“Austen Clarkson, he’s been just the heart and soul of our defense. He’s makes plays that really, he’s not supposed to make,” Glendale coach Dave “Spank” Trexler said. “That was just another example — he goes above and beyond with his effort level. He plays at that level every play. When something happens, it happens and it’s a good thing. He showed it tonight. That was a really big turning point of the game.”

With the win, Glendale moves its record to 4-2, while Southern Huntingdon evens out at 3-3.

“If you would have told me before the game that we were holding them to basically 14 points, minus the points at the end, I would have thought we were going to win in a blowout,” Southern Huntingdon coach Ryan Garlock said. “I really thought we could throw the ball against them. The was the game plan coming in.

“We thought we could throw the ball against them because we thought their (Glendale) coverage really suited what we do. But, (we had) guys dropping passes, and we can’t pass protect for very long.”

Trailing 7-6 with the Rockets facing a third-and-15 from the Glendale 21, Glendale’s Cory Johnston rushed after Southern quarterback Scott Garlock and knocked the ball out of the senior’s hand.

Clarkson picked up the bouncing ball at the 25-yard line and raced 75-yards untouched to give Glendale the lead for good at 4:25 of the second stanza. Seth Dudurich tossed to Baine Seilhamer for the two-point conversion to make the score 14-7.

“I had no clue who was there or who wasn’t. I was just headed for the end zone,” Clarkson said. “I was relieved (upon scoring). I felt this was a good start to our game, and we wanted to finish it.”

Ryan Garlock saw the play a different way than what was called on the field.

“I personally thought they (officials) blew the call,” Ryan Garlock said. “He’s throwing the ball forward. The explanation that I got was that he didn’t have control of the ball. I’m like, ‘it doesn’t matter — he’s throwing it forward. It doesn’t matter if he has control of it or not. If he’s making a forward, you know, he could throw it underhand, between his legs, it don’t matter if he’s pushing it forward it’s a pass.’ They (officials) didn’t see it that way. They said he didn’t have control of the ball — that it was a fumble. That was a big play.”

Neither team could get much going following that score until the fourth quarter as punts, turnovers on downs and an interception by Suds Dubler kept the two teams from reaching the end zone in the defensive battle.

Following a Tristan Rutter punt with 9:10 left in the contest, the Rockets were set up at their own 32-yard line. The Vikings’ defense did a great job limiting the Southern offense until fourth down.

Twice on the drive, Southern Huntingdon faced fourth down and each time Scott Garlock found his favorite target, Haiden Garner, for 12-yard completions to keep the drive alive.

The last completion had SH set up at the Glendale 37 where Scott Garlock threw incomplete for three downs before finding Garner once again along the sidelines for what would have been another fourth-down conversion.

The officials ruled Garner wasn’t inbounds before the catch, and the turnover on downs gave the ball back to the Vikings with 4:17 showing on the clock.

“It’s great to know we have 11 good defensive players,” Clarkson said. “Nobody let up, everyone kept going.”

Glendale was faced with the task of eating time off the clock, but also knowing it needed several first downs to sustain drives.

The Vikings got exactly what they were looking for as Dudurich ran twice for 15 yards, but it was Johnston who got five carries, including the game-clinching 15-yard TD run to set the final score with 1:09 left to play.

“These kids have something that you can’t teach,” Trexler said. “They have resolve where they just don’t quit. Even when the chips are down, they’re still trying to give everything they have.”

On the drive, Johnston churned out 47 yards on the ground. The senior, who scored the game’s opening touchdown on a 1-yard run with just a second left in the first quarter, finished the game with 135 yards rushing on 17 attempts.

Dudurich got the same amount of opportunities and racked up 89 yards as the Vikes totaled 236 rushing yards on 43 attempts.

“I knew we were going to struggle to stop their run game — they chewed up the clock,” Ryan Garlock said. “They chewed up the first downs. We struggled to tackle.”

Scott Garlock, who threw for 134 yards on 12-of-33 attempts, would find the endzone on a 38-yard score on the first play of the second quarter. Owen Winters’ extra point gave the Rockets the 7-6 edge at the 11:48 mark of the quarter.

Glendale travels to Moshannon Valley next Friday night.