Greensburg Salem happy to rebound with win vs. Ligonier Valley

By: Dave Mackall
Friday, August 29, 2025 | 11:18 PM

The Greensburg Salem and Ligonier Valley football teams were looking to bounce back Friday night from last weekend’s season-opening losses, and the Golden Lions managed to succeed.

Barely.

“A win’s a win. That’s the line,” Greensburg Salem coach Ty George said.

Brody Chismar passed for two first-quarter touchdowns, and Greensburg Salem held off Ligonier Valley, 14-12, on Friday night in a WPIAL nonconference game that saw the Golden Lions defense thwart a late Rams scoring drive with time winding down.

After yielding more than 400 yards rushing in a 48-33 loss at Albert Gallatin on Aug. 22, Greensburg Salem (1-1) gave up just 150 yards rushing to Ligonier Valley (0-2).

“Our defense stepped up. They definitely got better from last week,” George said. “We turned up the intensity in practice this week. We had to. It was a big week for intensity and fundamentals, and the kids responded.”

Chismar, who completed 13 of 23 attempts for 173 yards, threw a 33-yard strike to Jackson Stevey to give Greensburg Salem an early 7-0 lead.

He connected with Maxim Topper later in the first quarter on a 29-yard completion to make it 14-6.

Greyson Daugherty scored both Ligonier Valley touchdowns, the first on a 33-yard pass from running back Anthony Petalino in the first quarter to cut Greensburg Salem’s lead to 7-6.

His second TD reception came in the third quarter on a 16-yard pass from backup quarterback Levi Foust.

But Daugherty couldn’t handle Foust’s pass on fourth down inside the Greensburg Salem 10, and the Rams turned the ball over on downs with 1 minute, 52 seconds left.

“We played a lot better than last week. We played inspired football,” Ligonier Valley coach Roger Beitel said.

The Rams were outclassed in their opener at Derry, losing 33-14 in a game that wasn’t that close. Derry led 33-0, triggering a running clock late in the third quarter.

“The difference tonight is the conversions,” Beitel said. “Right now, our kicker (Eric Dietz) is out.”

With the injured Dietz sidelined, Ligonier Valley was forced to attempt 2-point conversions on both touchdowns against Greensburg Salem.

“With him being out, it puts us behind.” Beitel said. “We’re chasing those extra points all the time. We went 0 for 2 in 2-point conversions, and that was the difference in the football game.”

Beitel said he liked his players’ physicality against Greensburg Salem (1-1). He’s expecting that trend to continue when the Rams visit Jeannette on Friday night.

“Physically, we did very well,” Beitel said. “It came down to a couple of plays.”

Greensburg Salem saw a 67-yard touchdown pass from Chismar to Topper wiped out by a penalty in the fourth quarter.

“There’s obviously things every week you’ve got to get better at — win or lose,” George said. “We’ll go back and look at the film and see what we need to do in all three phases of the game to try and get better and make some corrections for next week.”

Greensburg Salem visits Valley on Friday night.

“We’ll take the victory. Proud of the way the kids fought and responded through some adversity. Just happy to get out of here with a win.”

Tags: Greensburg Salem, Ligonier Valley