Holl hurts leg, SV shut out by rival NA
JACKSON TWP — Not much went according to the script for Seneca Valley.
Six turnovers, two botched shotgun snaps and several key penalties translated into a 14-0 high school football loss to rival North Allegheny Friday at NexTier Stadium.
“I don't know if stunned is the right word,” said Raiders' coach Don Holl. “We knew North Allegheny was going to come in here with a good gameplan and they were going to battle. But we had a really good camp and I thought we were ready. It's no disrespect to NA, but we didn't see this coming.”
Making matters worse for Seneca, senior quarterback T.J. Holl left the game in the fourth quarter with a right leg injury. The severity is unknown.
The Tigers certainly did not play mistake-free football. But both of their turnovers came in the first half, during which they were out-gained by the Raiders 169-98.
In the second half, NA's offense began to move the ball. It received a spark from backup quarterback Riley Trueman, who entered the game on the first play of the fourth period and ran 24 yards for a first down to SV's 12.
He then passed four yards to Clay Byerly and ran for five more before starting quarterback Jeff Clemens returned and scored on a 3-yard run.
“We needed a spark and Riley had fresh legs,” said NA coach Art Walker, Jr. “He's a change of pace for us and they (Raiders) weren't prepared for it.”
Seneca's defense, which played very well in the first half, then gave up an 80-yard touchdown drive that ate up nearly seven minutes off the clock. Clemens scored again, this time from eight yards out, and the Tigers held a 14-0 lead with just 1:59 left in the game.
“I don't know if it was frustration from our offense not scoring, but we got all out of sorts on defense, not lining up right, things like that. But NA took advantage of it.”Junior Corbin Kessler replaced Holl and led a desperation drive, which reached the Tiger 4, but Trueman picked a pass off in the end zone with 40 seconds on the clock.It was the final turnover committed by SV. The first, Jonny Sumpter's interception in the end zone of a Holl pass, snuffed out the Raiders' first drive of the game, which had covered 54 yards.“That interception was huge and it gave us a lot of confidence,” said Walker. “People have talked about (Seneca's) offense, with all those skill players back. For our defense to go out and pitch a shutout, what an effort!”The Raiders came painfully close to scoring again late in the third period. After forcing the Tigers to punt from the shadows of their own goalpost, a 27-yard run by Holl set the Raiders up at NA's 6. Two plays later, Mason Dehart was inches from scoring when he was stripped of the ball, which bounced out of the end zone for a touchback.“One of the big measures (of success) is finishing the job in the redzone,” said Coach Holl. “We had (three) turnovers there tonight. Bad snaps, trips and falls, penalties, it was a weird game.”Byerly finished the game with six catches for 89 yards.Dehart tallied 109 yards from scrimmage (51 rushing, 58 receiving).
