A.J. Parise JV football bests St. Marys 25-6; Riley finishes with three TDs

PUNXSUTAWNEY — The Punxsutawney A.J. Parise Youth Football junior varsity team, behind a powerful ground game and defense, defeated the St. Marys Stallions 25-6 this past Saturday afternoon at Jack LaMarca Stadium to earn their second victory of the season.

Hosting Punxsy started their first drive of the game at the 50, following an 11-yard kick return by Taylor Maruca. Troy Cregger opened the drive with a four-yard run on a third-and-two, and Jet Riley bulled through the Stallions defense to earn a first down.

The next snap saw St. Marys’ Jayden Lang recover a fumbled snap by Punxsy and give his team the ball at the 40. On the first down, quarterback Laydyn Buhler was tackled by Cregger after an 18-yard run. Punxsy's Carson Lansberry forced a Stallion fumble the next play, with Brody Wyant falling on the loose ball. Punxsy went four-and-out their next drive, giving the ball back to the visitors at the 47.

The Chucks’ Brad States made a tackle for a twoyard loss on a first down, and Cregger recovered a Stallion fumble caused by William Vozsnyak on a third down, giving Punxsy the ball at the 45. The last play of the quarter saw Riley run for seven yards up the middle to give Punxsy a first down at the

22. Conner Dobson ran for eight yards on a first down to get the ball to the 14. Then, Riley ran it into the end zone on a counter the next play to give his team a 6-0 lead.

The Chucks’ defense continued to put the pressure on the Stallions. Cregger and Wyant made the tackle on a fourth down to give the host team the ball at the 39. Riley picked up a first down, with a six-yard run on a fourthand-one. Penalties by the Chucks forced them into a third-and-19 situation. Dobson ran for 18 yards after following a nice block by Ford Lydick to set up a fourth-and-one. Riley ran for nine yards to get a fresh set of downs.

Runs of seven yards by Riley and five yards by Dobson got the ball to the

20. Facing a third-and-three at the 14, Riley ran it in following a lead block over the right tackle. Lydick ran in the conversion from the three to push the lead to 13-0 and cap off a 13-play scoring drive. St. Marys’ last drive of the first half saw Cregger make a tackle for a three-yard loss.

The third quarter had St. Marys’ start their opening drive at the 43. On the first down, Punxsy's Bryton Cassatt made a tackle for a two-yard loss. The

Stallions’ Treavor Cheatie had a five-yard run on a second down, and on a swing pass, Punxsy's Lansberry made a tackle for a six-yard loss.

On a first down from the 40, Riley had a 13-yard run up the middle. Punxsy continued to push the ball down the field, and Riley scored his third touchdown of the contest with a seven-yard touchdown run, finishing off a 10-play scoring drive to up Punxsy’s lead to 19-0. Cassatt made a crushing tackle on a third-and-nine against the Stallions for a three-yard loss. Vozsynak made the tackle after an eight-yard run by Anthony Stafford giving Punxsy the ball at the 50 on the last play of the third quarter.

The second play of the fourth quarter had Dobson break loose for a 33-yard run on a sweep around the left side to get the ball to the six. Cregger finished off the drive with a fiveyard touchdown run over the left guard, giving the home team a demanding 25-0 lead. St. Marys last drive of the game started at the 35, and a penalty against the Chucks gave the Stallions a first down at midfield.

Maruca batted away a first-down pass attempt on a second-and-10, and Buhler had a 24-yard run to get the ball to the 26. Maddox Lovelace and Vozsynak teamed up for the next tackle by the Punxsy defense, while the Chucks’ Clayton Warren had the next two tackles.

But a Punxsy penalty gave St. Marys a firstand-goal at the 10. Easton Stang made a nice tackle at the four after a six-yard run by Cheatie to force a fourth down. The next play saw Cheatie run up the middle for a touchdown. Punxsy's Thaddeus Blews made the tackle on the conversion, and set the final score at 25-6. The Chucks finished the game by taking a couple of knees to finish off the clock and seal the victory.

The Punxsy offense ran for 237 yards, and Riley led the ground attack with 103 yards and three touchdowns. Dobson followed with 89 yards, Cregger gained 23 yards and had a touchdown run, while Lydick ran for 14 yards and his conversion.

The defense was led by Cregger with seven tackles, a fumble recovery and a pass defended, while Cassatt had five tackles. Wyant had four tackles and a fumble recovery, Lansberry had three tackles, while Voszynak had two tackles, a forced fumble and pass deflection. Also, Warren also had two tackles.

A.J. Parise will finish the regular-season schedule when they host the Reynoldsville Falcons, with a 3:30 p.m. start time, this Saturday.