Mt. Pleasant grabs momentum, rolls past Southmoreland

By: Jonathan Guth
Friday, October 28, 2022 | 11:10 PM

Previous Next

Mt. Pleasant traded a Southmoreland field goal for a touchdown to take control late in the first half and rode that momentum into the second for a 42-17 victory over the homestanding Scotties on Friday evening in Interstate Conference play at Russ Grimm Field in Alverton.

Southmoreland’s Jake Kaylor kicked a 25-yard field goal with 3:35 remaining in the second quarter to cut the deficit to 14-10 before the Vikings responding with a 10-yard touchdown run by Robbie Labuda, who added the third of six PATs for a 21-10 advantage with 42.6 left in the period.

Labuda rushed for a game-high 155 yards on 17 carries and scored three touchdowns.

“Our kids always play good in the second half,” Mt. Pleasant coach Jason Fazekas said. “That was good for us to score a touchdown after they kicked the field goal, no doubt about that, and that was a good stop for our defense in holding them to a field goal.

“Robbie is as special player, but we have Jackson Hutter, Lane Golkosky and Tyler Reese, they are all good for us, and they never complain. If they are not running, they are blocking. They are just great kids.”

Mt. Pleasant scored on touchdown runs of 22 and 32 by Labuda and Tyler Reese for a 35-10 lead at 2:03 of the third. Interceptions by Reese and Garrett Eicher sets up the scoring drives. Ethan Eicher also caught a 34-yard pass on third-and-20 to set up the Vikings’ first score of the second half.

“The took the momentum from that scoring drive before the first half ended and took it into the second half,” Southmoreland coach Tim Bukowski said. “It was a close game and we decided to take the three points, but we weren’t able to stop them on the next drive. We just weren’t able to execute.”

With the win, the Vikings (6-4, 3-2) clinched third place in the conference, while Southmoreland (4-6, 2-3) will be the fourth seed when the brackets are released this afternoon for the WPIAL Class 3A playoffs.

“We will find out who we play and get ready to practice on Monday,” Fazekas said. “We are excited to be in the playoffs for the fourth time in a row.”

“We made the playoffs in back-to-back years for the first time in the history of the school,” Bukowski said. “I told them, ‘We are going to wipe this out and get ready to come back to practice Monday and take a shot at it.’ This school has never won a playoff game, so they have an opportunity to something no one else has never done.”

Mt. Pleasant’s defense forced a turnover on Southmoreland’s first drive, as Labuda picked off a pass to set up the Vikings at their own 15. Labuda would break free for a 40-yard run to the home team’s 11 before Jackson Hutter scored with 6:47 remaining in the first quarter.

“Turnovers were a big part of what happened tonight,” Bukowski said. “They did a good job bracketing by two their two best athletes on our best athlete (Ty Keffer). I think we got a little rattled, and when that wasn’t an option, I feel like we got a little bit shook up about it.”

The Scotties took advantage of a turnover to get on the scoreboard following Tray Whetsel’s fumble recovery at 2:52 of the first that set up Southmoreland at the Mt. Pleasant 42.

Whetsel pulled in a 10-yard touchdown reception from Kadin Keefer at 11:50 of the second quarter and Kaylor connected on the first of two PATs for a 7-7 game.

The Vikings came right back and scored on their next drive as Cole Chatfield threw a 65-yard strike to Reese for the score and a 14-7 advantage at 11:02 of the second. Chatfield was 8 of 11 for 167 yards with one touchdown and no interceptions. Reese caught four passes for 114 yards.

“Cole is underrated as a quarterback and he is still young,” Fazekas said. “He made some really nice throws tonight, and some key ones. He is going to get better.”

Although Mt. Pleasant didn’t score, Reese ended a Scotties’ drive with an interception in the second.

Fazekas was pleased with his team’s defensive work on Scotties star wide receiver Ty Keffer, who was held to four catches for 52 yards.

Keffer was able to battle through a slew of Viking defenders and pull in a 25-yard touchdown reception on a jump ball from Kadin Keefer at 4:56 of the fourth.

“With the amount of touchdowns that kid (Keffer) had, it’s hard to take everything away from him,” Fazekas said. “I am going to give credit to all my guys on staff. They came up with a good plan. I have great guys helping me coach and our kids went out and executed and played with guts.”

Bailey Kennedy recovered a fumble for Southmoreland.

Tags: Mt. Pleasant, Southmoreland