Jersey Shore puts up fight despite loss to Selinsgrove

Written by: Kim Moerschbacher on Saturday, October 25th, 2008. Follow Kim Moerschbacher on Twitter.

JERSEY SHORE – Very rarely does Selinsgrove not score in the first half of a football game.

With the scoreboard only showing seven points for the Seals after two quarters, Jersey Shore was feeling optimistic despite not finding the end zone in the first half.

But with all-state candidate Cory Briggs firing from the pocket, and Cameron Benner and Ryan Keiser striding across the grass, Selinsgrove couldn’t be stopped.

The Seals scored three times in the third quarter and once in the fourth, and went on to pick up a 35-7 victory at Thompson Street Stadium Friday night.

The lopsided score wasn’t necessarily an indication of how close the first half was between the two teams, as the total offense gained by both sides – 92 for Shore and 149 for the Seals – was closer than many expected.

“Jersey Shore was in this game the first half. They came out and had a nice gameplan,” Seals head coach Dave Hess said. “Their kids played well. I told our kids coming in that Jersey Shore was a good football team. Coming into this game, they were in contention for a league title. They were 3-1 in the conference, and they had gotten better every week. They did some nice things, and we made some mistakes. The second half, we straightened things out and got some points on the board. They (Shore) are a good football team and they played well.”

Holding Selinsgrove (8-1) to a mere seven points in 24 minutes isn’t something that many teams have been able to do this year. Mount Carmel shut out the Seals to start the season, but since then, it’s been a scoring assault by the Snyder County squad.

Jersey Shore (3-6) contained Briggs heavily in the first half, sacking the junior signal-caller four times for a loss of 27 yards. Clark Thompson had two sacks, while Kyle Miller and Jack Heck combined for the other two. Coupled with key penalties against the Seals, and the Bulldogs were right in sync with the defending district champs with two quarters left to play.

“The kids played with their hearts,” Shore head coach Steve Eck said. “Offensively, we had a couple of opportunities. We got the ball moving, but couldnát get it down there. We just can’t find a way to get in the end zone against these guys. Hopefully, we’ll have another shot at them.

“I think everybody figured we would be three or four touchdowns down by halftime, and our kids came out and played and did a heck of a job. I’m just really proud of them.”

The final 24 minutes was all about the Seals.

Briggs matched his passing mark from the first half, and ended the night 18-for-23 with 222 yards. He hit wide receiver Ryan Keiser seven times for 111 yards, and also found Teighler Doak eight times for 73 yards.

“Cory is, at this point, an exceptional player,” Hess said. “I take no credit for that whatsoever. Our quarterbacks coach, our offensive coordinator Mike Bowman, does a terrific job with him. He sees things on the line of scrimmage, he’s reading coverage and making calls on the field. He’s the entire package right now. What we need to do is protect him a little bit better.

“I thought our kids were playing well the first half. It really wasn’t about fire in the second half. It was more about straightening up some mistakes. We had three big plays in the first half, and all three came back because of penalties. We didn’t protect the quarterback very well. So, that’s less fire and more technical stuff. We just tried to straighten up what we were doing and make less mistakes the second half and be more consistent.”

Briggs ran in his team’s lone touchdown in the first half, and hooked up with Keiser for the Seals’ first TD in the third on a seven-play, 79-yard drive.

After forcing the Bulldogs to go three-and-out, Selinsgrove tacked on seven more points on a drive that started at the Shore 48. This time, it was Cameron Benner who found paydirt on a 3-yard scamper. Benner also had a 42-yard TD run in the fourth to cap the Seals’ scoring.

Late in the third, Keiser returned a punt 82 yards, giving the Seals a 28-point advantage with 1:54 remaining.

“Selinsgrove came out and showed that their No. 5 (Keiser) is better than who we could cover him with,” Eck said. “Our punt team wasn’t executing and was letting them get some quick run backs. That is Selinsgrove. They’ll make adjustments. They have a good coaching staff and they do that type of stuff. They take advantage of special teams, and we have to take care of that.”

Shore was finally able to put together a scoring drive with the clock running continuously in the fourth quarter.

Starting from their own 27, the Bulldogs got a huge 56-yard run from Jake Potter, planting them at the Selinsgrove 17. Two plays later, Potter hit paydirt for Shore’s lone points on the game. He ended the night with 10 carries for 98 yards.

At 5-0 in the HAC-I, Selinsgrove will battle for the division crown next week with Montoursville, a winner over Danville last night. Shore, which is 3-2 in the league, will meet up with the Ironmen in its final regular-season contest in hopes of solidifying a spot in the District IV playoffs.

Heartland Conference, Division I

SELINSGROVE 35, JERSEY SHORE 7

S 7-0-21-7 – 35

J 0-0-0-7 – 7

Scoring Summary

First Quarter

S – Cory Briggs 1 rush (Matt Salsman kick), 1:33

Third Quarter

S – Ryan Keiser 21 pass from Briggs (Salsman kick), 9:01

S – Cameron Benner 3 run (Salsman kick), 4:24

S – Keiser 82 punt return (Salsman kick), 1:54

Fourth Quarter

S – Benner 42 run (Salsman kick), 11:43

J – Jake Potter 1 run (Eli Skinner kick), 9:33

Team Statistics

S JS

First Downs 13 9

Rushes-Yards 26-119 24-129

Yards Passing 228 72

C.-A.-T. 19-26-1 8-15-0

Total Offense 347 201

Fumbles-Lost 1-0 3-1

Individual Statistics

RUSHING: S, Kyle Reinard 8-48; Matt Wenrich 2-32; Briggs 5-(-27); Benner 3-50 2 TD; Bryant Trautman 2-4; Seth Lauver 3-15; Grant Fleetwood 2-5; Ben Morrow 1-(-8). JS, Kasey Kemmerer 4-13; Potter 10-98 TD; Skinner 1-2; Taylor English 2-(-10); Logan Mariano 1-5; Logan Shay 1-4; Ethan Robbins 1-3; Logan Enders 1-4; Ryan Shay 3-10.

PASSING: S, Briggs 18-23-226-1-1; Morrow 1-3-6-0-0. JS, English 8-14-72-0-0; Skinner 0-1-0-0-0.

RECEIVING: S, Teighler Doak 8-73; Reinard 2-27; Keiser 7-111; Kyle Shuck 1-11; Dan Bausinger 1-6. JS, Ian Sander 1-14; Potter 2-31; Skinner 2-18; Mariano 2-9; Logan Welshans 1-0.

INTERCEPTIONS: JS, Skinner.

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