Schwartz, Tri-Valley ‘efficient’ in win over Mahanoy Area
Tri-Valley quarterback Blake Schwartz hands off to Cole Gemberling during Friday's 28-14 victory over Mahanoy Area (Photo by Michelle Schwartz).
MAHANOY CITY — Tri-Valley’s offense isn’t flashy.
The best way to describe it is efficient.
Blake Schwartz tossed three touchdown passes and Cole Gemberling rushed for another as the Dawgs downed Mahanoy Area 28-14 in a Schuylkill/Colonial Blue Division game Friday night at Coach Faz Field at Alumni Stadium.
The victory, Tri-Valley’s third straight, improves the Dawgs to 6-2 overall, 5-2 in Blue Division play and keeps them in the hunt for a District 2/11 Class A subregional playoff berth with two weeks remaining.
“We tried to control the ball,” Tri-Valley coach Jeff Sampson said. “We instituted a little bit more of a spread offense the past couple of games and it’s worked well.
“We have some talent on the outside, we have some speed and we have two running backs that are really, really good and they complement each other.”
That offense starts with Schwartz, a 6-foot-6 senior quarterback, who overcame a foot injury suffered in last week’s win over Shenandoah Valley to put together an impressive performance Friday.
Schwartz directed the Dawgs on three straight scoring drives in the first half, mixing in the pass with the run. He was 4-for-4 passing, finding Parker Hatter for a 35-yard score and younger brother Lucas Schwartz on a 37-yard TD pass down the middle of the field that broke a 14-14 tie in the second quarter.
His final touchdown pass showed his versatility, as after his first option was covered he scrambled right to buy some time and lofted a perfect pass to Hatter coming across the end zone for a 7-yard score that put Tri-Valley up 28-14 with 2:19 left in the third quarter.
Schwartz finished 10-of-15 passing for 156 yards and the three TDs.
“We definitely did a great job of evening it out tonight,” Schwartz said. “Give a lot of credit to our offensive line. They did a great job protecting. The receivers were open, they ran great routes. The run game was there. Everybody did a great job tonight.”
Mahanoy Area (2-6, 2-5 Blue) opened the scoring on its first possession, putting together a 10-play, 62-yard march that was capped by a 2-yard run by Levi Terry.
Tri-Valley answered with a 9-yard TD run by Gemberling, who rushed 16 times for 57 yards. Schwartz’s pass to Hatter gave the Dawgs a 14-6 lead after one frame.
The Golden Bears answered with a five-play, 81-yard drive that featured three straight pass completions and a 55-yard run by Terry. Terry’s 2-yard TD run and his two-point conversion pass to Aidan Bowman tied the game at 14-14 with 10:03 left in the first half.
Mahanoy Area racked up nine first downs, rushed for 134 yards and had 204 total yards in the first half.
“In the first half, I was disappointed because we worked this with our scout team all week, every day,” Sampson said of his defense. “We told them that to defend this offense, you need to be disciplined. I didn’t think we were in the first half. Second half, we made some adjustments and I thought we did a better job.”
Tri-Valley went back on top four plays later on the pass to Lucas Schwartz. Mahanoy Area tried to answer, mounting a 14-play drive that reached the Tri-Valley 20 with 34.3 seconds left in the half.
The key play of the game came next as Trey Porter intercepted a halfback pass by Michael Oblas on a fourth-and-10 play to end the Bears’ drive. Mahanoy Area wouldn’t mount another scoring drive the rest of the game.
“We knew they were getting the ball coming out (of halftime), so we wanted to try and get some points on the board,” Mahanoy Area coach Dave Holman said. “That totally changed the complexion of the game. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to pop one in there.
“I thought overall in the first half we did play well offensively. The second half we couldn’t get it going run-wise or pass-wise. They played a little bit of a different coverage on us in the second half but we just couldn’t seem to get any type of momentum offensively.”
Tri-Valley’s defense held Mahanoy Area to two first downs and 29 total yards in the second half to effectively close out the win.
Both Blake Schwartz and Sampson were happy with the win but know things get tough from here. Tri-Valley hosts Minersville and Schuylkill Haven to close out the regular season, two big games as the Dawgs try to secure a District 2/11 Class A subregional playoff berth.
“We needed to keep on pace,” Sampson said. “We have Minersville and Haven back-to-back, two really tough teams. We needed this one to secure a winning season and keep our place in line.”
Added Schwartz: “These last two weeks were good weeks for us on the road but we have two tough games coming up. We have to pull some wins out against these two tough teams.”
