Mahanoy Area beats rival Shenandoah Valley
Mahanoy Area's Michael Oblas, second from left, and Shenandoah Valley's Brayden Lutz, second from right, were the recipients of the James J. and Mary Edith Rhoades Foundation Most Valuable Player Awards following Fridays' 116th meeting between the schools in Mahanoy City. Participating in the ceremony are, from left: Jack Rhoades, the late senator's grandson; Oblas, Lutz, and James Rhoades Jr., the late senator's son. Mahanoy Area retained the Damato-Szematowicz Gold Star Trophy with a 42-13 victory (Photo by Mahanoy Area Athletics).
MAHANOY CITY — Mahanoy Area trails historically in its long-standing territorial rivalry with Shenandoah Valley. In fact, the Golden Bears still have a 10-game deficit.
But as far as present-day play is concerned, the Golden Bears are in complete control.
They showed it Friday night after winning their 12th straight outing in the series with a dominant 42-13 victory over the Blue Devils in a Schuylkill/Colonial Blue Division game at Coach Fazio Field at Alumni Stadium.
Mahanoy Area (4-6, 4-5 Blue) captured the Damato-Szematowicz Gold Star Trophy once again by producing 427 yards of total offense. Its defense kept the Blue Devils (0-10, 0-9 Blue) off the scoreboard until the game was secure in the fourth quarter.
Kyler Quick was the star performer for the Golden Bears, rushing for 235 of his team’s 361 rushing yards and going over the 1,000-yard rushing mark for the season.
Quick had touchdown runs of 6, 84 and 11 yards and scored a fourth touchdown on defense on a 32-yard run off a fumble recovery.
“We held on to the football and we ran it well,” Mahanoy Area coach Dave Holman said. “Quick ran the ball extremely well tonight. We were pretty dominant running the ball.”
Mahanoy Area also had success throwing the ball with quarterback Levi Terry connecting with Aidan Bowman on a 16-yard touchdown pass to give Mahanoy Area a 21-0 lead at halftime.
Terry had to leave the game in the third quarter after being tackled hard and was kept out for the rest of the game as Mike Oblas took over at quarterback.
With the win, the Golden Bears likely qualified for the District 11 Class AA playoff field.
“He was rolled on and was a little bit woozy,” Holman said of Terry. “Hopefully he should be ready for the next game. Oblas came in and did a great job for us.”
Shenandoah Valley showed some life in the fourth quarter to score two touchdowns. One came on a 65-yard kickoff return by Xavier Hernandez and the other on an 11-yard pass from Ethan Bench to Jeremy Thomas.
Mahanoy Area also scored a fourth-quarter touchdown on a 36-yard run by Brian Gallagher.
“Defensively, we had some good stops. But it’s those big plays that we give up that hurt, plus a couple of turnovers,” Shenandoah Valley coach David Bench said. “There’s stuff we need to work on during the offseason. We just have to get back to work.”
Oblas won the Most Valuable Player award for Mahanoy Area, while Brayden Lutz took the honor for Shenandoah Valley.
This was the 116th meeting in the series, which dates back to 1899, and has been played consecutively since 1923. The won-loss record stands at 60-50-6 in favor of Shenandoah Valley.
