ALMEDIA – A lot of football coaches will tell you that in order for their team to be successful, they must effectively run the football.
That adage is especially true for Columbia-Montour Vo-Tech, whose offense is a ground-and-pound, slug-it-out type of system, rather than one that often makes quick strikes and generates a lot of big plays.
On Saturday, the Rams not only controlled most of the game by controlling the run game, but they also contributed a few big plays on the ground that resulted in quick scores, all leading to a convincing 48-17 win over Shenandoah Valley in the season opener for both squads.
Leading the way for the Rams was senior tailback Braxtyn Brown, who ran for 325 yards on 27 carries with a touchdown. That was the biggest part of a 446-yard performance on the ground for CMVT.
“Things started out a little shaky, I really didn’t like how Braxtyn was running and I let him know that. Him and I have a really honest relationship and he ran better after the first two series and then he had to go in on defense and play both ways the rest of the half and he did a good job on both sides,” said CMVT coach Mark Varner. “I can’t say enough about Braxtyn. He’s a gamer, leader, works hard and takes criticism and takes coaching and in this type of era athlete, that’s tough, and he’s a great athlete and a great person.”
It was Brown’s 59-yard touchdown near the end of the first half that swung the momentum back to the Rams after the Blue Devils had scored 17 straight points to erase a two-score lead for CMVT. The Rams then recovered an onside kick to start the second half and eventually would score 34 unanswered points to finish the game.
Mason Haught added 72 yards on 12 carries for the Rams and scored three touchdowns. Haught, the first-string fullback, also filled in at running back at times to give Brown some rest, with freshman Elijah Treon sliding in at fullback when Haught moved back to running back. Treon also added 21 rushing yards of his own late, caught a pass for 10 yards earlier in the game, and made a few key plays on special teams. The versatility in the backfield for the Rams should be a key to their success this season.
“We knew Mason could go back at tailback. He’s a heck of a downfield runner. He would rather run over people than around them and he did a great job when Braxtyn went out,” said Varner. “Our young back, Treon, not only filled in for Mason when he had some issues at fullback, then jumped back to tailback and had some nice runs at the end of the game. I thought Elijah had a great game because he filled in where we needed him to fill in without many reps at practice at the fullback position, which is very important in our offense.”
The Rams took an early 14-0 lead in the first quarter on a four-yard touchdown run by Haught to cap an eight-play, 79-yard drive, followed by a 13-yard touchdown run by freshman quarterback Myles Koser on a broken play with 2:34 remaining. Koser’s touchdown capped a short drive that was set up by his own interception, as he picked off a Blue Devil pass at the CMVT 23 and returned it 16 yards. Brown then got loose for a 48-yard run prior to Koser’s scoring run.
But the Blue Devils fought back. On the fourth play of the second quarter, Joel Nunez returned a CMVT punt 23 yards, and combined with a Ram penalty, it gave them the ball at the CMVT 37. Two plays later, Jonnuel Reyes broke loose around the left end for a 32-yard touchdown run, cutting CMVT’s lead in half.
Shenandoah Valley’s defense came up big on CMVT’s ensuing possession, as they forced Koser out of the pocket and forced a fumble, which was recovered by the Blue Devils at their own 41. From there, the Blue Devils put together a seven-play, 59-yard drive capped by Jeremy Thomas’ 7-yard touchdown run to tie things up.
The Blue Devils forced Koser into another miscue on CMVT’s next drive, as Aiden Phinazee picked off an underthrown pass at the CMVT 17 with 3:06 remaining in the first half. Sam Mentusky then nailed a 40-yard field goal with 1:34 remaining to give Shenandoah Valley their only lead of the game, 17-14.
But from that point forward, CMVT took over. Three plays into its ensuing drive, Brown broke loose for his lone touchdown of the day, and it was all Rams from there.
“It was four guys trying to tackle high,” said Shenandoah Valley coach Dave Bench. “Defensively, we got on our heels in the second half with stopping the run and the depth issues obviously hurt us. We’ll continue working with the younger kids and they’ll need to step up and have that “next man” up mentality and just go from there.”
