Valley tops rival Burrell for 5th straight time in Allegheny Conference

By: HSSN Staff
Friday, October 13, 2017 | 11:45 PM

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Friday was the only Valley-Burrell football game Shawn Demharter ever played in.

But the Vikings senior made the most of it.

Demharter intercepted a pass and raced 23 yards to put Valley on the scoreboard as the Vikings defeated Burrell, 18-13, in a Class 3A Allegheny Conference game at Valley Memorial Stadium.

Deonte Ross ran for 111 yards and Tyler Green passed for 117 yards to lead the Vikings, now 2-5 overall and 2-3 in conference play.

It was the fifth consecutive season Valley has beaten the Bucs to take a 24-14 lead in the all-time series.

Burrell had taken a 7-0 lead on Seth Tatrn's 1-yard plunge. A fumble recovery by Luke Kastelic appeared to put the Bucs in business at their 28.

But Demharter, out for football for the first time this season, leaped and grabbed the ball on the ensuing play.

“I kind of left my man and jumped right into the air,” Demharter said. “It was nice. I think it rallied us.”

Demharter had concentrated on baseball before this fall.

“It's rough, but I like it,” Demharter said of football. “It's something that I didn't think I'd do, but coach Muzzy (Colosimo) told me to come and play.”

“That was a heck of an athletic play,” Colosimo said. “He got caught in no man's land, jumped up and took it in from there. It's going to be real nice getting him a scholarship, because he's a player. I watched him in baseball; he's got great hands and great speed.”

“We get momentum, we get a play we want, and Demharter makes a play and turned the whole game around,” Bucs coach Dave Bellinotti said. “We hung in there, but we can't seem to come out of that locker room in the second half and settle things down.”

Though Burrell led 7-6 at the half, Valley took the lead for good on the second play from scrimmage in the third.

Vaun Ross scored on a jet sweep left from midfield following a 38-yard pass from Green to Darius Johnson.

After a Bucs punt, Valley drove 70 yards in 12 plays with Noah Hutcherson scoring from 2 yards out to put the Vikings in front 18-7, with 4:57 left in the third quarter.

Valley appeared to be ready to score again with a second-and-goal at the Burrell 2, but the Vikings lost the ball on downs as R.J. Beach and Colton Moorehead combined to stop Hutcherson at the 5.

“We didn't have our kicker (Mike Saliba) all week in practice,” Colosimo said. “So I was nervous about kicking it, we figured let's just run it, and the guy ran the wrong way.”

Burrell (1-7, 0-6) then drove 95 yards in 18 plays to score with 13 seconds left. The Bucs picked up seven first downs during the drive, but used up nearly six minutes of the fourth quarter clock.

Deonte Ross captured Beach's onside kick and Valley ran out the clock.

Tatrn passed for 126 yards, Alex Bellinotti caught five passes for 98 yards, Logan Bitar had 90 yards rushing and Kastelic 86 rushing for Burrell.

George Guido is a freelance writer.

Tags: Burrell, Valley