Bellefonte football runs away late to top Penns Valley for the first time in 7 years

Bellefonte coach Tony Confer and Penns Valley coach Martin Tobias each had the same way of describing Friday night’s football game.

It was a tale of two halves.

The Red Raiders used a strong run game — which amassed 294 yards — to pull away late in a 34-13 win.

“The first half was a struggle defensively. We had guys just not in position, not lining up where we needed to be and not making plays,” Confer said. “We went into halftime and challenged them to come out and win the second half. We made the adjustments we needed to make. The kids responded in the second half, came out and did what they needed to do.”

The turning point of the game came with just under five minutes left in the third quarter.

The Rams had a drive get stalled deep in their own territory, which resulted in their third punt of the game. It went to midfield where Bellefonte’s Jaeden Gabrovsek hauled it in, and went 40 yards before being brought down at Penns Valley’s 10.

The next play saw the Red Raiders’ Aden Howell score from the 10-yard line to make it 20-13 with 4:47 left in the third quarter. Howell, who finished with 41 yards on five carries, was one of five Bellefonte players to score a rushing touchdown.

The Rams’ punting game was a back breaker.

“When they got that one up (touchdown) on us, we didn’t match them. When we got behind on the second one, it kind of snowballed a little bit. Field position was critical,” Tobias said. “Even though we got turnovers, we were in poor position. We didn’t move the sticks and move ourselves into better field position to even pin them back. They played on our half of the field, I would imagine, almost the entire second half.”

As Tobias said, his team tried to stay close to Bellefonte, collecting three fumbles. However, their possessions just started too deep in their own territory.

The Red Raiders extended their lead to two scores when Isaac Gall rumbled in from seven yards out with 7:02 left in the game. Gall had seven carries for 49 yards.

The final score of the night for Bellefonte came on Ka’ven Smith-Kirk’s 16th and final carry of the night when he stumbled in from the five-yard line. Smith-Kirk led the Red Raiders’ rushing attack with those 16 carries for 96 yards.

The victory got Bellefonte back on the winning tracks after suffering back-to-back losses to powerhouses Bishop Guilfoyle Catholic (41-7) and Clearfield (28-14).

“The first four weeks have been physical battles. Coming in here, Penn Valley was 0-4, but that doesn’t mean anything,” Confer said. “This is the first time we beat them in seven years, so that felt good. Three of those four years that we didn’t beat them, we feel like we had far better teams than they had, but they beat us. Our kids were battle tested as far as playing physical football, but we didn’t know how much our kids had in the tank, when you go for four weeks like that.”

The teams traded scores in the first half to have the game tied 13-13 at halftime.

Bellefonte got on the board first by taking the opening possession 39 yards with quarterback Liam Halterman sneaking in from one-yard out to end it.

Penns Valley answered the score with a 15-play drive that ate up over seven minutes of play. The Rams’ Koltin Shawver rumbled in from three-yards out.

The Red Raiders scored on their next possession, but Penns Valley wasn’t deterred.

The Rams’ Tripp Watson recovered a fumble near midfield with just under two minutes left in the first half.

Quarterback Carter Ironside connected with Fletcher Ironside on a five-yard in slant that Fletcher caught and started weaving his way through the Bellefonte defense. He was near the middle of the field when he caught the pass, then worked his way toward the Penns Valley sideline and raced by his teammates for a 35-yard score.

It tied the game with 1:27 left in the half.

“We’re playing one week at a time, one game at a time and every game is our game for that week. We’ve been measuring things on success and improvement,” Tobias said. “The first three games of the season, we were in the mercy rule. We haven’t been the past two weeks. This week we were in a close one right up into the end of the third quarter.

“We’re getting better and that’s what we’ll hang our hat on. We’re going to keep working with these kids. There’s no quit in them, and there’s no quit in us. We’re going to keep going out there and compete every week.”

Friday’s Centre County scores

Bald Eagle 33, Philipsburg-Osceola 14

State College 29, Chambersburg 7