WESTFIELD – Having squandered a two-score lead after giving up a pair of second half touchdowns and subsequent two-point conversions to Columbia-Montour Vo-Tech, Cowanesque Valley found itself trailing 24-21 with 7:25 left in the game after having led 21-8 in the first half.
The Indians, which entered the game 1-5, proceeded to put together their best drive of the game, if not the season, and Graham Hess’ third rushing touchdown of the game capped the drive and gave Cowanesque Valley the lead with 1:22 to play.
The Indians then stopped CMVT’s final drive as time ran out and Cowanesque Valley held on for a 29-24 win over the Rams on Saturday afternoon.
“We played mostly to our potential today,” said Cowanesque Valley coach Jacob Lane. “We still made some mistakes here and there, but it was definitely a team effort and we finished what we started.”
In addition to that final drive, probably the two other biggest keys to the Indians’ second win of the year were limiting CMVT running back Braxtyn Brown to just 111 yards on 28 carries. Brown, who has amassed over 300 rushing yards three times this season, did not break any long runs as he has several times this season. The Rams also committed three turnovers in the second quarter alone.
“We emphasized this week that we needed to play to the ball,” said Lane. “We watched film and we saw that when he gets some space, he’s going to take it. Our big key today was try to stretch those tosses because he gets a lot of yards on tosses and powers so we tried to play 11 hats to the ball.”
“We didn’t play well in the first half. We jumped out to that lead and we came out at halftime and played much better and didn’t give up but unfortunately, they made one more play than we made,” said CMVT coach Mark Varner.
Three turnovers in the second quarter alone doomed the Rams. Even though the Indians only scored off of one of them, the lost opportunity to control the ball and methodically move it down the field as the Rams do when they are at their best, was detrimental to the end result.
The Rams did move the ball down the field methodically on their first drive of the game after receiving the opening kickoff, and that drive ended with a 22-yard touchdown catch by Axton Koser. Brown ran for 20 of his 111 yards on the afternoon on that drive, and also punched in the two-point conversion, one of three on the day for him.
But the Rams’ next five possessions came up empty, not including one possession that didn’t even take place due to a fumble on a kickoff return.
CMVT stopped the Indians on downs at the Ram 4-yard line on their subsequent possession following the Rams’ opening touchdown. But that left the Rams pinned up against their own end zone and they went three-and-out and punted.
Cowanesque Valley took over at the CMVT 46 and proceeded to put together a six-play, 46-yard drive capped by Graham Hess’ one-yard touchdown run that tied the game after a successful two-point conversion on the final play of the first quarter.
The Indians were unable to capitalize after the Rams fumbled away the ensuing kickoff, as they were stopped on downs at the Cowanesque Valley 23. But CMVT turned it over again on their subsequent drive, as Graham Hess picked off Myles Koser and returned it 21 yards down to the Ram 2-yard line. Two plays later, Hess punched it in for the go-ahead touchdown.
The Indians stopped the Rams on downs on CMVT’s next drive and took over at their own 29. They then put together a five-play, 71-yard drive capped by Dave Hess’ 17-yard touchdown run to put the Indians up 21-8 heading into the half. Dave Hess led the way on the ground for the Indians with 109 yards on 19 carries, while Graham Hess had 54 yards on 13 carries to go with his three scores.
“It comes down to execution, it just takes one second here or there. We went down and scored on that first series and then just eased up and didn’t execute as well in the second quarter,” said Varner. “We weren’t getting out on our secondary blocks and we weren’t taking the right side of a man to block and that’s what opens up the big holes.”
Even though the big holes weren’t there in the running game to produce long runs, the Rams’ offense was a different unit in the second half. Thanks to two long, methodical drives by CMVT, each team only had three second-half possessions.
CMVT ended Cowanesque Valley’s first second half possession with a turnover as Logan Bracey picked off Graham Hess at the CMVT 39. Six plays later, Myles Koser punched it in from two yards out, one play after a 48-yard completion to Landon Hipps that flipped field position.
The Indians’ subsequent drive ended with a punt and CMVT took over at its own 20. From there, the Rams put together a 17-play, 80-yard drive that took 9:31 and ended with Axton Koser’s second touchdown catch of the game, this one a short four-yarder on fourth-and-goal that put the Rams up 24-21 with 7:25 to play. CMVT converted two fourth downs on that drive, as well as a third-and-14 play in which Myles Koser caught a halfback pass from Brown.
But Cowanesque Valley responded with its best drive of the game when it needed it the most. The Indians put together an 11-play, 55-yard drive in which it successfully converted two fourth downs, one on a CMVT offside penalty and the other a 19-yard run by Dave Hess in which we was almost stopped behind the line of scrimmage but slipped out of a tackle and moved the ball from the CMVT 25 all the way down to the 6. Three plays later, Graham Hess found the end zone for the third time on the afternoon that gave the Indians a 29-24 lead after a successful two-point conversion with 1:22 to play.
“That last drive, they didn’t miss a step, they worked together as a team and it was hard-earned,” said Lane. “It was all heart and I’m proud of them.”
From there, CMVT took over at their own 30 and managed to advance the ball down to the Cowanesque Valley 39 before time ran out on the potential game-winning drive.
Cowanesque Valley 29, Columbia-Montour Vo-Tech 24
CMVT (4-3) 8 0 8 8 – 24
Cowanesque Valley (2-5) 8 13 0 8 – 29
First quarter
8:35 – (VT) Axton Koser 22-yard pass from Myles Koser (Brown run), 7-47, 3:25
:00 – (CV) Graham Hess 1-yard run (Dave Hess run), 6-46, 3:12
Second quarter
8:48 – (CV) Graham Hess 2-yard run (pass failed), 2-2, :10
2:12 – (CV) Dave Hess 17-yard run (Churchill kick), 5-71, 2:28
Third quarter
7:13 – (VT) Myles Koser 2-yard run (Brown run), 6-61, 2:56
Fourth quarter
7:25 – (VT) Axton Koser 4-yard pass from Myles Koser (Brown run), 17-80, 9:31
1:22 – (CV) Graham Hess 2-yard run (Stahli pass from Graham Hess), 11-55, 6:03
Statistics
VT CV
First downs 15 19
Rushes-net yards 33-109 34-188
Passing yardage 163 93
Passing 10-20-2-2 9-19-0-2
Fumbles-lost 2-1 2-0
Penalties-yards 5-30 6-50
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING: CMVT: Braxtyn Brown (28-111), Myles Koser (4-2-1), Tyson Brown (1-(-3)); Cowanesque Valley: Dave Hess (19-109-1), Graham Hess (13-54-3), Kegan Lane (1-24), Jeavon Eick (1-1)
PASSING: CMVT: Myles Koser (9-19-148-2-2), Braxtyn Brown (1-1-15-0-0); Cowanesque Valley: Graham Hess (9-19-93-0-2)
RECEIVING: CMVT: Axton Koser (5-67-2), Landon Hipps (2-48), Tyson Brown (1-23), Myles Koser (1-15), Logan Bracey (1-10); Cowanesque Valley: Kegan Lane (4-47), Levi Stahli (2-29), Jeavon Eick (1-17), Dave Hess (1-0), Gavin Churchill (1-0)
