Week 8 football roundup: Skibinski fuels Union/A-C Valley’s 8-0 start; Slippery Rock, Seneca Valley roll
Logan Skibinski was on a tear in Week 7 and stayed on it Friday, shredding Smethport for 177 yards and four first-half touchdowns in a 63-0 blowout.
Skibinski needed just 10 carriers to do his damage; he added two catches for 21 yards. He opened the night with an 18-yard touchdown, added a 20-yarder later in the first quarter, then dropped TD runs of 21 and 16 yards on Smethport before halftime.
Freshman quarterback Andrew Kifer was an efficient 9 of 14 for 157 yards and two touchdowns, hitting Aidan Fox and Parker Bish for two second-quarter scores. Max Gallagher chipped in short TD runs in the second half of 16 and 7 yards, finishing with 11 carries for 80 yards rushing, 22 yards on a reception and 10 tackles on defense.
The Falcon Knights are 8-0 and have won games by an average of nearly 25 points a game. They visit Port Allegany next week.
Slippery Rock 37, Titusville 14 — Owen Long scored on runs of 5 and 9 yards, Sawyer Allen returned an interception 73 yards to the house and Kole Scott reached the end zone twice to lead Slippery Rock to a rout at Titusville.
It’s Slippery Rock’s third win of the season as it tries to stay in the District 10 playoff picture. Scott finished with 130 yards on the ground for Slippery Rock (3-5, 1-3 D10, Region 4).
Seneca Valley 47, Hempfield Area 8 — It was also a good night for the Raiders (3-5, 1-3 Quad-County Conference), who picked up a crucial win to keep their tightening WPIAL Class 6A playoff hopes alive.
Quarterback Andrew Loebig was again effective with his arm and legs, rushing for a 47-yard TD and 100 total yards on 12 carries, and going 7 of 12 passing for 88 yards and two TDs.
Those strikes went to Danny Drennen (72 yards) and Tommy Wuycheck (3 yards), their only catches of the night. And Cayden Parker averaged more than 10 yards a carry in a breakout night, finishing with 17 touches for 172 yards and scores of 67 and 9 yards in the second half.
On defense, Kyle Mancing had an impressive four sacks to help keep the Spartans’ offense in check until a late score in garbage time.
North Catholic 49, Beaver 42 (OT) — In a game that featured mostly offense, it was the Trojans’ defense that made the game-winning play.
RB Logan Schade scored on the Trojans’ first play of overtime, running in from 10 yards out to give North (6-2, 3-1 Western Hills Conference) the lead. Then NC’s defense forced the Bobcats into a fourth-and-3 play. Beaver’s QB was harassed quickly after the snap and threw a pass short of his receiver in the end zone for an incompletion.
QB Joe Felitsky forced overtime when he rolled left with less than a minute left in regulation and scored from about 10 yards out after the Bobcats had taken their first lead of the game a few minutes prior.
The Trojans ended a two-game skid.
Hampton 38, Knoch 0 — The Knights fell to 0-8 (0-3 Greater Allegheny Conference) in a road section clash. According to WISR, the Talbots now lead the series between the two teams, which dates back to 1966, 29-28-1.
No other stats were provided from the game.
