ALMEIDA – Two years ago, it was Shenandoah Valley that carried a long losing streak into its late-season meeting with Columbia-Montour Vo-Tech, and after a back and forth contest, the Blue Devils came away with a 37-34 victory to snap a 34-game losing streak and pick up their first win in over three years.
On Saturday afternoon, CMVT turned the tables on the Blue Devils. Playing host this time, the Rams scored three unanswered second-half touchdowns after getting a big interception return for a touchdown right before halftime and broke a 19-game losing streak with their first win since 2019, a 40-14 win over the Blue Devils.
“It feels good, the kids played really hard, it was a hard game with the heat. Kids were dropping on both ends from cramps and exhaustion, but we did a lot of things right,” said CMVT coach Mark Varner.”
Caden Long accounted for five touchdowns for the Rams, completing 6-of-9 passes for 195 yards and three touchdowns while also rushing for two. Chase Koncsler scored three touchdowns, two on offense and the big one defensively before halftime that shifted the momentum.
“They dominated the trenches and turnovers killed us and we were very inconsistent,” said Shenandoah Valley coach Ed Moran. “I don’t want to have to be the team that they break their streak against but they just dominated us. We lost a lineman right before the game this morning and had another guy suspended, which hurt us up front and had some kids playing that didn’t have a lot of experience.”
Throughout its losing streak, the Rams often struggled with turnovers, losing the turnover differential in most of those losses. On Saturday, however, CMVT turned that around as the Blue Devils were the team that committed five turnovers, while they only picked up two turnovers from the Rams.
None of those were bigger than Koncsler’s 97-yard interception return at the end of the first half. With the score tied 14-14, the Blue Devils were knocking on the door of taking the lead again with a third-and-14 from the Ram 20. But Koncsler stepped in front of a crossing route and picked off Ben Dempster’s pass, then went all the way down the far sideline, cutting back inside once, and avoided all would-be tacklers to go the distance. A two-point conversion by Toby Zajac was good, giving the Rams a 22-14 heading into the break.
“I told the kids at halftime, what’s going to lose this game is turnovers and penalties. We had a nose to the ball. So many times last year, the ball was on the ground and we didn’t get it, so hopefully, that’s going to change this year,” said Varner.
Another turnover by Shenandoah Valley on its second play of the second half kept the momentum in favor of the Rams after Shane Tomlinson’s pick gave them the ball at the Blue Devil 46. Caden Long found Koncsler behind the Shenandoah Valley secondary for a 39-yard pickup, and one play later, took it in himself from two yards out to make it 28-14.
“We went into this season, and worked hard in the offseason and in camp to be more balanced,” said Varner. “Everybody knows Toby can run the ball, but when we can counter that with play action passing and throwing off of it, it makes us a scary good team. We still need to work on a few things, but when we hit on all cylinders, when we can pass and throw, we can do some things that I’m really looking forward to this year.”
The Blue Devils fumbled away the ensuing kickoff, giving the Rams good field position once again from their 40. Four plays later, Long found Koncsler for a 23-yard touchdown reception, putting CMVT up 34-14.
After the Rams stopped the Blue Devils on downs at the CMVT 23 on Shenandoah Valley’s next drive, CMVT then made it a four-score game on Long’s third touchdown pass of the game, this one to Tomlinson for 25 yards near the end of the third quarter. Tomlinson, who caught four passes for 97 yards on the afternoon, also hauled in a 45-yard reception on a third-and-8 play earlier in the drive to flip field position.
“If you’re going to double Shane, which is what they did, then Chase is going to beat that one-on-one,” said Varner. “When they went back to playing it square, then we threw it to Shane and he had the big receptions.”
Though the Rams ran away in the second half, it was very much a close game that could have gone either way in the first half. Shenandoah Valley scored first late in the first quarter when Dempster found Nick Ryan for a 20-yard touchdown pass with 2:26 left in the quarter. The Blue Devils, who were limited to just 11 rushing yards by the Rams, threw for 218, as Ryan had a big day with 202 yards on 11 catches.
“Nick Ryan is one of the best receivers in the state and is a matchup problem for almost anyone he plays against,” said Moran. “We just weren’t consistent in getting him the ball and right before halftime, we threw that interception and it definitely changed the game.”
“We had two missed plays in the secondary. We put this defense in on Tuesday and Wednesday to change things up on them and it really worked,” said Varner. “There was some miscommunication at times but guys came through. Turnovers were huge. The backups filling in for the guys that went down was huge today.”
The Rams answered right back on their ensuing drive, as Koncsler hauled in the first of his two touchdown catches with a 41-yard reception from Long.
CMVT took advantage of a Shenandoah Valley fumble that was recovered by Ashton Smith early in the second quarter as Long rushed it in from seven yards for his first score of the day, and he then hit Hunter Trometter for the two-point conversion to make it 14-8.
The Blue Devils countered as Ryan caught his second touchdown of the day, this one a 49-yard reception from Tristan Karosas, to tie the game with 6:29 left in the half.
Columbia-Montour Vo-Tech 40, Shenandoah Valley 14
Shenandoah Valley (0-1) 8 6 0 0 – 14
Columbia-Montour Vo-Tech (1-0) 6 16 18 0 – 40
First quarter
2:26 – (SV) Nick Ryan 20-yard pass from Ben Dempster (Hunter Teter run), 3-35, :39
2:03 – (VT) Chase Koncsler 41-yard pass from Caden Long (pass failed), 2-58, :23
Second quarter
10:05 – (VT) Caden Long 7-yard run (Hunter Trometter pass from Long), 4-48, 1:39
6:29 – (SV) Nick Ryan 49-yard pass from Tristan Karosas (run failed), 8-76, 3:36
1:10 – (VT) Chase Koncsler 97-yard interception return (Toby Zajac run)
Third quarter
9:33 – (VT) Caden Long 2-yard run (run failed), 4-46, 1:59
7:37 – (VT) Chase Konscler 23-yard pass from Caden Long (pass failed), 4-60, 1:51
:35 – (VT) Shane Tomlinson 25-yard pass from Caden Long (run failed), 9-77, 5:10
Statistics
SV VT
First downs 13 15
Rushes-net yards 28-11 41-145
Passing yardage 218 200
Passing 14-26-2-3 7-11-3-1
Fumbles-lost 5-2 4-1
Penalties-yards 6-41 8-75
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING — Shenandoah Valley: Ben Dempster (9-(-8)), Hunter Teter (8-36), Aaryn Nickerson (5-(-16)), TEAM (2-(-2)), Nick Ryan (1-2), Kenny Maldonado (1-1), Erick Hernandez (1-1), Tristan Karosas (1-(-3)); CMVT: Toby Zajac (15-80), Braxtyn Brown (11-42), Mason Haught (7-23), Caden Long (5-8-2), Fenway Huntington (1-0), TEAM (2-(-8))
PASSING — Shenandoah Valley: Ben Dempster (12-22-159-1-2), Tristan Karosas (2-4-59-1-1); CMVT: Caden Long (6-9-195-3-0), Ashton Smith (1-2-5-0-1)
RECEIVING — Shenandoah Valley: Nick Ryan (11-202-2), Zach Mazack (2-7), Erick Hernandez (1-9); CMVT: Shane Tomlinson (4-97-1), Chase Koncsler (3-103-2)
