Hollidaysburg

[Waggle Pass]

Beat Central 30-20. Last year they lost to Central 35-7. I know they return a lot of players.

HOLLIDAYSBURG — Both Hollidaysburg and Central didn’t need a handful of games to find out what they are capable of doing in 2017. They both found out Friday night at Tiger Stadium.

But in the end, the Golden Tigers realized that they can survive some adversity and earn a victory along the way, too.

Coach Homer DeLattre’s team jumped out to a 23-0 lead in the first half and then hung on for dear life in the end en route to a 30-20 win over the Scarlet Dragons.

“With our backs against the wall there at the end, our guys did a great job of overcoming some things,” he said. “Our guys stepped up in the end, and credit them for handling in the way they did.”

Jack Sauserman, one of the Tiger stars on the night, got things going early. Central was forced to punt after its first series, and Hollidaysburg junior Mason McCready blocked the kick, which Sauserman, a senior, picked up and ran in for a score from 4 yards out. The PAT was blocked, and Central trailed, 6-0, at the 10:22 mark.

“They blocked a punt. We didn’t block for our punter,” Central coach Dave Baker replied when asked if it was nerves or the Tigers’ execution on the special teams miscue. “Give Hollidaysburg credit. They’re a good team.”

On Hollidaysburg’s first possession, quarterback Brady Walters marched his Tigers 54 yards in 13 plays, scoring on a Patrick Young 1-yard run. The Vlad Hilling PAT kick made it 13-0 at the 4:11 mark.

A big play on the drive was a fake punt by Sauserman that went for 17 yards and a first down.

“He came on great for us at the end of last year,” DeLattre said. “We expect a big season from him with explosive plays, definitely.”

And explosive he was. After Hilling kicked a 31-yard field goal to start the second quarter for a 16-0 Tigers lead, Hollidaysburg’s defense forced another Central punt. The offense needed just one play to score, this one on a 53-yard touchdown pass from Walters to Sauserman for a 23-0 lead following the Hilling PAT at the 10:00 mark.

“We knew they could throw the ball, and we knew their receivers were fast,” Baker said. “We defended the pass, but we were not fast enough to make the tackle.”

Central’s offense, held to zero yards and no first downs in the first quarter, got it going in the final 6:10 of the first half. Jared Smith scored on a 5-yard run at the 6:10 mark to make the score 23-6 following a failed two-point pass attempt. Trystan Detwiler really got the Central crowd into it when he scored on a 38-yard run with 3:52 to play. Tarald Masdol’s PAT kick cut it to 23-13.

“Credit (assistant coach) A.J. (Hoenstine) and Dave for sticking to their guns, running the football and getting themselves back in the game,” DeLattre said.

Detwiler finished with 166 yards on 18 carries, but two Central turnovers in the passing game hurt the Dragons in the end.

“We started to figure out who to block, and we came off the ball better and we just ran harder,”Baker said of the turnaround.

Central, which stopped a Tiger drive in the red zone right before halftime with a Zachary Parks interception, simply could not score in the third quarter. The Tiger defense held on downs on one series midway through the frame, and Ben Drass picked off a Preston Karstetter pass to stop another drive.

Sauserman came up big again, this time on a 74-yard touchdown pass from Walters with 1:28 to go in the third for a 30-13 lead following the Hilling PAT. Walters finished 7-of-17 for 215 yards, with two touchdowns and one interception. Sauserman’s two catches were worth 127 yards.

Central scored with 3:14 to go in the game on a Muthler 9-yard run at the 3:14 mark, which was followed by a Masdol PAT. The Dragons even got the onsides kick to really raise the temperature of the crowd in the final minutes.

However, Danny Molliver and Michael Day came up with big plays in the final moments, courtesy of a quarterback sack and an interception, respectively, to seal the win for the Tigers.

“Danny worked harder and improved more from his junior to senior year than any player I ever coached,” DeLattre said. “Guys like that are what great programs are built around. Day made a really nice play there at the end, too.”

Game notes: Young rushed for 82 yards on 22 carries despite getting hurt last week in the Tigers’ four-team scrimmage. … Central, which finished with 19 first downs, hosts Tyrone, which lost to Bellwood-Antis Friday night, this week. … Hilling’s first four kickoffs went out of the back of the end zone. … Hollidaysburg plays at Silver Oakes Academy next Saturday at 1 p.m.

