Defense propels Raiders to 20-6 victory over NA, first win over defending state champs since 2002
JACKSON TWP — For most people, Friday the 13th signifies something bad.
For the Seneca Valley football team, it reaped something to celebrate.
The Raiders' defense forced six turnovers — four fumbles and two interceptions — and smothered rival North Allegheny in a 20-6 Northern Eight Conference victory at NexTier Stadium.
It is the Raiders' first win over NA since a 47-21 road victory in 2002 and marks the first time the Tigers have been met with defeat in 19 games.
“It's awesome to be part of this,” said Mason Dehart, SV's junior running back/linebacker. “Nobody outside of this locker room thought we'd beat NA.”
“On one hand, it's a conference win and all of them are big,” said SV coach Don Holl. “On the other, North Allegheny is the defending state champion. I know the cast of characters is different, but I'm really excited for our kids to get this done.”
The Tigers sputtered on offense all night long. SV's Corbin Kessler and Cody Boozel recovered a fumble and intercepted Jeff Clemens' pass, respectively, in the final quarter. T.J. Holl's 11-yard touchdown pass to Brad Hensler put the Raiders up 20-0 with 1:10 left in the game.
The foundation for victory was laid in the first half, when SV's defense held NA to just 98 total yards and five first downs, helping the Raiders to a 13-0 lead at the break.
A 24-yard scoring pass from T.J. Holl to Eric Mrkonja capped an eight-play, 36-yard drive in the first period and Dehart's 4-yard touchdown run came late in the second quarter to account for the first-half scores.
Meanwhile, the Tigers' offense struggled to sustain their eight first-half drives.Running back Josh Bergman was held to just 4 yards on seven carries and Clemens was just 2-of-9 for 31 yards and an interception in the first two quarters.“The credit goes to Seneca Valley's defense,” said NA coach Art Walker Jr. “They did a good job of timing some internal blitzes. We did make some things happen on the edge, but it was too much hit and miss. Every time we started to get something going, we turned the ball over.”“We're strong on the defensive line,” said Dehart. “That's where it all starts and we felt coming in that we could be the more physical team.”A key sequence in the game occurred early in the third quarter when Mrkonja muffed a punt and the Tigers (2-1, 1-1) recovered at their own 33.Seneca Valley's defense responded when linebacker Tucker Van Dyke sacked Clemens on third-and-7, forcing a punt.“We put our defense in some tough situations tonight,” said Coach Holl, “but they responded exactly the way you'd want them to.“Our kids are prepared to do what it takes to win games.”It was not a flawless performance from the Raiders (3-0, 3-0) as the team had three turnovers and committed 11 penalties for 95 yards.“We're going to enjoy this for 24 hours and then get back to work,” said Coach Holl. “We certainly have things we need to improve on.”NA avoided the shutout when Sean Idowu caught Clemens' hail-mary pass in the end zone on the final play of the game.T.J. Holl accounted for 193 yards of offense, passing for 96 and rushing for 97.Clemens added 80 yards on the ground for the Tigers, a good portion of it coming in the final minute of the game.SV plays a non-conference game at Connellsville next Friday.
