Sep. 11—NANTY GLO — Portage entered Friday night’s WestPAC showdown with Blacklick Valley minus a few starting offensive linemen due to being quarantined.
On the game’s opening drive, it showed as the Mustangs were called for back-to-back penalties that put them back into a second-and-27 situation.
Portage didn’t let the circumstances deter them as the line regrouped very quickly by turning poor field position into a touchdown.
Other than a punt on the ensuing possession, the Mustangs were nearly unstoppable in the first half as they racked up all of their points in a 37-14 rout of the Vikings at McMullen Memorial Field.
“We’ve been seeing that teams are just loading up the box against us. We’re seeing eight-man boxes, sometimes nine,” Portage coach Marty Slanoc said. “So, we’re trying to get the ball — spread teams out a little more — get the ball out to our playmakers. We’re fortunate enough to have some guys who can handle it.”
With the win, Portage remained unbeaten at 3-0, while Blacklick falls to 0-3.
On the opening drive, the Mustangs were called for a 10-yard holding penalty and false start that backed them up five more yards.
Faced with a second-and 27, Portage got a two yard run from Jon Wolford before quarterback Andrew Miko, who threw for 75 yards in the game, hit Kaden Claar for an 11-yard gain on third down.
On a fourth-and-15 from the BV 43, Miko hit Gavin Gouse for a 41-yard strike down to the 2.
“The first drive was kind of ugly. It was my fault on the communication, but our quarterback made great play and kudos to our receiver (Gouse) to keep running, and he (Miko) found him,” Slanoc said.
“We preach that, our assistant coaches were saying all week to keep running, keep running. Even though you’re on the secondary route, our guy will fnd you.”
Wolford powered his way into the endzone on the ensuing play, and the Mustangs were on the board just three minutes into the contest.
“We had a couple of linemen out because of COVID, so it was hard getting some new guys up front in just a week,” Portage running back Oren Heidler said.
“A lot of guys stepped up and did a good job after they got the nerves out. Once everybody came together, we rolled. It comes down to everybody.”
The two teams traded punts before Blacklick Valley was set up to punt once again on a fourth-and-3 from their own 21.
However, when the snap sailed over the head of BV punter Kolten Szymusiak and into the end zone, the Mustangs’ Isaac Diehl pulled Szymusiak down before he could escape to record to safety.
For that point, Portage scored touchdowns on all three of its possessions.
“Whenever you give a team like Portage a short field the whole first half, I said we’re going to bend a little bit,” Blacklick Valley coach Rich Price said. “We just weren’t very good on offense. We’re going to take a look at the film, make some adjustments and we’ll be back against Meyersdale.”
Heidler, who ran nine times for 70 yards, crossed the goal line on consecutive Mustangs drives on runs of 8 and 4 yards before Wolford reached on a 9-yard jolt to make the score 30-0 .
One of the missing offensive linemen came under center, and Portage turned to senior Erik Castel to step into the starting role when the regular starter had to miss due to COVID.
“The new center (Castel) came in, which is the hard for the quarterback with getting the snaps right with a lot of motion. He came in and did a great job — kudos to him,” Heidler said.
Blacklick Valley dropped back into punt formation for the third time in the first two quarters on a fourth-and-16 from their own 14.
Szymusiak’s punt sailed just 25 yards to the 39 where Claar field it and returned it to the house — crossing fields from the left side to the right before crossing the goal line with 7.7 ticks left in the opening half to put Portage up 37-0, The score also meant the clock ran the entire second half with the mercy rule kicking into effect.
The Mustangs were kept out of the endzone in the second half, and actually managed just two total yards of offense.
Meanwhile, the Vikings racked up 171 yards through the air, but were knocked back for negative-11 yards on the ground.
Blacklick Valley would put its first points on the board when Szymusiak connected with Cody Williams on a 21-yard TD pass at 7:42 of the third.
“We made some adjustments offensively in the second half, and I thought it worked out for us,” Price said.
The Vikings’ second score came when junior varsity QB Greg Schilling III found Gino DiPaolo for a 33-yard gain to the 2 where DiPaolo fumbled the ball into the end zone. Greg Hershberger fell on the ball to set the final score.