 

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https://www.altoonamirror.com/sport...igers-make-long-trip-worthwhile-with-victory/

KEYMAR, Md. — The Hollidaysburg Area High School football team traveled 140 miles on Saturday to get to Silver Oak Academy.

The Golden Tigers didn’t have to drive nearly as far to get to the end zone.

Taking advantage of strong special teams and turnovers, Hollidaysburg scored three touchdowns on drives covering a combined 36 yards as it raised its record to 2-0 heading into its most challenging stretch of the season with 31-6 win at Silver Oak in a rainy afternoon in central Maryland.

Patrick Young found paydirt for Tigers twice in the first half on runs of 1 and 4 yards on his way for rushing for a hard-earned 97 yards on 23 carries in the muddy conditions. Quarterback Brady Walters put things away with a pair of short scoring rushes in the last nine minutes.

“We had a couple of 2-yard drives,” Tigers coach Homer DeLattre said. “When you only have to go 2 yards to score a touchdown, it makes it pretty good.”

The Tigers only needed one play to score just 2:03 into the game after a wild punt snap for the hosts turned the ball over on downs at the Ram 4 and two half-the-distance penalties ensued against Silver Oak. In the fourth quarter, Michael Day’s second interception in as many seasons gave Hollidaysburg the ball at the Silver Oak 28, with Walters score from the 2 11 plays later — that march also included a Ram penalty when Walters’ hard count enticed a defensive lineman to jump offsides, give the Tigers a first down.

The biggest play, though, came almost smack dab in the middle of those TDs. Despite dominating the action, Hollidaysburg only led 10-6 late in the first half after Silver Oaks quarterback Xavier Field kept a play alive until the coverage broke down and fired a 32-yard touchdown strike to Johntez Dorsey.

On the ensuing kickoff, Trevor Miller found daylight right up the middle and sprinted 78 yards until being dragged down from behind at the Ram 4. Young scored on the next play to give Hollidaysburg a 17-6 lead with 1:47 of the second quarter.

“All the blockers were doing a really good job. I saw a big hole, and I just had to hit it,” Miller said. “We had good field position both on kicks and kick returns. It was all working out for us today.”

Special teams have been special for the Tigers through two games. In last week’s win over Central, Jack Sauserman opened the scoring for Hollidaysburg with a touchdown on a blocked punt. Sauserman, out due to illness, was one of a couple of Tigers missing from the lineup in Week 2, but the kicking game didn’t miss a beat.

Miller returned another kickoff to midfield, the Tigers blocked an extra point, Vlad Hilling kicked a field goal and five of his six kickoffs went for touchbacks, continually pinning Silver Oak deep.

The last item in that role might have been the biggest. Not only did it have the Rams starting in the hole on its very first possession, leading to the Tigers getting the ball on the punt snap snafu, later Hollidaysburg got the ball at the Silver Oak 20 after a dropped punt snap resulted in an incomplete pass.

“We spend a lot of time on special teams,” DeLattre said. “We tell them from the first day that we’re going to win or lose one or two games on special teams. That’s a very important phase.”

Silver Oak fell to 0-3. The Rams managed just 187 yards, committed 13 penalties and fumbled five times, although they only lost one.

“The number one thing was the fundamentals for the other squad. They hung in there and realized the most important thing was to take care of the football,” Silver Oak coach Kevin McLeod said. “It worked out for them.”

With the adverse weather conditions and the absence of Sauserman, Hollidaysburg was relegated largely to playing old-style, smash-mouth football, which seemed appropriate at a field that seemed pulled out of the past, with no pressbox or lights and wooden railroad tie bleachers carved into the side of a hill in front of a large field of soy beans.

Hollidaysburg rushed for 188 yards, much of its success coming behind the right side of the line.

“Nate Howells and Trevor Mitchell were over there. That’s the first time the Howells twins were separated. We had to move (Josh) over to left tackle, but those guys do a great job, and the tight ends were a big part of our blocking scheme,”DeLattre said.

The win gives the Tigers some momentum heading into a big trip to play reigning District 6 Class 6A champion State College on Friday. Then they return home to host Fort Hill, Md., before trekking to Erie to play 6A power McDowell.

“We can let this get our heads over our shoulders. We have to keep working hard,”Young said. “We play a tough opponent in State College. We have to keep working our best.”