Yough’s Dustin Shoaf sets school record with 428 yards rushing in win vs. Southmoreland

By: HSSN Staff
Friday, October 20, 2017 | 11:06 PM

There was no WPIAL postseason playoff berth at stake at Southmoreland's Russ Grimm Field on Friday night, but someone neglected to tell the participants, as Yough defeated the Scotties, 49-38.

In a back-and-forth opening half, Yough rushed to a 21-17 lead in the 3A Interstate Conference game, as the only nonscoring drive ended when the second-quarter clock turned to zeroes.

Led by running back Dustin Shoaf, who rushed for 203 yards on 21 first-half carries, Yough (2-7, 2-4) had scoring drives of 10, 13 and 13 plays to take the halftime lead. Shoaf finished with a career- and school-record 428 yards on 43 carries.

Shoaf, a junior, opened the scoring with a 15-yard touchdown run, ending a 10-play, 80-yard drive. But Southmoreland's Ronnie Robinson answered with a 77-yard kickoff return to knot the score at 7-7 after one quarter. In that opening quarter, Yough held the ball for 22 offensive plays to none for the Scotties (0-8, 0-6).

Chanze Spoonhoward gave the Cougars a 14-7 lead with a 5-yard run to open the second quarter, but Southmoreland countered with a seven-play drive, capped by Chad Miller's 21-yard run.

Not to be outdone, Shoaf led the Cougars on their third touchdown drive of the half, scoring on an 8-yard run.

Southmoreland's Ron Rodriguez kicked a 24-yard field goal with 38 seconds remaining in the opening half to finish the scoring.

In the second half, Shoaf scored on 8- and 2-yard runs in the third quarter, and he finished his night with a 7-yard scoring pass to Russell Pytlak and a 56-yard run midway through the final quarter. Shoaf is up to 1,545 yards rushing for the season. Yough's previous single-game record was 401 yards, set by Benny Hoffer.

“Dustin is definitely our workhorse,” Yough coach Scott Wood said. “He obviously ran well and threw the touchdown pass, but we had others contribute as well. We've had a rough year, and this is a big win for us going into our final game next week, and this is definitely something we can build on for next year.”

Southmoreland coach Mark Adams said the turning point came early in the third quarter.

“We could not move the ball when pinned deep in our territory and were forced to punt. Yough scored, and we had to punt again and they scored again. It was the same story for us. We are still giving up too many yards, especially on the ground, and we could not stop Shoaf. He is a one-man show, and he is one of the best in the conference, if not the WPIAL.”

Jaden Datz completed 7 of 13 passes for 128 yards and scored on runs of 3, 23, and 1 yards. Robinson led Southmoreland with 103 yards on 13 attempts.

“We played with them,” Adams said, “but it came down to stopping Shoaf, and we were unable to do that.”

Les Harvath is a freelance writer.

Tags: Southmoreland, Yough