Hollidaysburg football runs out of time
PIAA 5A football
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CLARKS SUMMIT -- Abington Heights weathered a furious fourth-quarter rally to earn a 42-35 win over Hollidaysburg in the District 2-6 Class 5A subregional final on Friday at Abington Heights High School.
The Comets scored two touchdowns in a span of less than three minutes late in the third quarter to take a 42-14 lead. But Vincent Albarano threw three touchdown passes to JJ Stultz in the fourth quarter as the Golden Tigers mounted a comeback.
Trailing by seven, Hollidaysburg took possession with 1:42 remaining in the fourth quarter and picked up a first down but Race Moraski intercepted a desperation pass on fourth-and-22 to seal the win for Abington Heights.
Play of the game: Abington Heights converted a fourth-and-1 at its own 29-yard-line with under three minutes remaining to run another two minutes off the clock.
Player of the game: Abington Heights running back Jayden Anglin rushed for 228 yards and three touchdowns.
Unsung hero: Moraski blocked a punt in the first quarter that was returned for a touchdown and then sealed the win with an interception in the closing seconds.
Most vital statistic: After an up-and-down first three quarters, Hollidaysburg's Vincent Albarano threw for 159 yards and three touchdowns in the fourth quarter to lead the Golden Tigers' comeback
Abington Heights coach Joe Repshis: "That's the resilience and effort that they've given all year. You have to play until the last second is off the clock and believe that whatever happened the play before, you forget about it good or bad and go on to the next one and that was the mindset. I'm extremely proud of the resilience of the team and it's not just the outcome of the game, it's the preparation during the week of practice.''
Hollidaysburg coach Homer DeLattre: "Field position and penalties was the first half. We were in a bad position everytime we got the football, we had penalties, we had special teams mistakes, we missed some tackles early in the game. But like I told our guys I'm super proud with how they fought all the way through.''
Heights' Jayden Anglin: "I feel like we let them back into it. We kind of let off the gas pedal a little bit. We knew we were up big but you just can't let that happen and they started scoring back. But we knew we had to fight through that adversity at the end and finish and win the game."
Notable: This was Abington Heights' first post-district championship victory in school history.
Records: Abington Heights (8-4), Hollidaysburg (8-3)
Next week: Abington Heights will play District 11 champion Southern Lehigh in the first round of the state Class 5A playoffs. Hollidaysburg's season is complete.
SCORE BY QUARTERS
Hollidaysburg 0 7 7 21 — 35
Abington Heights 22 6 14 0 — 42
First Quarter
AH--Anglin 12 run (Hartshorn kick), 7:32.
AH–Hanyon 13 blocked punt return (Na. Kayal from Shay), 6:40.
AH--Anglin 72 run (Hartshorn kick), 4:27.
Second Quarter
H--Albarano 1 run (Jones kick), 10:26.
AH--Anglin 21 run (pass failed), :17.9.
Third Quarter
H--Albarano 10 run (Jones kick), 4:32.
AH--Azar 69 pass from No. Kayal (Hartshorn kick), 4:18.
AH--Azar 13 run (Hartshorn kick), 1:20.
Fourth Quarter
H--Stultz 36 pass from Albarano (Jones kick), 11:31.
H--Stultz 38 pass from Albarano (Jones kick), 8:05.
H--Stultz 33 pass from Albarano (Jones kick), 4:16.
TEAM STATISTICS H AH
First downs 15 10
Total yards 444 353
Rushes-yards 27-147 41-230
Yards passing 297 123
Passing (comp.-att.-int.) 21-40-2 8-12-0
Punts-avg. 4-30.5 5-24.8
Fumbles-lost 0-0 0-0
Penalties-yards 9-85 7-30
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING--H: Albarano 12-84, Vent 11-33, Garlick 2-20, Consiglio 2-10. AH: Anglin 33-228, Azar 1-13, Team 1-(-1), Manning 1-(-4), No. Kayal 5-(-6) .
PASSING--H: Albarano 21-40-2 297. AH: No. Kayal 8-12-0 123.
RECEIVING--H: Stultz 6-122, Coke 9-101, Padamonsky 1-38, Consiglio 2-14, Wallace 1-8, McGough 1-7, Vent 1-7. AH: Azar 2-76, Manning 2-24, Bohn 3-19, Na. Kayal 1-4.