Penn Hills working out kinks in early part of season

By: Josh Rizzo
Sunday, September 4, 2022 | 11:01 AM

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Penn Hills kicker Owen Williams did what he had to do when a snap went sailing over his head during the Indians’ season opener Aug. 26 at NexTier Stadium. With less than 10 seconds left before halftime, Williams booted the football off the ground and through the back of the end zone for a safety.

Even before Williams’ kick sent Penn Hills into halftime trailing Class 6A Seneca Valley by 11 points, running back Amir Key recognized their mettle was being tested.

“It shocked us,” Key said. “We expected to have a way better game. I would say it woke more players up in terms of doing their jobs.”

In a season where Penn Hills is transitioning with first-year coach Charles Morris, the Indians expected to have kinks to work out. Penn Hills had another nonconference tune-up against Norwin last Friday, the results of which were too late for this edition, before hosting Pine-Richland and former coach Jon LeDonne to open conference play Sept. 9 at home.

Against Seneca Valley, the Indians mounted a furious rally in the second half but ended up on the wrong end of a 17-15 loss. Penn Hills had a 33-yard field goal attempt as time expired to win the game, but it sailed wide left.

“They competed, but I feel like we had a lot of bad penalties and bad field position early,” Morris said. “We didn’t start fast like we would like. … Me, personally, I’m going to take it as I have to do a better job of preparing my team. It’s on me.”

Facing an experienced Seneca Valley defense led to challenges for the Indians.

Penn Hills only had one first down and minus-10 yards of total offense against the Raiders in the first half. The Indians defense was able to keep Penn Hills in the game by forcing two turnovers on downs in the red zone to kill two Raiders’ drives.

“Those were big stops for us,” Key said. “I think if they didn’t get those stops, it would have been a different ballgame.”

Penn Hills quarterback Julian Dugger wasn’t given much room to maneuver. He was limited to 38 passing yards and picked up 41 of his 72 rushing yards on a scramble on the final drive.

Despite the early struggles, the Penn Hills offense started to figure things out after halftime. After Williams’ field goal in the middle of the third quarter, Key, who finished with a game-high 134 rushing yards, scored on runs of 53 and 17 yards to put the Indians ahead 17-15 with 11:39 remaining in the game.

“Holes started opening,” Key said. “I noticed some of their players were getting tired. Some of the players were showing less effort than at the beginning of the game. We saw that and took advantage.”

As the season goes on, Morris wants to see Penn Hills get better at flowing Dugger into the offseason.

“We went with the vibe and flow of how things were going,” Morris said. “We want to be up tempo and spread the offense out. We want to be balanced, but our offense was clicking running the football, so we stayed with the hot hand. Our game is with (Dugger), and we have to make sure the ball is in his hands and he can carry us to the promised land.”

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