By BILL ALBRIGHT
EasternPAFootball Senior Writer
JERSEY SHORE — Going into Friday night’s Heartland Conference football matchup, Milton (1-5) and Jersey Shore (5-1) found themselves diametrically opposite each other in terms of won-loss records.
After 48 minutes of the PHAC fray, that same pattern remained as the Bulldogs (6-1) ambushed the Black Panthers (1-6) by the final of 56-0 at Thompson Street Stadium in Shore Homecoming 2015.
The Bulldogs scored on three of four first-quarter possessions and added two more in the second period for a commanding 36-0 lead at halftime, and they never looked back. The entire second half was played under the Mercy Rule.
“We have been getting better each and every week since the Montoursville game,“ said Shore head coach Tom Gravish. “Our target for the week was that we wanted to see serious improvement in all three areas, offense, defense and special teams. We really worked them hard this week in practice with our blocking and tonight was the best we blocked all year.”
The recipient of the benefits from that blocking was senior tailback Levi Lorson who put his name in the Shore record books as he rushed 35 times for 276 yards and five touchdowns on runs of 53, 8 2, 21 and 6 yards. With his 276 yards, Lorson became the Jersey Shore all-time career rushing leader while his five scores equaled a Shore record for a single game.
Although his primary focus is blocking to open holes for Lorson, fullback Bryce Charles made the most of his opportunities as he dragged Milton defenders all over the field for 112 yards on 14 lugs good for one score.
“Bryce did a good job carrying the ball and it was nice to see him go over 100 yards for the game,” said Gravish. “They have all been working hard, their attitude has been super and now we have to get ready to play a good Selinsgrove team next week.”
While the Bulldogs were busy running around, over and through the Black Panther defense, the Shore defenders were extremely stingy as the Shore “D” held Milton to just 13 net yards rushing on 32 tries.
“I think our defense played about as good a game against their running back Brandon Stokes as they could have,” said Gravish. “Of all the games and tape I saw on Milton, he is a tough kid and to hold him down like we did was a big accomplishment. They have a great scheme, great coaches and they battled. We didn’t want to throw many times if we didn’t have to and we were just glad that Levi got the record. We look at that as a team and program thing because there were a lot of good linemen from last year’s team that helped him get the record.”
On the other side of the field, Milton head coach George Goodwin felt his troops handled things as good as they might have.
“Our guys played the best they could have for the most part against an outstanding Jersey Shore team,” said Goodwin. “They are a very good, physical ball club with a lot of quickness. They showed a lot more team speed than we thought they had. Not only are they good, they are really good.”
Many games are won or lost in the trenches and Goodwin felt that was the major factor in the game.
“They handled us very well up front on both sides of the ball,” said Goodwin. “We had a lot of problems running the ball because we couldn’t maintain our blocks. We have to do a better job of that and that has to start in the off-season. When you get to the weight room it shows.”
Milton’s numbers are down and add to that the fact that several key players who can be difference makers in any game were missing and it is easy to see how things went downhill for the Panthers in the game.
“The middle school has good numbers and the lower grade levels do as well,” said Goodwin. “Right now we are fighting the war of attrition with kids dropping off as they come up and we will continue to battle that. Tonight (Mason) Whitmyer was out and (Lance) Fogelman was out and we are hoping to get those guys back next week. They are both two-way starters and when you have to go without guys like them, it hurts.”
With the game well in hand, Gravish and his assistants emptied the bench which meant a lot of younger Bulldogs got a taste of varsity action.
“We have some good sophomores and our quarterback (Elijah Shemory) has played in five of seven (varsity) games,” said Gravish. “A lot of the other guys have played on special teams in all seven games and although they might not have a featured role, our jayvee record right now is 5-1 and we are proud of those guys. They are the ones who push the starters hard to make them as good as they are.”
Milton 0 0 0 0 — 0
Jersey Shore 21 15 13 7 — 56
Scoring Summary
First Quarter
JS — Levi Lorson 53 run (Cameron Griffin kick). 7:18
JS — Todd Sanford 45 pass from Travis Bradley. (Griffin kick) 4:58
JS — Lorson 8 run (Griffin kick) :32
Second Quarter
JS — Bryce Charles 17 run (Sanford rush) 7:29
JS — Lorson 2 run (Griffin kick) 2:42
Third Quarter
JS — Lorson 21 run (pass failed) 9:09
JS — Lorson 6 run (Griffin kick) 2:39
Fourth Quarter
JS — Chase Braim 5 run (Griffin kick)
Team Statistics M JS
First Downs 5 19
Rushes-Yards 32-13 58-435
Passing Yards 104 64
Passing 5-16-1 2-2-0
Fumbles-Lost 0-0 0-0
Penalties Yards 7-46 2-15
Individual Statistics
Rushing
M: Brandon Stokes 14-28, Michael Young 4-9, Michael Cooper 2-7, Qualin Rice 1-4. Eric Wilt 1-minus 2, Phil Davis 1-minus 4, Raff Rodriguez 7-minus 7, Hunter Snyder 2-minus 22.
JS: Levi Lorson 35-276, 5 TDs; Bryce Charles 14-112, 1 TD; Chase Braim 3-23, 1 TD; Christian Tawney 1-9, Dom Williams 2-6, Travis Bradley 2-7, Elijah Shemory 1-2.
Passing
M: Hunter Snyder 4-13, 93 yards, 1 interception; Phil Davis 1-3, 11 yards
JS: Travis Bradley 2-2, 64 yards, 1 TD.
Receiving
M: Michael Cooper 1-52, Jalil Garrison 1-29, Alex Garcia 2-15, Brandon Stokes 1-8.
JS: Todd Sanford 1-45, 1 TD; Kevin Titus 1-19.
