Early takeaways help Berlin Brothersvalley bury North Star
Oct. 21—BOSWELL — The weekly expectation for the Berlin Brothersvalley defense and special teams, set by assistant coach Dante Paul, is that the Mountaineers get at least three takeaways.
On Friday, Berlin Brothersvalley reached that benchmark within the first 7 minutes of its 35-6 win over host North Star at War Memorial Field.
"That's the goal every week," Mountaineers senior quarterback/safety Pace Prosser said. "Three takeaways every week. Win the turnover battle. When we do that, we're really hard to beat."
The Mountaineers (8-1) scored off all three of those first-quarter turnovers as they bounded out to a 20-0 lead with 3:20 left in the opening frame.
"We're not going to say (North Star) gave it to us," Berlin Brothersvalley coach Doug Paul said.
"We had two picks and a strip on a kick return. We call those takeaways. We practice that.
"We do a takeaway circuit every week. Coach Dante's goal for every game is three. Crap, we had three within the first 6 minutes (and 46 seconds)."
While the Cougars (6-3) managed to slow the giveaways to just one interception over their remaining eight possessions, they did not establish much of a rhythm against the Mountaineers defense until deep in the second half when reserves for both sides were in the game.
"We didn't get started tonight," North Star coach Bob Landis said. "They do a nice job. We got beat in every facet of the game."
Berlin Brothersvalley's Seth Kimmel started the turnover parade, picking off a Connor Yoder pass and returning it to the North Star 43. The Mountaineers ran five plays on their way to their first score, capping the possession on Cody Kimmel's 7-yard run. Connor Montgomery made the first of his three point-after kicks to make it 7-0.
Seth Kimmel gave the ball back to his team on the ensuing kickoff, pouncing on a fumble created by Quinland Suber at the Cougars' 25. The Mountaineers added to their lead in two plays as Cooper Huston dashed to the North Star 1 and then to the end zone on the next snap, 33 seconds after Cody Kimmel's touchdown.
With Berlin Brothersvalley up 13-0, Prosser snagged a Yoder pass and returned it 24 yards to the Cougars' 28. The Mountaineers scored in six plays as Prosser, in the midst of a scramble, found Aidan Ream by himself in the middle of the end zone for a 16-yard scoring strike.
Huston, who rushed 10 times for 103 yards, capped the Mountaineers' first-half scoring output with a 20-yard touchdown run to finish a four-play, 35-yard drive set up by a 50-yard punt return by Prosser.
"He's an absolute horse back there," Doug Paul said. "We got a couple of them. It's nice to see the change of pace that we can give teams. Ream's a pounder.
"Cooper's a pounder. Then you bring in the freshman in, Moriek (Jones), and he's lightning. He gets going. He's special, but he's biding his time. All the credit goes up front."
Of the four Berlin Brothersvalley scoring drives in the first half, the Mountaineers had an average starting field position just inside the North Star 33 and averaged just over four plays per possession.
"We can't give them short forces like that," Landis said. "They took advantage of the opportunities. We just gotta get better. I don't know what else to say."
Up 27-0 to start the third quarter, Berlin Brothersvalley ignited a running clock for all but 15 seconds of the second half when Prosser returned the second-half kickoff 85 yards and then connected with Levi Whipkey on the two-point conversion pass to run the guests' lead to 35-0.
North Star punched in its only points with 2:25 remaining as Kasey Yoder scored from 29 yards out.
Shawn Curtis is a reporter for The Tribune-Democrat. He can be reached at (814) 532-5085. Follow him on Twitter @ShawnCurtis430.
