Defensive stand sparks Warriors by Rich Murawski

FLINTON — With time winding down in the first half, Glendale marched to the Warrior 1-yard line, looking to put a momentum-changing touchdown on the board before heading into the halftime break.

Instead it was visiting West Branch that came up with the defensive stand, stopping Viking quarterback Jacob Jasper twice, including dropping him for a 10-yard loss on a draw play on the last play of the half to take a 17-7 advantage to the break.

From there, the Warriors controlled the second half in a 34-14 victory at Dr. Roy F. Baker Field.

“That was a big point in the game,” West Branch coach Kevin Hubler said. “Comfortable lead coming to the end of the second quarter and Glendale goes on a drive and then our defense stepped up. I thought that was the play of the ballgame. If they score there, it’s a whole different ball game.”

“That was just a missed opportunity there before the half, “Glendale coach Richard Braniff said. “That will haunt us for a while.”

Despite the momentum-zapping series at the end of the half, the Vikings came out of the break with a 25-yard Seth Dudurich run on the first play from scrimmage, putting the offense in business at the Warrior 37.

But the Warrior defense stopped Brent Kuhn and Dudurich for minimal 1-yard gains in the following two plays before hurrying Jasper into consecutive incompletions to snuff out the drive.

After West Branch converted two first downs, it punted back to the Vikings, pinning them at their 12.

A play later, Noah Hoffner picked off Jasper at the 35 and West Branch scored two plays later on a Yingling 26-yard jaunt to make it 24-7 with 7:04 to go in the third quarter.

“I thought mentally we were ready to come back out for the second half,” Braniff said. “We made some adjustments and saw some things that were going to work, but we failed to execute. We had people in position to make plays and it just didn’t happen.”

Glendale moved the ball from its 20 to midfield on the next series before a 10-yard holding penalty put the Vikings behind the chains. The Vikings shot themselves in the foot all night with penalties at the most inopportune times, committing eight for 69 yards.

“We had letdowns and things like that and we have to fix it,” Braniff said. “And we will.”

On the next play, Terry Smeal sacked Jasper for a 14-yard loss and Glendale had to punt. West Branch sacked Jasper four times and hurried him countless others, holding him to negative yards on the ground until he busted off a 34-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter.

“I think that’s the recipe to beat Glendale,” Hubler said. “You have to take (Jasper) out of the ball game. He’s such a great athlete. I told the guys, ‘we can do everything perfect and there’s (Jasper) scooting around back there making something out of nothing.

Both offenses sputtered the rest of the third and much of the fourth before the Warriors got a 36-yard field goal from Kyle Godin. Godin’s boot gave the visitors a 27-7 lead with 7:35 left to play. Godin also kicked a 22-yarder in the second quarter.

Jasper finally got loose on the next Viking possession, scampering 34 yards for a touchdown a play after connecting with Kuhn on 21-yard pass.

But West Branch slammed the door with a 12-play, 52-yard drive after Josh Cantolina recovered an onside kick. Yingling covered all but 5 of the yards in the drive, while Gutierrez scored from 2 yards out with 51 seconds left to play.

Yingling ran the ball 38 times for 198 yards and two touchdowns, including a 4-yard run in the first that put the Warriors on top 7-0.

Dudurich led Glendale with 104 yards on 10 carries. His 59-yard score in the first quarter tied the game at 7-7 just 33 seconds after Yingling’s first TD.

Gutierrez threw a 33-yard touchdown strike to Cantolina with 5 seconds left in the first quarter to make it 14-7. Gutierrez was 6-of-16 for 119 yards and the touchdown to Cantolina. He was also picked off by Leyo.

Jasper was 8-of-17 for 112 yards and an interception. Leyo had two receptions for 43 yards, while Kuhn had three catches for 32.

Glendale dipped to 1-3 with the loss and play Sept. 22 at Claysburg-Kimmel.

West Branch improved to 3-1 and travels to Mount Union on Friday.

Score by Quarters

West Branch 14 3 7 10 — 34

Glendale 7 0 0 7 — 14

First Quarter

WB — Yingling 4 run, (Godin kick), 7:47.

G — Dudurich 59 run, (Potutschnig kick), 7:14.

WB — Cantolina 33 pass from Gutierrez, (Godin kick), 0:05.

Second Quarter

WB — Godin 22 FG, 4:30.

Third Quarter

WB — Yingling 26 run, (Godin kick), 7:04.

Fourth Quarter

WB — Godin 36 FG, 7:35.

G — Jasper 34 run, (Potutschnig kick), 6:56.

WB — Gutierrez 2 run, (Kyle Godin kick), 0:51.

TEAM WB G

First downs 14 13

Rushes-yards 48-227 29-129

Comp-Att-Int. 6-16-1 8-18-1

Passing yards 119 112

Total yards 346 241

Fumbles-lost 1-0 0-0

Punts 2-33.5 5-30.2

Penalties-yards……. 8-90……………….8-69

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING: West Branch, Yingling 38-198, Gutierrez 5-22, Herring 5-7. Glendale, Dudurich 10-104, Jasper 13-20, Leyo 1-4, Kuhn 1-4, Bloom 1-(-1), Clarkson 1-(-2)

PASSING: West Branch, Gutierrez 6-16-1-119. Glendale, Jasper 8-17-1-112, Dudurich 0-1-0-0.

RECEIVING: West Branch, Hoffner 3-54, Cantolina 2-61, Herring 1-4. Glendale, Kuhn 3-32, Leyo 2-43, Potutschnig 1-16, Dudurich 1-14, Bloom 1-7