Seneca Valley offense, Rory O’Shea take off in rout of North Hills for coach Don Barclay’s first win
JACKSON TWP — Don Barclay earned himself a keepsake, Rory O’Shea earned himself a moniker and Seneca Valley football earned itself its first gridiron win of the new season.
While the Raiders essentially controlled the line of scrimmage, O’Shea’s pair of first-half touchdowns helped put North Hills in the rearview mirror during a 38-10 win at NexTier Stadium on Friday night.
Barclay, a first-year head coach at his alma mater, was awarded a game ball following the post-game huddle. He spoke about what the victory meant to him.
“It’s everything,” Barclay said, the ball tucked away in his arm. “It’s everything we’ve been doing since Feb. 1. To be honest with you, this is gonna stay in the locker room. It’s not my ball. It’s their ball. They put in all the work. We’re just putting them in the right place and they executed tonight.”
A demanding week of practice led up to Seneca Valley’s triumph. Barclay said after being physically outclassed during a 43-26 setback last week, he tested his team.
“We had a great camp. It wasn’t the outcome we wanted Week One, but we got back basically to our camp practices this past week.”
The Raiders (1-1) powered out to a 14-point lead early thanks to a 2-yard surge by Chase Mazanek and O’Shea’s 9-yard touchdown reception from Andrew Loebig. After North Hills’ Andrew Greenland tacked up a 33-yard field goal in response to the latter score, the Raiders pulled out some trickery.
On a 2nd-and-12 from his own 30-yard line, Loebig tossed it behind him to an arcing Cayden Parker, who in turn flipped it to O’Shea, running the opposite way. O’Shea navigated over to and up the left sideline for a 70-yard touchdown on the reverse.
“It was working well in practice and our coach pulled it out at a good time,” O’Shea said. “I saw open field. Our quarterback, Andrew Loebig, threw a great block and it was off to the races.”
The public address announcer dubbed him “Scorey O’Shea.”
“My uncle’s up in the booth, so he was texting me asking me what nicknames he should give me, but it seems like it’s gonna be pretty relevant,” said O’Shea, a sophomore. “I said, ‘Come up with it. Come up with anything you want.’”
“He has a knack for the ball. That’s why we get him the ball a lot during the game,” Barclay said. “And he does a heck of a job with it. He knows he struggled last week on defense, but he put in the work this week like everyone else and he battled back, too.”
After O’Shea’s second touchdown, the Indians (0-2) marched 64 yards in 12 plays, but Greenland’s second field goal try, from 33 yards out, was blocked by Josiah Edwards. Loebig hit Danny Drennan for a 9-yard touchdown pass five plays later, providing the 28-3 count midway through.
Kyle Mancing notched an interception two plays into the third quarter, six plays before Parker hit pay dirt from 4 yards out. Drennan and Adam Bayer also had picks during the victory.
Mazanek, O’Shea, Loebig, Parker and Maximo Robinson combined to go for 316 yards on the ground for Seneca Valley.
“It doesn’t stop now,” Barclay said. “This is the standard moving forward.”
North Hills 0 3 7 0 — 10
Seneca Valley 14 14 7 3 — 38
First Quarter
SV — Chase Mazanek 2 run (Max Eisenhut kick), 6:13
SV — Rory O’Shea 9 pass from Andrew Loebig (Eisenhut kick), 3:44
Second Quarter
NH — Andrew Greenland 33 field goal, 11:05
SV — O’Shea 70 run (Eisenhut kick)
SV — Danny Drennan 9 pass from Loebig (Eisenhut kick), 1:26
Third Quarter
SV — Cayden Parker 4 run (Eisenhut kick), 9:10
NH —Josiah Mathis 16 pass from Kelly McCarthy (Greenland kick), 5:34
Fourth Quarter
SV — Eisenhut 32 field goal, 8:26
Individual Statistics
Rushing: North Hills, Johnell Edison 11-105, Kelly McCarthy 8-44, Israel Armstead 3-1, Josiah Mathis 1-1, Austin Ellis 2-1, Jacob Super-Richter 2-(-3). Seneca Valley, Chase Mazanek 18-114, Rory O’Shea 3-83, Andrew Loebig 8-62, Cayden Parker 8-36, Maximo Robinson 5-21.
Passing: North Hills, Kelly McCarthy 12-21-150-3, Austin Ellis 3-4. Seneca Valley, Andrew Loebig 12-18-117-1.
Receiving: North Hills, Joseph Lutz 2-49, Josiah Mathis 4-29, Eldwin Williams 1-24, Rayshaud Temple 2-20, Justus Green 2-12, Jack Broderick 1-11, Johnell Edison 1-9. Seneca Valley, Rory O’Shea 5-75, Reese Fatur 1-37, Danny Drennan 1-9, Cayden Parker 1-4, Chase Mazanek 4-(-1), Adam Gehm 3-(-3).
