Pigskin finally bounces Spartans way

Written by: Frank Kastreva on Saturday, September 13th, 2008. Follow Frank Kastreva on Twitter.

If Valley West’ season is to turn around and the Spartans are to make the playoffs you can tag the 4:53 mark of the 3rd quarter of week 3 as the turning point.

It was then that the football gods shined their light on the maroon and gold. Jr. DB Connor Haggerty recovered a Del Val fumble and rumbled with the pigskin 48 yards to paydirt. It was the defining factor in the game and if Valley West builds on it, the Del Val miscue could be the defining factor in their season.

Not only did Valley West take a 20-7 lead, but more importantly they gained the confidence they lacked in week one and week two. That could be a scary thought for upcoming opponents. The Spartans with confidence could spell WIN quite a few more times this season. Someone once said the game is 80 percent mental, they named the super bowl trophy after that guy.

This one would start with Delaware Valley driving deep into Spartan’s territory on the opening drive only to be turned away with no points.

Valley West, on the other hand would have the ball for only about three minutes but scored quickly as Sr. QB Jack Crossin set his offense up deep in Del Val territory on a big run. Sr. RB Chris Hettes would cap the scoring drive on a three yard jaunt. Sr. K Bill McGuiness nailed the PAT with the score Spartans 7 Warriors 0.

The Warriors would tie things up early in the 2nd quarter with Jr. QB Edwin Balcarcel scoring on an 11 yard keeper. Jr. K Anthony Cavallaro booted the PAT with the score all knotted at seven.

The Spartans would take the lead for good with 2:22 left in the first half as So. TE Kevin Bond hauled in a 12 yard TD reception from Crossin. McGuiness booted through the point after with the score Spartans 14 Warriors 7.

Haggerty would recover the fumble a rumble to the gold zone for the Spartans next score and Crossin would score a mop up TD with 8:17 left in the game on a one yard keeper.

The Spartans defense rose to the occasion in the second half and with Del Val forced to pass, Valley West blitz was ferocious.

“We said at halftime, we had to rush the QB. We kept bringing pressure from the outside trying to keep their QB in between the hash marks. With no place to run on the outside we could attack and we did, said Sr. LB Dave Ryncavage.

“I wrote on the chalk board tonight, make an impression. I told the team you paint a picture of yourself, what to you want to paint? Who wants it? They say we are soft, now let’s go change that image and paint a new picture,” Valley West Head Curry said he told his team before the game.

In the picture next week, the Berwick Bulldogs.

You hear people talk about it all the time, Curry will be judged at Valley West by state titles won and that may be true for some people.

Just the same, Berwick Head Coach Gary Campbell Jr. will be judged by wins over George Curry. Next week Campbell and his Dawgs head to Spartans Stadium a place Berwick Sports Talker, Eddie Walker has tabbed “The House of Horrors.” Valley West will be looking to dish up another scary treat this coming Friday night.

Until then, happy football.

 

 

 

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One Response to “Pigskin finally bounces Spartans way”

1. jlf99 says:
   September 13th, 2008 at 6:12 pm

   I watched this game last night and must say that I saw poor tackling, mistake after mistake, and some very slow lineman. These two 2 so called powers are not that powerful at all.