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Valley holds off rival Burrell, wins 6th straight in series

By: HSSN Staff
Friday, August 24, 2018 | 11:45 PM

Valley’s control of its rivalry with Burrell looked in jeopardy late Friday night, the Bucs driving with the game on the line and an opportunity to end their long drought in the Battle of the Bypass.

But just as they’ve done over the last several years, the Vikings’ will won out.

Burrell’s last-gasp drive ended with a turnover on downs just inside Valley territory in the final minute Friday night, and Valley came away with a 26-21 victory in a Week Zero nonconference game at Buccaneer Stadium.

“We just had to not give up,” said Valley senior Noah Hutcherson, who sacked Burrell quarterback Logan Phillips five times, including twice on the final drive. “We were just out there pretty tired. They were pretty tired, and it just came down to will, who wanted it the most.”

Valley (1-0) beat Burrell for the sixth consecutive year in the Battle of the Bypass, taking a 25-14 lead in the overall series, which dates to 1980. The rivals scheduled a Week Zero game after offseason realignment split them into separate classifications.

It wasn’t pretty: The teams combined for 16 penalties, many of the presnap variety, and a second-half epidemic of cramps caused the game time to balloon toward three hours.

But that seemed fitting for a rivalry game that always seems to come down to the final minutes. Four of the past five games have been decided by a touchdown or less.

“Both teams played hard, and we had to make some plays,” Valley coach Muzzy Colosimo said. “It’s just one of those things where I guess you just wait till the last five minutes of the game and see who’s going to win.”

Before the last five minutes, it looked as though Valley would post a comfortable victory, as Deonte Ross’ third rushing touchdown of the night gave the Vikings a 26-14 lead with 10:05 remaining. But the Bucs (0-1) didn’t go away, cutting their deficit to five points on Luke Kastelic’s 46-yard touchdown run, his third of the night, with 4:35 remaining, and after forcing a three-and-out on Valley’s ensuing possession, they took the ball with just under three minutes remaining at their own 40-yard line.

But after Phillips’ fourth-down scramble gave Burrell a first down at the Valley 48, the Bucs could do no more. An incomplete pass, a short Kastelic run and a Hutcherson sack set up another fourth down, and Phillips’ downfield pass fell incomplete to give Valley the win.

“The fight of our kids, I really give our kids a lot of credit,” Burrell coach Shawn Liotta said. “We played hard. We played until the final whistle and almost pulled it out, but we came up a little short.”

Burrell was playing its first game under Liotta, and the Bucs showed progress as Phillips passed for 128 yards in his first varsity start and Kastelic rushed for 88 yards and three scores. The Bucs used a no-huddle and put a charge in the home crowd by going 85 yards on their first drive for the opening score of the game, a 4-yard Kastelic run.

But nine penalties, including a pair of holding calls that wiped out big runs by Kastelic, proved costly.

So, too, did the running of Ross. The 225-pound senior bruiser rushed for 158 yards and three scores on 21 carries. After younger Von Ross tied the score with an 11-yard run on an end-around early in the second quarter, Deonte Ross gave the Vikings the lead for good with an 8-yard run before halftime and a 5-yard run after a blocked punt in the third quarter. Then, after a Kastelic 7-yard run cut the Valley lead to 20-14 in the third and the game hanging in the balance, Ross rumbled for a 67-yard gain early in the fourth and scored from 10 yards out two plays later.

“I love playing Burrell,” Ross said. “It’s the best game of the season. We play against our rivals right across the highway. They don’t quit. They play till the end, and that’s what we have to do, too. We’re working on it, but at least we closed the game out.”

Hutcherson, whom Colosimo said had 20 sacks last season, got a quarter of the way there Friday, saving his two biggest for last. The Vikings host Avonworth in their Class 2A Allegheny Conference opener next week.

“We just had to stay together as a team and play together as a team,” Hutcherson said. “As soon as we start arguing, it’s over, we’re not going to do anything. But as long as we stay together, we’re going to do well.”

Burrell, coming off a one-win season and seeking its first postseason appearance since 2012, hosts No. 2 North Catholic in their Class 3A Big East Conference opener next week.

“I think we showed a little bit that we’re turning the corner here, hopefully, as a football program and we’re trying to get better,” Liotta said. “We’re not satisfied — we didn’t win the football game, and we don’t take any moral victories or anything like that. Certainly we had our opportunities to win this football game … but we’re going to work on that. We battled, we played hard, and I thought we did some good things.”

Doug Gulasy is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Doug at dgulasy@tribweb.com or via Twitter @dgulasy_Trib.

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