Southmoreland football holds on vs. McGuffey

By: Jason Black
Friday, August 27, 2021 | 10:30 PM

Southmoreland had the ball on its own 20 and a 20-point lead when Anthony Govern threw a deep pass over the middle that was intercepted by McGuffey’s Ethan Dietrich and returned 45 yards for a touchdown with 19 seconds left in the first half. Josh Plants made the second of two PATs to cut the deficit to 13 points at halftime.

The play could have turned the game into a disaster if the Scotties would have lost, but they didn’t allow it to affect them as the home team shook off the miscue for a 47-22 nonconference victory Friday night at Russ Grimm Field.

Southmoreland’s Travon Lee recovered a fumble on the kickoff to open the second half, and Govern scored on a 7-yard run with 10:09 left in the third. Jake Kaylor connected on his fourth of five PATs for a 34-14 advantage.

“I am very aggressive,” Southmoreland coach Dave Keefer said. “It didn’t work out, but (we are) fortunate it didn’t end up costing us. The kids came out, executed well and we made some adjustments defensively at halftime. I thought the kids came out pretty hot. We knew they were going to chunk us, but we had a bend-but-not break mentality. We have to make our right adjustments and have more on our side of the scoreboard than theirs.

“I thought we spread the ball around pretty well on offense. Isaac Trout, JJ Bloom and Travon Lee threw a touchdown pass. Anthony stepped up big for us. We had some big runs from Josh Bass and Jeffrey Johnson. McGuffey is a good team, and they are well coached. This is a big plus for our team in beating them.”

The Highlanders were forced to punt on their next drive, but the snap went over the punter’s head and the Scotties recovered at McGuffey’s 2. Govern’s 2-yard touchdown run extended the home team’s lead to 41-14.

Che Knopsnider recovered a fumble for Southmoreland to end a drive for the Highlanders.

“We didn’t play very good and made some big mistakes,” McGuffey coach Ed Dalton said. “We really didn’t play well in our first scrimmage, too. The good thing is we have three nonconference games and have some time to get back to work. Hats off to them. They came out and played with momentum.”

McGuffey’s Kyle Brookman pulled in an 11-yard touchdown reception from Philip McCuen at 8:27 of the fourth. Brookman added the 2-point conversion run for a 41-22 score. Brookman had a game-high 130 yards on 18 carries.

The Highlanders were driving with three minutes to go when the Scotties’ Tray Whetsel picked up a fumble and returned it to the McGuffey 40.

Govern threw a 15-yard touchdown pass to Trevell Clayton with 45 seconds left to extend the Scotties’ lead to 25. Govern was 7 of 14 for 85 yards and two touchdowns.

Southmoreland scored its first touchdown on a halfback option when Lee threw a 9-yard pass to Isaac Trout and Jake Kaylor added the PAT at 8:29 of the first quarter. The Scotties benefited from a pass interference call against the Highlanders.

Southmoreland stopped McGuffey on its first drive and used a 12-play 63-yard scoring drive that was capped off by Govern’s seven-yard run as time expired in the first for a 13-0 lead.

The Highlands got on the scoreboard with 8:16 remaining in the second on Jeremiah Johnson’s 9-yard run.

The Scotties scored on the ensuing possession when Trout took a misdirection run for a 55-yard touchdown and a 20-7 advantage with 7:45 left in the second. Trout had three carries for 74 yards.

Bloom took an interception return to the McGuffey 25, and despite being backed up to the 34 because of penalties and a negative rushing play, the Scotties extended their lead to 20 when Bloom pulled in a 30-yard reception from Govern in the left corner of the end zone at 4:37 of the second.

Listen to an archived broadcast of this game on Trib HSSN.

Tags: McGuffey, Southmoreland