CUMBERLAND — No. 5 Allegany hung around with the defending Class 3A state champion Oakdale Bears for about two-and-half quarters.
“I felt like we were a little sleepy getting off the bus,” Oakdale head coach Kurt Stein said. “I thought we played a pretty good third quarter. Too many mistakes, lot of drives where we shot ourselves in the foot.”
However, the Bears (1-1) pulled away in the third quarter on the way to a 29-6 victory at Greenway Avenue Stadium on Friday.
“We struggled offensively again moving the football,” Allegany head coach Bryan Hansel said. “The way we’re built, when you don’t move the ball, gain first downs, at least at a minimum flip field position, it really struggles.”
The story of the first half for the Campers (0-2) was the defense giving up some big plays, but responding in bigger moments.
Midway through the first quarter, a sliding catch by Kingston York from Alex Rodriguez put Oakdale on the board.
On the Bears’ next drive, Oakdale pulled off a double pass from Charlie Alt to Demetrios Efantis for 48 yards.
Two plays later, a fumbled handoff was recovered by Allegany’s Caden Keiper.
Still 7-0 after one quarter, Oakdale was stopped on third and long when Jackson Resh recorded a tackle for loss of seven yards.
“We made a couple mistakes, we dropped a touchdown pass,” Stein said of not finishing drives. “We ran a play where we didn’t block the edge, came in and crushed the quarterback. Simple stuff, really things by week two we should have cleaned up by now.”
The ensuing punt from Jason Roberts rolled 37 yards down to the Campers’ one, leading to a high snap on the punt for a safety.
On the Bears’ ensuing drive, a fourth down conversion was stuffed on a huge hit by Alex Spriggs.
Oakdale’s final drive of the first half lasted three plays, ending on a sack by Keiper.
While Allegany’s defense was a standout, allowing 135 total yards including only 13 rushing yards in the first half, the offense failed to provide a cushion.
“I thought defensively for two-and-half quarters, we played well,” Hansel said. “When you’re on the field a lot against a team like this, eventually it’s gonna catch us. It was a double-edged sword for us tonight.”
The Campers only had 82 yards of offense in the first half, all on the ground.
Alco had six drives before halftime, the last five ending with the punter on the field.
“Schematically, we thought we had it down pretty well,” Hansel said. “They did some stuff up front that was nice. They countered and slanted our two-man surface that really shut down Jackson.”
Leading 9-0 at the break, Oakdale opened the third quarter with a pair of 16-yard plays, setting up a 21-yard touchdown pass from Rodriguez to Alt.
“We just stopped making dumb turnovers,” Stein said. “We didn’t drop wide open passes. We had the one big play, Alex to Charlie down the sideline got us going a little bit. “
After having little offensive success, the Campers found some rhythm midway through the third.
Resh picked up 13 on third and five, then three plays later, Aidyn McKenzie took a double reverse 56 yards for Allegany’s first points of the season.
The Campers were shut out 35-0 at Hollidaysburg last week, so McKenzie’s score broke a nearly six-quarter scoring drought.
The ensuing conversion failed, keeping the score 16-6.
On the ensuing kickoff, Riley Harich sprinted 41 yards to the Camper 37.
Eight plays later, Rodriguez scored on a keeper from a yard out.
“I think mentally it’s tough when you feel you’re always on defense and you gotta make a stop,” Hansel said. “Eventually, that wears you mentally rather than physically as much.”
Allegany failed to convert on fourth down the ensuing drive, and one play later, Alt was wide open over the middle.
Rodriguez found him and Alt took off for a 65-yard touchdown to give Oakdale the 29-6 advantage.
Rodriguez finished 10 of 16 for 224 yards and three touchdowns.
Jayden Stokes led the Bears with 16 carries for 66 yards while Alt caught four passes for 128 yards and two scores.
Resh led Allegany with 83 yards on 17 rushes including a 40-yard scamper on the first play from scrimmage.
McKenzie rushed nine times in the second half for 110 yards and a touchdown.
Oakdale out gained Alco 392-302.
Last year, the Bears beat the Campers 41-24 in a game Oakdale led 28-0, but Alco cut the deficit to 10 points in the fourth quarter.
The two previous years, Fort Hill beat Oakdale (49-21, 42-7), and Stein credited both school’s willingness to schedule up.
“Credit to Allegany and credit to Fort Hill, they’ll actually play us,” Stein said. “90% of the teams we call say no. So my hat and respect to both Allegany and Fort Hill for being willing to play a good team.”
Allegany hosts No. 3 Mountain Ridge on Friday at 7 p.m.
“I really think they’ve built something there,” Hansel said of the Miners. “They’ve turned the program into a true program. So I don’t think a rebuild is here, it’s a re-tool. The new coach will figure it out, I expect them to be a good football team. They always scheme well for us, so we gotta scheme well for them. I expect kinda a chess match, close game next week.”