Ligonier Valley holds on to best Southmoreland

By: Jonathan Guth
Friday, September 2, 2022 | 10:33 PM

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Southmoreland took advantage of a 70-yard kickoff return to crack the scoreboard just before halftime, but Ligonier Valley responded with a big return of its own and hung on for a 27-18 nonconference victory Friday at Russ Grimm Field in Alverton.

Down 21-0 with 2:33 left in the second quarter, the Scotties’ Cameron Phillips returned the kickoff 70 yards to the Rams’ 15 before Tray Whetsel got his team on the scoreboard with a one-yard run with 42.9 left before halftime to cut the deficit to 21-6.

Ligonier Valley’s Haden Sierocky took the ensuing kickoff 84 yards into the end zone for a 27-6 halftime advantage. Sierocky, who scored three of his team’s four touchdowns, gained 93 yards on 14 carries and caught three passes for 40 yards.

“We had two big special teams blunders,” Southmoreland coach Tim Bukowski said. “We snap the ball over the punter’s head early, and they capitalize. And then they ran a kick back, so special teams let up two of those touchdowns. We need to play two halves. We’ve got to get a win. The kids don’t quit on us, so we won’t quit on them.”

The Rams fumbled on the second play of the third, and the Scotties’ Elliot Primus recovered at the Southmoreland 45.

“We made plays in the first half, but we came out and fumbled on the second play of the second half,” Ligonier Valley coach Roger Beitel said. “They definitely took it to us in the second half, but we are happy to be 2-0.”

Whetsel rumbled 28 yards to the Ligonier Valley 24 on third-and-six, and a facemask against the Rams moved the ball to the nine before the Scotties capped off the drive in the end zone when Kadin Keefer found Ty Keffer on a slant from seven yards out to cut the visitors’ lead to 27-12 at the 7:40 mark in the third.

Keffer had four receptions for 28 yards, and Whetsel added 75 yards on 15 carries.

The Rams drove to the Southmoreland 21 on their next drive, but Whetsel sacked Ligonier Valley quarterback Broderick Schreyer for a six-yard loss on fourth down to take over on downs.

The Rams forced a punt, nearly fumbled the return but recovered and drove to the Scotties’ 24, but the home team forced a turnover on downs at 7:53 of the fourth. Bailey Kennedy sacked Schreyer on third down, and Sierocky’s halfback option pass on fourth down fell incomplete.

Ligonier Valley took advantage of a holding penalty on Southmoreland and forced a punt.

The Rams took over at the Scotties’ 28, but the home team forced a fumble, and Austin Mough returned a fumble 70 yards for a score to cut the deficit to 27-18 with 3:20 remaining.

“I thought our defense played excellent in the second half,” Bukowski said. “The kids didn’t quit. Ligonier Valley has a good team. They are well-coached and disciplined, so I was proud of our fight. We switched our defense in the second half. We got out of a four front and went to an odd stack that we ran last year. We weren’t sitting and catching. We were more in attack mode, so we are going to try and stick with that a little more.”

Sierocky’s 10-yard run to his team’s 48 allowed Ligonier Valley to run out the clock.

“You have to give a lot of credit to Southmoreland,” Ligonier Valley coach Roger Beitel said. “They came out with an adjustment in the second half that we had a difficult time handling. For us, it’s great because it gives us an opportunity to find something that we need to work on and make ourselves better. They definitely had some success with the 3-3 stack and blitzing everybody, and we knew we need to do a better job picking up the blitz, and we will. It was a tale of two halves.”

Sierocky ended Southmoreland’s first drive with an interception, and the Rams (2-0, 0-0) drove 83 yards in 11 plays to take a 7-0 lead after Sierocky scored on a 19-yard run and Hunter Carr made the first of three PATs at 3:48 of the first.

The Scotties (0-2, 0-0) were forced to punt on their next possession, but the snap went over the head of the punter, and Ligonier Valley took over at the Southmoreland nine.

Sierocky pulled in a nine-yard touchdown reception from Schreyer for a 14-0 lead with 11:02 left in the second.

Logan Johnston pulled in a 33-yard touchdown reception from Schreyer for a 21-0 advantage. Schreyer only attempted five passes, but he completed four for 73 yards, with Sierocky accounting for three of those completions for 40 yards.

There was a moment of silence before kickoff for Ron Frederick, who died shortly after he was hired to replace Dave Keefer.

Tags: Ligonier Valley, Southmoreland