No. 3 Allegany wears down Hollidaysburg to win opener 30-23

Sep. 2—CUMBERLAND — Allegany wanted to get more players involved in the running attack this year: Its varied weapons finally wore down a game Hollidaysburg on Friday night.

The Campers had six players tote the ball at least six times, and Hollidaysburg bent and eventually broke as Allegany bludgeoned the Golden Tiger defense with 56 carries for 345 yards and 17 first downs rushing.

There were a few first-game hiccups along the way, but No. 3 Allegany settled in to outscore Hollidaysburg, 21-10, after halftime to win its opener 30-23 on Friday night.

"It's better to break down film and criticize when you win, so I'll take a win," Allegany head coach Bryan Hansel said. "I wish we would've played the first half like the second half. But we settled in. We didn't quit. We played hard."

Allegany, with players cramping throughout the second half on a warm summer night, looked every bit like a team playing in its first game, and Hollidaysburg looked anything but that.

However, tied at 16 entering the fourth quarter, Allegany found a way.

Brody Williams picked up a fumbled snap and scampered 20 yards for a touchdown to give the Campers the lead for good at 23-16 with 10:14 to play in the fourth. The score capped a seven-play, 70-yard series.

Then, after forcing a Hollidaysburg punt, the Campers drove 85 more yards on six plays, the final a 42-yard touchdown run by Isaiah Fields that made it 30-16 Alco with 6:37 to go.

Fields' touchdown was the Campers' third of the half that went for more than 20 yards, all by three different players.

Their first came by way of Dae Dae Smith, a 23-yard dash that gave Allegany a 16-13 edge with 4:10 left in the third quarter.

Allegany was led in the ground game by Brett Patterson, who had 10 carries for 104 yards. Jackson Resh rushed the ball eight times for 58 yards, Williams had 15 touches for 53 yards and two scores, Fields had six carries for 48 yards and a TD, Jacob Salonish rushed for 43 yards on six totes and Smith ran for 33 yards and a touchdown on six gives.

Hollidaysburg tied the game at 16 with a 36-yard field goal by Paul Wedel with 1:17 left to play in the third quarter, but, with the exception of a 22-yard touchdown pass from Maddox Bainey to Nate Grabill in garbage time, it wasn't able to put the ball in the end zone after halftime.

"We had too many errors to beat a really good team," Hollidaysburg head coach Homer DeLattre said. "The margin of error is small when you're playing teams that are very fundamental.

"We had a lot of miscues, especially on the offensive side of the ball, some bad angles on defense. Overall, it's a credit to Allegany as well because they were more fundamental than us."

Trailing 30-23 with under a minute to play, the Golden Tigers attempted an onside kick but Smith recovered it.

Hollidaysburg used two quarterbacks throughout the night to keep the Campers off-balance.

Starting quarterback Drew Wyland completed 7 of 17 passes for 92 yards and a touchdown, and Bainey connected on 6 of 10 for 86 yards and two scores.

Wyland wore the No. 9 jersey during the first three quarters but switched to No. 39 in the fourth because his jersey ripped. He also had nine carries for 67 yards to top the Golden Tigers.

The Campers threw the ball more than they initially thought they would, Hansel said, with Williams connecting on 5 of 10 passes for 107 yards.

Zach Michael was his top target, catching two passes for 59 yards. Smith had a 30-yard reception, and Sundiata Chavis had two grabs for 18 yards.

Allegany could've had an even better second half if not for two miscues.

The Campers drove 57 yards into Hollidaysburg territory on their first possession of the second half, but the drive was stunted by a fumble.

Allegany's long snapper also snapped a punt over Powell during the fourth quarter, but the senior somehow got it off as he was being ripped down by a Hollidaysburg player. Despite a short field, the Golden Tigers fumbled soon after, and Jackson Resh came up with it.

Allegany held the ball nearly five minutes more than Hollidaysburg at the half and had a 181-148 edge in total offense but trailed 13-9.

The Campers nearly tied or took the lead late in the half on consecutive plays.

Fields had a seven-yard touchdown run called back for a holding penalty. Then, on 3rd-and-14 on the 16-yard line, Williams overthrew a wide-open Fields.

The missed chances prompted Allegany to settle for a 33-yard field goal by Powell with 56.6 seconds in the half.

Hollidaysburg scored its two first-half touchdowns on passing plays.

First, Wyland connected with Caden DeLattre for a 46-yard score with 4:20 left in the first quarter. The long pass was the first play of the series. DeLattre finished with 118 yards on seven grabs.

Allegany answered with an eight-play, 50-yard scoring drive — set up by a 45-yard return on the ensuing kick-off by Fields. Williams capped the series with a 14-yard quarterback keeper, but the extra point was blocked to keep Hollidaysburg ahead 7-6 with 10 seconds left in the first period.

Hollidaysburg countered with a response of its own, doing so with entirely different personnel in the backfield.

Instead of Wyland taking the snaps and handing the ball off to senior Jack Steiner, coach Homer DeLattre put in Bainey at QB and paired him with junior Mitchell Baronner.

The new personnel produced the same results, as Hollidaysburg drove 65 yards on 10 plays and punched it into the end zone on a 12-yard touchdown pass from Bainey to Jay Albarano with 7:56 to play in the half.

The extra point missed, and the score remained at 13-6 until Powell pulled the Campers within four points just before halftime.

Allegany was 3 for 4 on fourth-down conversions in the first half. Powell, who is also the Campers' punter, ran it himself on a fake punt on Alco's first series.

Michael, in his first game back after tearing his ACL before the 2022 season, caught a pair of long passes on Allegany's final drive before the half. He hauled in receptions of 33 and 26 yards — the latter on fourth down.

Allegany defensive lineman Kenneth Ringgold had a sack on the final play of the half.

The Campers' schedule doesn't get any easier. Allegany heads to Frederick County to play Class 3A state runner-up Oakdale, which defeated Milford Mill, the No. 10-ranked team in the preseason media poll, in its opener.

"We're looking forward to the opportunity to compete against a really good football team," Hansel said.

Alex Rychwalski is a sports reporter at the Cumberland Times-News. Follow him on Twitter @arychwal.