UNIONTOWN, Pa — Facing a critical fourth down with 2:50 to play, there was little question who Allegany would go to and where he would run.
The Campers gave the ball to workhorse back Jackson Resh, and he went around his 6-foot-7 left tackle Lucas Bahrenburg for the necessary two yards and then some.
Resh capped the series with his third touchdown, and No. 5 Allegany outlasted Albert Gallatin, 26-14, on Thursday night for their first victory of the season.
“It’s nice to get in the win column. We took a hard path to it,” Allegany head coach Bryan Hansel said. “We were up 20-7, driving down their throat, and then we fumbled that ball. It was good to respond. Good to get a win.”
The giveaway the ninth-year Allegany coach referenced came after the Campers, leading 20-7 in the fourth quarter, stopped Albert Gallatin on fourth-and-four to set up a short field.
Khiante Bible read the triple option pitch — the same one that gave Allegany fits during the first quarter — to get Allegany the ball back.
However, Allegany fumbled on the Albert Gallatin 12-yard line, and the Colonials switched to a single-wing offense and marched 86 yards on seven plays to get it back to a one-score game.
Following Adam Pegg’s 39-yard scamper, Allegany’s lead stood at just 20-14 with 7:25 remaining.
“If thing aren’t going our way, we give a little change-up,” Albert Gallatin head coach Drew Dindl said of the shift in offense. “We see what they’re trying to take away, and we try to go inside or outside depending on what they’re doing. They’re just so big and physical up front, we had a hard time getting inside.”
Then came the game’s decisive moment. On 4th-and-2 at the Albert Gallatin 37-yard line with 2:50 remaining, Resh gained 15 yards off left tackle.
Facing a 3rd-and-7 two plays later, Bible again followed Bahrenburg for a first down.
Resh capped the 13-yard, 74-yard drive with a two-yard plunge to ice the game with 1:03 to play.
“They don’t give up, no matter what,” Resh said of his teammates. “We’ve faced adversity all season. They work hard. They fight through it.”
Resh was the team’s leading rusher with 131 yards and three touchdowns on 27 carries, and Bible added 99 on 13 gives.
Allegany rushed for 252 yards on 52 carries, and quarterback Sebastian Stewart had his most efficient game of the season, completing 3 of 3 passes for 30 yards.
Trevin Cox was 2 for 2 on extra points
The Campers led 14-7 at the half and opened the third quarter with a nine-play, 65-yard touchdown drive.
Allegany converted a crucial 4-and-5 on the series with a 13-yard pass from Stewart to backup tight end Chase Dermer, playing in place of Caden Keiper, who was injured with 15 seconds left in the first quarter.
Resh finished off the drive with a five-yard rushing touchdown for a 20-7 Allegany lead with 7:25 left in the third period.
Allegany had no answer for Albert Gallatin’s option pitch to Caleb DeHaven early.
After the teams traded punts on their opening series’, DeHaven broke off runs of 38 and 40 yards — the later went for a touchdown, to give the Colonials a 7-0 lead with 2:19 left in the first quarter.
Dehaven racked up 106 yards on four carries in the opening 10 minutes, but the Campers adapted and limited him to just 30 yards the rest of the way.
Allegany answered with a 12-play, 75-yard scoring drive that ate up nearly six minutes. The series was capped by a two-yard Resh touchdown run that leveled the score at 7-all with 8:23 remaining in the second.
Albert Gallatin put the ball on the turf on a botched pitch on its next drive, and Thomas Schneider recovered to set up a short field at the Colonial 37.
Eight plays later, Stewart plunged into the end zone from a yard out on a quarterback keeper to give the Campers a 14-7 halftime lead.
Albert Gallatin was led by DeHaven with 136 yards and a TD on 11 carries. Pegg added 90 and a score on 10 tries.
The Colonials weren’t able to get much inside running into the big Allegany interior line of Bahrenburg, Devin Tinnen and Schneider.
Albert Gallatin struggled with penalties after halftime, getting called for five for 75 yards. It had eight penalties for 90 yards for the game.
Allegany is beginning to get more healthy as junior linebacker and fullback Amanni Blowe returned to the line-up for the first time this year.
Running back and linebacker Kane Williams is also expected to make his return next week. He was cleared this week but was held out Thursday.
Allegany hopes to continue to build when it plays another road Thursday night game at St. James in Week 5.
“It was huge to get this one,” Hansel said. “Winning is contagious. You get this one you feel good. You get the next one and you’re playing for .500.”