, but he was hampered by a leg injury. He was limping throughout the half.
"He played the whole first half and we were winning 31-0, so I decided not to play him in the second half," Coach Wheeler said. "He's a tough kid. He wanted to come back out and play in the second half. We wanted to focus on the district championship next Saturday."
Held in check: Mo Valley star running back Rocco Reifer was limited to 21 yards rushing on seven carries in the first half. He peeled off a 56-yard run in the third quarter, finished off the scoring in the game with a 2-yard run and finished with 116 yards,
"He's a tough kid," Keith said. "He's going to get his yards. He's run hard for us all year and I couldn't be more proud. They never gave up in a game like this. They fought the whole time."
Next week: Moshannon Valley is eliminated. Bishop Guilfoyle plays on Saturday against Bishop McCort.
Records: Moshannon Valley (8-4). Bishop Guilfoyle (11-1)
SCORE BY QUARTERS
Moshannon Valley 0 0 6 8 _14
Bishop Guilfoyle 17 14 14 0 _45
First Quarter
BG--Boland 33 field goal, 8:00
BG--Hewitt 6 run (Boland kick), 3:56
BG--Shimminger 14 pass from Wheeler (Boland kick), 1:04
Second Quarter
BG--Hewitt 6 run (Boland kick), 4:16
BG-- Shimminger 2 run (Boland kick), :59.6
Third Quarter
BG--Taddei 7 pass from Shellenberger (Boland kick), 9:28
BG-- Shimminger 60 run (Boland kick), 5:38
MV--Moore 20 pass from Mihalko (kick failed), 2:23
Fourth Quarter
MV--R. Reifer 2 run (R. Reifer run), 4:48
TEAM STATISTICS MV BG
First downs 8 21
Total yards 194 483
Rushes-yards 32-136 32-269
Yards passing 58 214
Passing (comp.-att.-int) 5-14-2 12-21-0
Punts-avg. 5-35.2 1-12
Fumbles-lost 0-0 1-0
Penalties-yards 3-20 7-51
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING: Moshannon Valley--R. Reifer 18-116, Kephart 10-26, Mihalko 4-(-6). Bishop Guilfoyle--Hewitt 16-162, Shimminger 7-90, Wheeler 3-31, Himmelwright 3-6, Kent 1-(-4), TEAM 1-(-1), Shellenberger 1-(-15).
PASSING: Moshannon Valley--Mihalko 5-13-1-58, Moore 0-1-1-0. Bishop Guilfoyle--Wheeler 7-14-0-148, Shellenberger 5-7-0-66.
RECEIVING: Moshannon Valley--Moore 2-31, Abernethy 2-22, Kephart 1-5. Bishop Guilfoyle--Shimminger 5-97, Gates 2-45, Wheeler 1-34, Lechner 1-17, Himmelwright 1-13, Taddei 1-7, Foor 1-1.