Greensburg Salem jumps on Ligonier Valley, gives coach his 1st win

By: Dave Mackall
Friday, September 8, 2023 | 11:14 PM

It’s been 23 years since Greensburg Salem has won a WPIAL playoff game in football, long enough for Ty George maybe to remember.

After failing to qualify in 2022, the Golden Lions are attempting to make it back to the postseason in George’s first year as their coach.

They took a step in the right direction Friday night after opening the season with back-to-back losses.

Brady Smith rushed for 164 yards, Peyton Chismar, in his return from a two-game suspension, added 104 yards passing, and both scored two touchdowns apiece as Class 3A Greensburg Salem, playing in its home opener, presented George with his first coaching victory, a 34-7 decision over Class 2A Ligonier Valley.

“It’s super exciting. So many emotions,” said George, who was elevated to his first head coaching job this season after spending three years as an assistant on former Greensburg Salem coach Dave Keefer’s staff. “I’m just so proud of the kids, so proud of the staff, so happy for the community. It’s a great night, one I’ll always remember.”

Greensburg Salem (1-2), which opened with road losses to Class 5A Hempfield and Class 2A Derry — the Trojans ended a 20-game losing streak — took charge with three first-quarter touchdowns.

The Golden Lions denied Ligonier Valley an early scoring chance when Rams running back Aaron Dennison had the ball knocked loose and out of bounds for a touchback near the goal line in a momentum-swinging play.

There was no immediate call, but officials huddled and finally ruled a touchback, giving possession to Greensburg Salem, which at the time was leading 7-0 on Kai Brunot’s 16-yard rush for a touchdown.

Ligonier Valley coach Roger Beitel disputed the decision but praised the officiating crew for its overall work.

The Rams (1-2), a perennial District 6 playoff contender under Beitel with a trip to the PIAA semifinals in 2016 before rejoining the WPIAL, fell for the second week in a row to a Class 3A opponent. Southmoreland defeated Ligonier Valley in its previous game.

“Everything’s my fault. I’m the leader,” Beitel said. “I want all those kids to point at me, and I take the blame for everything. They just need to keep coming to bat, coming to work and know that they’re not responsible for any of this, that it’s all on my shoulders and I take responsibility for everything.”

Beitel said his youthful team will get better with experience. The Rams’ roster includes just one senior.

“At the end of the season, I’m still only going to have four players on the team who can drive,” he said. “At one point, we had eight sophomores and freshmen on the field on defense and we were playing good football. Little by little, some of these little bucks, they’re starting to see the headlights. Eventually, they’ll become big bucks, and then, look out.”

After the delayed touchback call, Greensburg Salem drove the length of the field and scored on Smith’s 40-yard run before Brunot blocked Mark Jablunovsky’s punt, setting up Chismar’s 4-yard touchdown run to put the Golden Lions ahead, 20-0.

“You go in and score on your first drive, and then, they’re driving down to score and right on the doorstep,” said George, who also has previous coaching experience as an assistant at Hempfield, his alma mater. “They’re moving the ball. But us getting that turnover and getting the ball back and driving down and scoring, that kind of squashed that. It worked out for us.”

Chismar, who completed 5 of 10 passes after sitting the first two games, the result of an ejection in Greensburg Salem’s final game of 2022, gave the Golden Lions a 27-0 halftime lead with a 7-yard keeper for a touchdown.

“Adam DiPasquale played the first two weeks for us and did a great job, gritty kid, did everything we asked,” George said. “Peyton came in tonight and made the throws he needed to, commanded the offense, took care of the football. He did what we expected him to do.”

Ligonier Valley’s lone score came in the third quarter, when Mark Jablunovsky intercepted a Chismar pass and returned it 42 yards for a touchdown.

Smith added a 17-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter for Greensburg Salem.

“You take the positives and try to keep building on them,” George said. “Last week we played a terrible first half but a good second half. We tried to roll that into this week and we did that. Now, we need to take the momemtum from this game and take it into next week (against Deer Lakes).”

Tags: Greensburg Salem, Ligonier Valley