ALMEDIA – A week after rallying back from a deficit for their first win of the season over Bucktail, Cowanesque Valley made it two straight wins to close out its season, and they did so in a big way, pounding Columbia-Montour Vo-Tech 67-12.
“It was nice to be able to carry that momentum over from last week and continue playing well,” said Cowanesque Valley coach Mike Schmitt. “We feel like everyone got a lot of good reps this year and we were able to win our last two so going into the offseason, it kind of sets you up to have some momentum. It’s a lot easier to get guys to work out when you have things that go the way you want them to.”
For CMVT, the loss ends a frustrating season. Four days after coming close to picking up their first win by falling short in a three-point loss at Shenandoah Valley, the Rams were hoping to finish strong, but instead dug a hole early and never came close to getting out.
“We came out very flat today,” said CMVT coach Mark Varner. “Things that we have done well during the year, we didn’t do well today. It’s disappointing, but it’s been a tough and frustrating year. It’s not the outcome that we wanted but the kids played hard all year and worked hard. Sometimes in life, you don’t get what you want.”
The Indians scored early and often, scoring touchdowns on nine of their 11 possessions. Jacob Schmitt was responsible for seven touchdowns, throwing for six on 9-of-15 passing for 179 yards, and rushing for another. Elliott Good hauled in three of those touchdowns, amassing 109 receiving yards on four catches, and he also ran for 98 yards to lead the Indians on the ground.
It was a quick start to the game for the Indians, who took a two-touchdown lead after running just two offensive plays. CMVT went three-and-out on their first drive after receiving the opening kickoff, and then Cowanesque Valley blocked the punt, with Miche Robbins returning it 10 yards to the CMVT 5. Two plays later, Schmitt ran it in from four yards out.
Less than a minute later, on the second play of CMVT’s next drive, Tanyan Brown picked off Seth Shoemaker’s pass and returned it 30 yards for a touchdown, and it was off to the races for Cowanesque Valley for the remainder of the afternoon.
“High school football is a lot about momentum and we got momentum early and the guys were able to maintain it for the rest of the game which is important,” said Schmitt.
The Indians proceeded to score on five of their next possessions to round out the half with a 47-6 lead. This included touchdowns on the final plays of both the first and second quarters with :00 on the clock, the latter of which put the game into the mercy rule for the second half. Both touchdowns to close out the first two quarters were connects between Schmitt and Good, who hauled in a 24-yard touchdown to end the first quarter and a 21-yard reception to end the half. In between, he caught a 54-yard touchdown.
With a running clock in the second half, the Indians still scored on each of their first three possessions of the half. Cowanesque Valley was aided by five CMVT turnovers for the game, of which four directly led to scores.
In addition to struggling defensively, CMVT couldn’t get much going offensively either. Coming off a 200-yard performance on Tuesday night, senior Jake Shotwell managed just 17 yards on 13 carries in his final game, though he did score one of the Rams’ touchdowns with 9:13 left in the second quarter on a one-yard run. That score cut Cowanesque Valley’s lead to 27-6, and followed a pair of receptions totaling 61 yards by Shoemaker on the drive.
The Rams then stopped the Indians on downs inside the red zone on Cowanesque Valley’s ensuing drive – the only time other than the end of the game that CMVT did not allow the Indians to score – but the Rams then lost a fumble on the first play of their subsequent drive, and the Indians capitalized with a one-play touchdown drive, getting a 16-yard touchdown from Cody Fleming.
CMVT then started near midfield on their next drive after a 24-yard kickoff return, and Chase Koncsler completed a pair of passes to Tommy Bond and Shoemaker for 32 yards total, giving CMVT the ball at the Indian 21. But Koncsler was picked off in the end zone, and the Rams also fumbled away the ball on their next drive, with the Indians scoring off both turnovers, the last giving them a 47-6 lead at the half.
In the second half, Schmitt tossed two more touchdowns, one to Brown for 23 yards and the other to Tre Slawson for 12 yards, and Michael Moore rounded out the scoring with a one-yard touchdown late in the fourth quarter.
“It was all about confidence,” said Schmitt. “The kids get confident and they feel good about what they’re doing and so they played better. We’ve had good moments on offense all year long, but we just haven’t been able to finish but today we were able to finish drives.”
Shoemaker, another one of three CMVT seniors playing their final game on Saturday, scored CMVT’s other touchdown on a two-yard run in the fourth quarter. He had a 50-yard pickup earlier in the drive and picked up 63 of his team-high 66 rushing yards on that drive.
Cowanesque Valley 67, Columbia-Montour Vo-Tech 12
Cowanesque Valley (2-5) 27 20 13 7 – 67
Columbia-Montour Vo-Tech (0-7) 0 6 0 6 – 12
First quarter
9:34 – (CV) Jacob Schmitt 4-yard run (kick failed), 2-5, :39
8:55 – (CV) Tanyan Brown 30-yard interception return (run failed)
4:07 – (CV) Jake Dimon 15-yard pass from Jacob Schmitt (Brown pass from Schmitt), 6-55, 2:34
:00 – (CV) Elliott Good 24-yard pass from Jacob Schmitt (Brown kick), 3-26, 1:12
Second quarter
9:13 – (VT) Jake Shotwell 1-yard run (run failed), 7-53, 2:47
5:34 – (CV) Cody Fleming 16-yard run (Brown kick), 1-16, :08
1:27 – (CV) Elliott Good 54-yard pass from Jacob Schmitt (run failed), 5-80, 2:08
:00 – (CV) Elliott Good 21-yard pass from Jacob Schmitt (Brown kick), 4-28, :20
Third quarter
8:44 – (CV) Tanyan Brown 23-yard pass from Jacob Schmitt (Brown kick), 6-80, 3:16
2:11 – (CV) Tre Slawson 12-yard pass from Jacob Schmitt (pass failed), 7-34, 3:35
Fourth quarter
8:22 – (VT) Seth Shoemaker 2-yard run (pass failed), 8-63, 5:49
4:39 – (CV) Michael Moore 1-yard run (Brown kick), 7-71, 3:43
Statistics
CV VT
First downs 23 8
Rushes-net yards 41-205 28-77
Passing yardage 179 93
Passing 9-15-6-0 4-10-0-2
Fumbles-lost 2-0 5-3
Penalties-yards 6-36 6-59
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING: Cowanesque Valley: Elliott Good (11-98), Cody Fleming (10-41-1), Michael Moore (7-33-1), Jacob Schmitt (6-41-1), Isiaih Bogsch (4-12), TEAM (3-(-20)); CMVT: Jake Shotwell (13-17-1), Seth Shoemaker (9-66-1), Chase Koncsler (4-(-14)), Dante DiAgostino (2-8)
PASSING: Cowanesque Valley: Jacob Schmitt (9-15-179-6-0); CMVT: Chase Koncsler (4-7-93-0-1), Seth Shoemaker (0-3-0-0-1)
RECEIVING: Cowanesque Valley: Elliott Good (4-109-3), Jake Dimon (2-22-1), Tanyan Brown (1-23-1), TJ Madison (1-13), Tre Slawson (1-12-1); CMVT: Seth Shoemaker (3-74), Tommy Bond (1-19)
