SELINSGROVE – They say a little luck can go a long way.
Friday night in Selinsgrove luck went 47 yards to be exact.
In the second quarter of a 0-0 ball game between Selinsgrove and Jersey Shore, Selinsgrove freshman quarterback Daniel Shoch dropped back on 3rddown and 28 yards to go and fired a ball down the left side of the field into double coverage.
The pass was tipped by the Jersey Shore corner then tipped again into the air by the safety before falling into the hands of Selinsgrove receiver Josh Nylund for a 47-yard gain on a play that seemed to jolt the Selinsgrove offense into gear.
“We caught a lucky bounce on that double deflection,” Selinsgrove coach Derek Hicks said of the play. “That seemed to kind of springboard the offense. After that we started moving the chains.”
“Nylund really had my back there.” Shoch added. “He made a great play on a badly thrown ball.”
The play kept a drive alive that ended up netting the Seals their first points of the game. Four plays after the miraculous grab, Shoch connected with Benjamin Swineford for a 10-yard touchdown pass.
“Danny Shoch is a freshman and he played lights-out tonight.” Hicks said. “I don’t know what he ended up throwing for but I’m very proud of his efforts tonight.”
After that touchdown drive the Seals began marching down the field with ease, mainly via the aerial attack by the freshman QB Shoch.
Shoch and the Seals scored 31 points in the second and third quarters combined to come away with a 31-10 victory over the visiting Jersey Shore Bulldogs.
Shoch’s impressive night resulted in the freshman completing 23 of 30 passes for 288 yards and three touchdowns. The three scores came from three different Selinsgrove receivers.
In all, Shoch connected with seven different receivers in the contest with Swineford leading all receivers with 100 yards on the nose, and Nylund following right behind with 99 receiving yards.
Meanwhile the Jersey Shore offense was never able to gain any traction. Though multiple drives resulted in a few first downs, the Bulldogs were never quite able to finish off drives.
“We were kind of playing a good field position game with them there.” Jersey Shore coach Tom Gravish said. “That one pass that glanced off of two of our players, we thought it was a pick for us… We always talk about how one play can spark a team and at that time we had several plays for loss against their offense. That one play gave them a lot of momentum.”
The Bulldogs were able to get on the board late in the opening half on a drive that stalled out at the Selinsgrove 21-yard line. Senior kicker Cameron Griffin stepped in and delivered a beautiful 38-yard field goal that cut the Seals’ lead down to 10-3 with just 1:34 remaining in the half.
The Bulldogs hoped that score would help the visitors maintain momentum into the second half of play, but the Seals had other plans.
On the ensuing drive which started with just 1:24 left on the clock, Shoch led the Seals 76 yards in nine plays to put another touchdown on the board with three seconds remaining on the clock.
“That drive right before the half there was something.” Gravish said “The quarterback did a nice job getting the ball out. We knew that they run a lot of routes at the chains. We coached it all week and he (Shoch) just kept converting.”
“I told the guys going into half that you may not see a better two-minute drill than that in a long time.” added Hicks. “The guys executed it to perfection. For a freshman to come out and have the poise to take the team down the field that quick was super impressive.”
“The two-minute drive was amazing,” added Shoch. “My teammates really had my back and the coaches were calling all the right plays.”
On the drive, Shoch completed seven of eight passes and drew a crucial pass interference call early in the drive on a 2ndand 5. The touchdown drive game Selinsgrove a 17-3 advantage at the half.
The Seals found the endzone twice more in the third quarter to open a 31-3 advantage and then drained the clock for the win.
Jersey Shore was able to find pay dirt late in the fourth quarter to score its lone touchdown of the night.
On a 1stand 10 from the Selinsgrove 26, Jersey Shore quarterback Tanner Lorson dropped back and hit Anthony Shaffer in the flat along the right sideline. Shaffer made some nifty moves and broke away from the Seals’ defense for a 26-yard catch-and-run score.
“We’ll get back to the drawing board and tomorrow is a new day.” Coach Gravish said. “We’re trying to find our identity. We like our players and we’re going to get better. Hopefully we can get a win next week.”
The Jersey Shore Bulldogs – who are perennial District 4 playoff contenders – fell to 0-2 to begin the season. Up next on the schedule for the Bulldogs will be a home game as the team plays host to Montoursville (2-0) at 7 p.m. Friday. The Warriors are coming off a 42-0 shutout victory over Hughesville and have outscored opponents by a tally of 93-6 in the first two weeks of the season.
Selinsgrove improved to 1-1 on the season and travels to state powerhouse Southern Columbia (2-0) at 7 p.m. Friday. The Tigers defeated Mount Carmel 41-7 Friday night and have outscored opponents 97-13 in the first two games of the season.
“I’m proud of our guys. We started slow. Both defenses came out strong, but I think we did a good job tonight.” Hicks said.
Selinsgrove 31, Jersey Shore 10
SCORE BY QUARTERS
Jersey Shore 0 3 0 7 — 10
Selinsgrove 0 17 14 0 — 31
Second Quarter
S—Benjamin Swineford 10-yard reception from Daniel Shoch (Kyle Ruhl PAT Good), 11:00.
S—Ruhl 33-yard field goal, 3:50.
JS—Cameron Griffin 38-yard field goal, 1:34
S—Joshua Nylund 14-yard reception from Shoch (Ruhl PAT Good), 0:03
Third Quarter
S—Joseph Kahn 41-yard reception from Shoch (Ruhl PAT Good), 8:30.
S—Nate Schon 13-yard run (Ruhl PAT Good), 0:35.
Fourth Quarter
JS—Anthony Shaffer 26-yard reception from Tanner Lorson (Griffin PAT Good), 5:35.
TEAM STATISTICSVH
First downs1115
Total yards178346
Rushes-yards31-5038-58
Yards passing128288
Passing (comp.-att.-int.)11-24-023-30-1
Punts-avg.7-276-31
Fumbles-lost3-21-0
Penalties-yards8-5610-82
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING—Jersey Shore: Kyle Tomb 11-19, Lorson 13-13, Josh Malicky 4-12, Dawson Sechrist 3-6. Selinsgrove: Kahn 15-33, Schon 5-28 TD, Isaiah Showers 4-9, Nylund 3-8, Dean Hollenbach 6-4, Shoch 5-(-24).
PASSING—Jersey Shore: Lorson 11-24 128 yds, TD. Selinsgrove: Shoch 23-30 288 yds, 3 TD, INT
RECEIVING—Jersey Shore: Shaffer 3-40 TD, Brett Guthrie 3-27, Koby Peacock 2-19, Stanton Westlin 1-19. Selinsgrove: Swineford 8-100 TD, Nylund 6-99 TD, Kahn 2-52 TD, Wyatt Metzger 4-26, Brett Foor 1-9, Christian Kantz 1-6, Schon 1-(-4).