Mentusky missed a 51-yard field goal on the final play of the second quarter, but that would be as close as the Blue Devils got to the end zone the rest of the day. Koser found Landon Hipps in the corner of the end zone four plays after the Rams recovered the onside kick to begin the second half to extend their lead to 28-17.
“Myles could have hung his head after a not-so-great first half but he came out and threw a dart and dropped a dime for that touchdown,” said Varner.
Haught found the end zone for the second time on the afternoon for a three-yard run to cap a nine-play, 68-yard drive that took up over four minutes at the 4:08 mark of the third quarter to extend the CMVT lead to 36-17.
Koser then picked off his second pass of the day on defense on Shenandoah Valley’s ensuing drive, making the pick at the CMVT 4-yard line and returning it 62 yards all the way down to the Blue Devil 34. Haught found the end zone from eight yards out to extend the lead to 42-17 with 9:17 left in the game.
“We have to make sure we keep our heads in the game. We’re a young team and they can get down on themselves too quick,” said Bench. “We had some players get banged up during the course of the game and not everyone necessarily had that comfort level playing at the varsity level.”
With the second string largely in later in the fourth quarter, Charlie Sego capped the scoring with a one-yard touchdown with 5:07 remaining.
Meanwhile, thanks to the Rams chewing up a lot of clock with their running game in the second half in addition to scoring, the Blue Devils had just three meaningful second-half possessions, with one ending with Koser’s second interception and the other two resulting in punts.
Columbia-Montour Vo-Tech 48, Shenandoah Valley 17
Shenandoah Valley (0-1) 0 17 0 0 – 17
CMVT (1-0) 14 6 16 12 – 48
First quarter
5:04 – (VT) Mason Haught 4-yard run (pass failed), 8-79, 2:24
2:34 – (VT) Myles Koser 13-yard run (Haught run), 2-61, :17
Second quarter
9:45 – (SV) Jonnuel Reyes 32-yard run (Mentusky kick), 2-37, :51
3:58 – (SV) Jeremy Thomas 7-yard run (Mentusky kick), 7-59, 3:51
1:34 – (SV) Sam Mentusky 40-yard field goal, 4-(-6)), 1:32
:58 – (VT) Braxtyn Brown 59-yard run (pass failed), 3-68, :36
Third quarter
10:06 – (VT) Landon Hipps 25-yard pass from Myles Koser (B. Brown run), 4-40, 1:54
4:08 – (VT) Mason Haught 3-yard run (B. Brown run), 9-68, 4:16
Fourth quarter
9:17 – (VT) Mason Haught 8-yard run (pass failed), 7-34, 3:00
5:07 – (VT) Charlie Sego 1-yard run (pass failed), 5-27, 2:09
Statistics
SV VT
First downs 11 27
Rushes-net yards 27-144 55-446
Passing yardage 46 36
Passing 4-15-0-2 4-10-1-1
Fumbles-lost 0-0 1-1
Penalties-yards 10-65 7-57
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING: Shenandoah Valley: Jeremy Thomas (7-44-1), Joel Nunez (6-14), Jonnuel Reyes (5-56-1), Todd Seiger (3-4), Andrew Czerny (2-16), Tristian Karosas (2-12), Xavier Hernandez (2-(-2)); CMVT: Braxtyn Brown (27-325-1), Mason Haught (12-72-3), TEAM (5-(-7)), Elijah Treon (4-21), Myles Koser (4-11-1), Charlie Sego (3-24-1)
PASSING: Shenandoah Valley: Tristian Karosas (4-15-46-0-2); CMVT: Myles Koser (4-10-36-1-1)
RECEIVING: Shenandoah Valley: David Burrous (2-29), Joel Nunez (2-17); CMVT: Landon Hipps (1-25-1), Elijah Treon (1-10), Mason Haught (1-3), Braxtyn Brown (1-(-2))
