Pine Grove thwarts Shenandoah Valley, earns first win
PINE GROVE — Pine Grove did enough to thwart a relentless Shenandoah Valley team on the Cardinals’ homecoming.
Pine Grove sophomore running back Logan Troup carried the football 29 times for 150 yards and two touchdowns as the Cardinals edged the Blue Devils 28-21 on Saturday night at Cardinal Stadium.
Troup led the offensive campaign, while Pine Grove (1-4, 1-3 Blue) got some big defensive plays when the Cardinals needed them most as they capped their Homecoming events for the day.
“Anytime the clock hits zero and you’re up and you have more points, a win is a win,” Pine Grove coach Dave Stiffer said. “A win is a win. We have a lot we need to talk about on Monday and a lot we have to clean up in order to be the best football team we can be.”
Troup crossed the goal line first for the Cards on a 1-yard rush with 3:06 left to play in the first quarter. Dru Herber followed with the point after as Pine Grove led 7-0 through the end of the first quarter.
A little over two minutes into the second quarter, following an exchange of punts, Shenandoah Valley (0-5, 0-4) tied the game on a 2-yard run by Joel Nunez. The TD run came one play after freshman quarterback Ethan Bench and Nunez connected on a 68-yard pass play down the sideline.
The Cardinals took over with great field position after Nico Nelson recovered an attempted onside kick by Shenandoah Valley. On the first play of the drive, Cardinals’ QB Wyatt Dixon found receiver Teagan Schneck-Haines open in the middle of the field where he took the ball 51 yards to the house for six. The extra-point attempt was blocked, but Pine Grove now led 13-7.
The Cardinals defense came through for the first time in a big way as defensive linemen Antonio Randazzo intercepted a pass as Bench was hit in the in the backfield. Troup went on to score his second rushing touchdown as time expired before the half, giving Pine Grove a 19-7 lead at intermission.
In the second half, Pine Grove shifted its primary offensive focus to its ground attack. Wyatt Snyder got in on the action with a 1-yard rushing touchdown as the Cardinals extend its lead to 25-7.
But right before the third quarter ended there was a spark for Shenandoah Valley. The spark started as Blue Devils’ linebacker Jeremy Thomas added his second sack of the game to close the third quarter and force Pine Grove to punt.
Failing to capitalize initially off the sack and punt, Shenandoah Valley held Pine Grove to a 28-yard field goal from Herber that pushed the Cardinals lead to 28-7.
But the relentless Blue Devils weren’t done.
After a big kick return from Nunez, Bench hit Nunez for a 24-yard TD strike. Following the touchdown, Shenandoah Valley was able to recover an outside kick. The Blue Devils worked the ball down field before Bench hit Mike Elchisak for a 14-yard touchdown, bringing Shenandoah Valley back in the game now trailing 28-21 with 4:11 to play.
Sam Mentusky went 3-for-3 on extra point kicks for the Blue Devils.
The Cardinals managed to take the clock down to 1:11 before turning it over on downs in Shenandoah Valley territory.
But once again Pine Grove’s defense came through big as Peyton Kintzel was able to sack Bench for a significant loss. The Blue Devils failed to get a first down on two more passing attempts and turned the ball over on downs with 33.1 remaining.
“We said we had to be a nasty, physical defense this week,” Shiffer said. “That was a key thing we talked about and I thought we did that, other than a big play or two. Our defense played great. We didn’t finish some drives offensively and sometime we put our defense in tough spots. They responded.”
GAME SUMMARY
Pine Grove 28, Shenandoah Valley 21
