Leechburg gets 2 scores late to get past Apollo-Ridge

By: Antonio Rossetti
Friday, August 23, 2024 | 10:49 PM

Leechburg was down 14-7 on Friday at Veterans Memorial Field against Apollo-Ridge. But the Blue Devils battled until the end, tallying 12 points in the fourth quarter and earning them a 19-14 victory.

The Blue Devils were led by Jayden Floyd, who completed 13 out of 18 passes with a touchdown and ran for 85 yards on 16 carries and touchdowns. Senior Brady Rollinger recovered a key fumble that was forced by Philup Rearick.

“That was a great team win,” Floyd said. “They’re a good 2A team. I feel like they can go far in the 2A conference. They were physical. We came out, punched him in the mouth a couple times. It was a pretty good game. We fought to the end. That’s how Leechburg and Apollo is always going to be. We’re always going to fight until the end.”

The Blue Devils went into the second half with a 7-0 lead after maintaining possession for more than 11 minutes in the first quarter.

The Vikings, however, had a new sense of energy going into the second half. A 15-yard pass to from Alex Clawson to Jayden McCray put them in enemy territory. Clawson then scrambled for 15 yards to the Leechburg 23-yard line.

Clawson then rolled out and found Nathan Fryer for a 23-yard touchdown pass. Gabe Suman hit the extra point to tie the score 7-7.

Clawson marched Apollo-Ride down the field again on the next drive. Clawson found Logen Schrock on fourth-and-4 to get the first down. This led to a 27-yard pass from Clawson to Gage Wingard to the 1-yard line. Taye Bradshaw punched it in for the touchdown to make it 14-7 Apollo Ridge.

Apollo-Ridge junior Avery Grant then stopped Jake Cummings in the backfield on fourth-and-1, giving the Vikings the ball back at the Blue Devil 42-yard line.

Leechburg forced a punt in the beginning of the fourth quarter.

The Blue Devils responded with a touchdown drive, with Floyd connecting with Rollinger for a 5-yard scoring pass.

Leechburg’s trickery on the point after would be unsuccessful. Floyd rolled out after the ball was snapped but would not be able to connect with Tim Andrasy, keeping the score 14-13.

Chris Dailey took over at quarterback to begin their next drive. Cummings would then pick off a Dailey pass, setting them up in Apollo-Ridge territory.

This led to a quick 32-yard drive that was finished with a Floyd 11-yard touchdown run.

Floyd completed 8 of his last 9 passes.

Cummings had five receptions for 67 yards, and Brady Rollinger caught four passes for 52 yards and a touchdown.

“I have all the confidence in the world with my receivers,” Floyd said. “I know if I throw it in the air, they’re going to go up and get it. I think we might have the best receiving pool in our conference. I was just telling them that we’re going to go out and we’re going to win the game so we all have confidence.”

Added Leechburg coach Randy Walters: “We had a lot of people come out of the woodwork. Rocco Vigna did not play well in the first half. In the second half, he played like a beast. Brady Rollinger played like a beast. The line got better in the second half. Timmy Andrasy, he didn’t have a lot to run, but he was still running like a little madman. Everybody was doing what they were supposed to do. Everybody stayed with the process. Everybody kept believing right to the end. That’s why we’re able to pull it off.”

Floyd notched 72 yards in the first half on the ground, but the Vikings defense made adjustments. Nonetheless, he commented on Floyd’s ability to do it all.

“They’re big, they’re strong, so we got to do other things,” Walters said. “The nice thing is that we got a kid that can run. We got a kid that can throw. I mean, the kid can make all the throws.”

Apollo-Ridge was led by Alex Clawson, who was 10 for 15 through the air with 164 yards and a touchdown, and Jayden McCray, who caught four passes for 74 yards.

Nevertheless, their downfall was penalties. The Vikings had eight pre-snap penalties. Two of those penalties were back-to-back when the Vikings had the ball at the Leechburg 5, pushing them back to the 15.

This led to a tipped pass that was intercepted by Rollinger.

Coach John Skiba was unhappy about the self-inflicted penalties.

“The comedy act we put on the field with the penalties, all sides, procedures, fumbles, stupid things we do to ourselves, self-inflicted things everywhere, I don’t know what the positive is at all,” Skiba said. “One thing is we are healthy. That might be the only positive.”

For Walters, he wants to keep building a great program and instill confidence in the players.

“We just got to keep working on that, working on that success in the mind,” Walters said. “The physically part of it, our kids are big and strong. Everybody could get more physical. I mean, it’s football. They worked their tails off. We just got to work more on that mental game of them believing that they’re a really good football program because they’ve become pretty good.”

Tags: Apollo-Ridge, Leechburg