Dawgs pounce early in shut out win over Selinsgrove

Written by: EasternPAFootball.com Staff on Saturday, September 28th, 2013. Follow EasternPAFootball.com Staff on Twitter.

As the saying goes, you have to take advantage of turnovers to win the game. Berwick did just that on a warm, fall night at Crispin Field. Selinsgrove received the opening kick and was flagged for holding on the play giving the Seals the ball at their own 10. On their second play of the night, Berwick set the tone on its way to “mercy ruling” Selinsgrove 36-0. Linebacker Will Updegrove burst through the line, popped Seals running back Angelo Martin so hard the ball flew into the air, then A.J. Vandermark scooped the ball out of the air and plowed 11 yards to the end zone. Olivia Seely kicked the extra point and just like that Berwick led 7-0 one minute into the game. “The ball just landed in my hands, I didn’t even have to reach for it. Then I just kept running,” said Vandermark of the score.

On the ensuing kickoff Berwick Alex Klinger drew a bead on his target and smashed the kick returner forcing the ball loose. Klinger pounced on the ball and Berwick again was in business. “Nobody blocked me, I had a free shot!” exclaimed the senior defensive back. An 11 yard run by Quarterback C.J. Curry, then a 16 yard pass to Andrew Force followed by a 14 yard scoring run by Dain Kowalski was all it took for Berwick to score again. Kowalski punched it in for the 2 point conversion after a Seals penalty giving Berwick a 15-0 lead less than two minutes into the game. Kowalski had 108 yards on 11 carries with 2 touchdowns on the night.

The turnover theme continued as on the very next play Berwick’s Tanner Weaver intercepted Seals quarterback Isaiah Rapp at the 39 and rumbled 25 yards to give the Dawgs another short field with which to work. Five plays later fullback Jorden Stout plowed through to make it a 22-0 game. Stout had 7 carries for 59 yards on the night. “That was a fun game, we just had to keep playing hard and kinda let up a little there. Selinsgrove kept coming at us and wanted the win bad but we just kept pounding” said the senior fullback.

Selinsgrove put together a decent drive but failed to reach the endzone giving up the ball on downs at the Berwick 40. Both offense stalled on the next couple drives, and Selinsgrove forced a Berwick fumble on a sack of Curry but failed to capitalize on the turnover.

Midway through the second quarter Berwick suffered a devastating loss as running back Nate Maczuga to what appeared to be a broken arm. “He’s done for the year” said Head Coach George Curry. Berwick rallied for their teammate after the injury, marching 76 yards in what was probably Berwick’s most efficient drive of the night. Curry hit Kowalski for at 22 yard gain, then Kowalski had runs of 8, 21 and the final a 13 scoring dash. “It was a fun night for us, and our first shut out” he said of his teams effort. “We did that one for Nate” said Curry of the drive. “I just hope he’s ok”.

Kowalski and Stout then plowed for the way for a Curry 5 yard run to close out the scoring in the first half making the score 36-0. Berwick allowed 4 first half sacks and turned the ball over several times in the win. “We didn’t play our best game tonight, but we’ll watch the film with coach and try to correct our mistakes,” said Jordon Stout.

“Sometimes you do that, you don’t play as hard as you should,” George Curry said. “I’ll take it, it was a shutout and they’re not a bad team. We screwed up twice in the red zone, we fumbled twice, blew an assignment. It’s frustrating. When we want to play, we can play. We can knock you off the ball.” Berwick faces Tunkhannock next week while the Seals face another daunting task traveling to Southern Columbia.

Scoring summary:

Selinsgrove 0 0 0 0
Berwick …..22 14 0 0

1st Vandermark 11 yard fumble return, Seely p.a.t
1st Kowalski 14 yard run, Kowalski 2 point conversion
1st Stout 1 yard run, Seely p.a.t.
2nd Kowalski 21 yard run, Seely p.a.t.
2nd Curry 5 yard run, Seely p.a.t.

Team:
Berwick…………….Selinsgrove
rushing 48-279………41-167
Pass 7-10-0………3-11-1
pass yds 108…………31
total yds 387…………198

Individual: RUSHING — SEL, Angelo Martin 17-63, Conner Liebenfeld 14-66, Zach Adams 6-27, Isaiah Rapp 4-11.
BER, Dain Kowalski 12-108, Jorden Stout 7-59, Nick Talanca 12-53, Daquan Helienthal 4-21, C.J. Curry 9-15, Alex Klinger 1-13, Nate Maczuga 2-3, Rich Snyder 1-2.

PASSING: SEL, Rapp 3-11-1-31. BWK, Curry 7-10-0-108.

RECEIVING — SEL, Dylan Beaver 2-28, Liesenfeld 1-3. BER, Kowalski 2-28, Andrew Force 2-23, Paul Jay Wiegand 1-33, Kevin Woodeshick 1-16, Talanca 1-8.

Follow EasternPAFootball.com on Twitter @EPAFootball

---

Leave a Reply

Name (required)

Mail (will not be published) (required)

Website

Δ

3 Responses to “Dawgs pounce early in shut out win over Selinsgrove”

1. billy splain says:
   September 30th, 2013 at 8:51 am

   you are correct, I have changed my article to reflect…

2. Glenn says:
   September 29th, 2013 at 9:16 pm

   First four minutes of Berwick-Selinsgrove Game on September 20, 2013.

3. Glenn says:
   September 29th, 2013 at 9:13 pm

   AJ Vandermark didn’t put the hit on the running back. That hit was made by Will Updegrove. Vandermark grabbed the ball and ran into the endzone.