Rockets avoid upset bid with big final quarter

By Tyler Kolesar For the Mirror

FLINTON — Glendale looked to pull off an upset Friday night for its homecoming night at Dr. Roy F. Baker Athletic Field.

That actually looked like it would be the case until midway through the fourth quarter. But that’s when Southern Huntingdon scored a go-ahead touchdown and added a couple more late for a 32-16 victory.

“We were obviously sluggish,” Southern Huntingdon coach Ryan Garlock said. “We were still feeling the effects of a tough loss last week. The quarterback (Scott Garlock) got dinged up there on that one hit. So we inserted Eric (Patton) in there at quarterback, and he gave us a 1-2 punch coming out of the backfield. That gave us a spark.”

That spark ignited the Rockets’ offense that had been relatively stagnant to that point, as Patton ended up with 196 yards and three touchdowns on 22 carries.

“The kids played their hearts out,” Glendale coach Richard Braniff said. “We just had a couple lapses there defensively. We’re still trying to figure out what went on with that. We’ll look at film, figure out what we did wrong and fix it. The kids came out ready to play tonight. Big plays and penalties — it’s the same story every week.”

Both teams switched the lead numerous times, as Glendale’s Shane McMurray put the Vikings back on top with a 16-13 lead with 5:20 left in the third quarter after a 4-yard run. After Southern Huntingdon’s drive stalled, the Rockets punted away as Glendale set up shop at its own 5-yard line.

The Vikings had a 14-play drive that took them down to the Southern Huntingdon 31-yard line early in the fourth quarter. But the Rocket defense stepped up and forced a punt that ended up being a touchback.

“We didn’t quit,” Garlock said. “Guys didn’t give up. We still made a lot of mistakes and there’s a lot of things that we need to fix because we’ve got some pretty tough teams coming up. They don’t always do the right thing but they give you a good effort until the end.”

That’s when the momentum officially switched, as the two-play, 80-yard drive to take a 19-16 lead ended when Patton scored his third touchdown on the night with a 15-yard run with 7:31 left in the game, which was after a 65-yard run up the middle by freshman Kendrel Marino.

Glendale had the ball at midfield once again and were going for it on fourth-and-2 from its own 46-yard line. But a false start penalty forced the Vikings to punt it away and Marino scored a touchdown on at 12-yard run seven plays later with 2:08 left in the game.

“We’ve got three quarters,” Braniff said. “When we put four together, there’s no telling what we can do. I think sometimes we hit high highs and we hit low lows. Then we get (plays) like that crucial fourth and short and we have a mental mistake, then you see how it sets the whole team back.”

After Jasper threw an interception, Marino added another quick touchdown on a 23-yard run with 1:43 left in the game that set the final score at 32-16.

With the win, Southern Huntingdon moved to 5-1 on the year and plays Tussey Mountain next week.

“We have a pretty good football team when we play the way that we’re capable,” Garlock said. “We can compete with anybody. I was just worried where our mindset was going to be after that loss to Juniata Valley. We came out and I thought, ‘whew, maybe we packed it in for the year.’ I wasn’t sure. But we got that spark and momentum is huge. Football is all about momentum and we finally found a little bit of it. Now, hopefully we can carry this into the rest of the season, especially next week with Tussey (Mountain) coming up.”

All was not lost in the loss, as Braniff said there were plenty of positives from his team in.

“Offensively and defensively on our line, he’s a sophomore — Colt Bickford — he played a heck of a game,” Braniff said. “Josh Potutschnig, the kid plays with all his heart and he’s a gamer. And on the long runs that (Southern Huntingdon) had, Brett Kuhn never gave up. He will hunt you down to the end of the earth. When I look at that, that’s a football player at heart.”

Glendale fell to 1-5 on the season and takes on Moshannon Valley next week.

SCORE BY QUARTERS

So. Huntingdon 0 7 6 19 — 32

Glendale 3 7 6 0 — 16

First Quarter

G–Potutschnig 22 FG, 9:06.

Second Quarter

SH–Patton 34 run, (Marino kick), 11:42.

G–Dudurich 16 run, (Potutschnig kick), 4:42.

Third Quarter

G–McMurray 4 run, (kick failed), 5:20.

Fourth Quarter

SH–Patton 15 run, (kick blocked), 7:31.

SH–Marino 12 run, (Marino kick), 2:08.

SH–Marino 23 run, (kick blocked) 1:43.

TEAM STATSTICS SH G

First downs 18 16

Rushes-yards 37-329 38-144

Passing (comp-att-int) 3-8-1 8-23-2

Passing yards 22 169

Total plays-yards 45-351 61-313

Fumbles-lost 1-1 1-1

Punts 4-35.5 4-39.3

Penalties-yards 3-30 5-45

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING: Southern Huntingdon, Patton 22-196, Marino 3-96, Bailey 8-40, Hunsinger 4-(-1). Glendale, Jasper 12-65, Dudurich 15-58, McMurray 9-17, Kuhn 1-5, TEAM 1-(-1).

PASSING: Southern Huntingdon, Garlock 3-8-1-22. Glendale, Jasper 8-23-2-169

RECEIVING: Southern Huntingdon, Bailey 1-13, Smith 1-11, Patton 1-(-2). Glendale, McMurray 1-56, Leyo 2-42, Potutschnig 2-41, Kuhn 2-19, Seilhamer 1-11.