By BILL ALBRIGHT
EasternPAFootball Senior Writer
JERSEY SHORE — For the first nineteen minutes of their matchup Friday night, Shikellamy and Jersey traded punches through a scoreless first period and five minutes of the second quarter.
But so much for the two teams equalizing each other as the Bulldogs had too much down the stretch for the Braves as they posted a come-from-behind 42-28 win before a packed house at Thompson Street Stadium.
“I think we are in pretty good physical shape and one thing is for sure, these kids are not going to quit,” said a happy Shore coach Tom Gravish. “We are demanding and condition them pretty hard and we preach to them that we are ready to play five quarters. I think we shot ourselves in the foot too many times in the first half and maybe only a Tom Brady can get you out of those difficult situations. Our goal at halftime was to put ourselves in better down and distance situations and we were able to do that.”
Shikellamy took the initial lead on a 60-yard TD jaunt by Shawn Turber, but the Bulldogs answered the call and more to go up 14-7 on a pair of TD aerials engineered by Shore quarterback Travis Bradley. The first TD connection was for 18 yards to Kevin Titus while the second one covered 21 yards to Jason Dincher with 35 ticks of the clock left in the first half.
Not to run away and hide, the Braves came right back with a score of their own when Pierson White hauled in the ensuing kickoff on his own 24-yard line, and 76 yards later plus the PAT, the game was tied at 14-all at the break.
Following the intermission, Turber was the man of the hour as he scored on runs of 52 and 71 yards to give the Braves the momentum and a 28-14 lead.
“We were up 14 with the clock running, we got a first down and we fumble,” recalled Shikellamy head coach Todd Tilford. “Quite honestly, it is a team that is used to winning and they thought here we go. We are coming off a loss (to Lewisburg) and to be honest about it, we just couldn’t get a stop against a good team when we needed to.”
Poor field position also hurt the Braves in the first half.
“We were up 7-0 and we didn’t catch the punt,” said Tilford. “Before we knew it, we blinked our eyes and they had two short fields. Credit to them because we just couldn’t get a stop when we needed one.”
But that is when Bulldog seniors Bradley and Levi “Chuckie” Lorson took matters in their own hands offensively as the canine crew rattled off 28 unanswered points to set the final.
“We run our no-huddle offense every day in practice and I think that might have been the difference down the stretch,” said Gravish. I think what it boiled down to in the end was our kids determination and conditioning.”
Turber was the main man on offense for the Braves, rushing 11 times for 182 yards and the three scores.
“We have some kids who can make plays, but we have some holes to plug,” Tilford said. “We just made too many mistakes and had too many penalties. (Bryce) Charles is a heckuva player for them and sometimes we had no choice to do some things. But again, we just had too many penalties against a good team.”
On the Shore side of things, Lorson was the workhorse for the Orange & Black as he carried the ball 31 times for 204 yards and a pair of scores.
“He (Lorson) is a special kid and he is a tad quicker this year,” said Gravish. “He reads the defense really well and if they slant into a hole, he is able to stop and bring it underneath. We are just really pleased with the entire effort of the team. Our offensive line was much better in the second half. We didn’t plan to run the spread as much as we did, but the way they lined up, we were able to just stay in it.”
As for Bradley, he finished with a 7-for-16 effort through the airways for 90 yards and three touchdowns. Bradley’s TD efforts were for 18 yards to Titus, 21 yards to Dincher and the third, a 14-yard effort to Cole Eiswerth to get the Bulldogs back even.
With momentum on its side, Shore then iced the deal when Lorson went in from one yard out inside of three minutes left in the game before Bradley did his thing on the defensive side of the ball by returning an interception for a 34-yard, pick six to set the final.
“He (Bradley) made some great reads and throws, especially down the stretch when we needed them,” said Gravish. “He battled all the way and then he capped it with the big play on defense with his interception for a touchdown. He has been really leading in practice as well as on the field.”
Shikellamy 0 14 14 0 — 28
Jersey Shore 0 14 7 21 — 42
Second Quarter
S — Shawn Turber 60 run (Dylan Snyder kick) 7:12
JS — Kevin Titus 18 pass from Travis Bradley. (Cameron Griffin kick) 2:04
JS — Jason Dincher 21 pass from Bradley. (Griffin kick) :35
S — Pierson White 76 Kickoff Return. (Snyder kick) :26
Third Quarter
S — Turber 52 run (Snyder kick) 11:42
S — Turber 71 run (Snyder kick) 5:41
JS — Levi Lorson 7 run (Griffin kick) 2:49
Fourth Quarter
JS — Cole Eiswerth 14 pass from Bradley. (Griffin kick) 8:28
JS — Lorson 1 run (Griffin kick) 2:40
JS — Bradley 34 interception return. (Griffin kick) 1:10.
Team Statistics S JS
First Downs 11 17
Rushes-Yards 30-243 51-248
Passing Yards 98 90
Passing 12-26-2 7-18-3
Fumbles-Lost 1-1 2-0
Penalties-Yards 18-149 9-70
Rushing
Shikellamy: Shawn Turber 11-182, 2 Tds; Christian Schlegel 8-28, Chris Taskar 6-19, Kobe Swanger 3-12, Pierson White 2-2
Jersey Shore: Levi Lorson31-204, 2 Tds; Travis Bradley 14-35, Jarrett Guthrie 3-8, Bryce Charles 2-4, Todd Sanford 1-minus 3.
Passing
Shikellamy: Christian Schlegel 12-26-2, 98 yards.
Jersey Shore: Travis Bradley 7-16, 90 yards, 3 Tds; Elijah Shemory 0-2-1.
Receiving
Shikellamy:
Shawn Turber 6-41, Hunter Dodge 2-24, Owen Long 1-20, Trey Cunningham 3-13.
Jersey Shore: Cole Eiswerth 3-39, TD; Jason Dincher 2-28, 1 TD; Kevin Titus 1-18, 1 TD; Levi Lorson 1-5.
