Bearcats’ special teams lead victory over Red Raiders

By rscaife
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Updated: September 2, 2017

BELLEFONTE – Two Huntingdon special teams touchdowns proved to be too much for the up and coming Bellefonte football team to overcome despite going toe-to-toe with the Bearcats for most of the evening.
In the end, the visitors were able to pull out a 52-31 victory over the Red Raiders by outscoring them in the second half 28-10.
Leading the Bearcats was Ian Border who rushed for 105 yards, blocked a punt and intercepted the ball for a touchdown as well as score two other times on offense.
Bearcats quarterback Andrew Hurdy threw for 122 yards in the victory while receiver, punt returner and defensive back Jonathan Price scored on a punt return and picked off Bellefonte quarterback Dylan Deitrich.
“We knew this was going to be a tough game,” Huntingdon coach Mike Hurdy said. “We don’t take anyone for granted. I don’t let our guys think like that. We have some fast guys back there on special teams and they came up big for us tonight.”
Deitrich had a solid performance for Bellefonte throwing for 127 yards and rushing for 116.
The game started out like a track meet as both teams were eager to display their respective offenses.
Huntingdon took its first possession and rolled down the field scoring on a 7-play drive that ended in a Drew Weglarz 2-yard TD run, with the successful PAT by Giovanna Scaccia, the Bearcats had the early lead.
It took only one play for the Red Raiders to knot the score at seven as Deitrich blazed his way down the field for the 69-yard TD scamper.
With 6:15 left in the opening stanza Scaccia booted a 24-yard field goal, giving the Bearcats a 10-7 as the buzzer sounded on the first quarter.
In the second, both team exchanged touchdowns twice.
Border picked up his first touchdown of the day as he muscled his way in from eight yards out.
Dietrich tied things up again, this time through the air, finding teammate Cade Fortney on the 50-yard TD hook up, keeping them within striking distance, trailing 17-14.
On the following kick, back came Huntingdon, as Jacob Wagner found a hole in the Bellefonte kick-off team and ran in for the 85-yard TD run.
“I’m the special teams coordinator and that’s on me. A lot of those things that happen was due to lack of preparation on my part,” Bellefonte coach Shanon Manning said. “I can’t put that on other people I’m the special teams coach. That’s 100 percent squarely on my shoulders.”
However, the Red raiders got the last laugh as Deitrich found his way in once again, scoring on a 4-yard run, cutting the game to a 3-point deficit as the team’s went into the Locke room at the half.
Coming out of the intermission, Bellefonte tied the game as they marched down the field and finished off the first drive of the second half as Chris Persiko kicked ac29-yard field goal, knotting the game at 27-27.
From there it was all Huntingdon as Border would score three more times and Price would score while Bellefonte could only muster a score on a fumble recovery by CJ Funk, ending the scoring at 52-31.