SMETHPORT — It was really only a matter of time.
After Redbank Valley held the Hubbers scoreless and to just 36 total yards in the first half, Smethport’s potent rushing attack got finally got going and carried the undefeated Hubbers to a 20-7 victory over the Bulldogs at Smethport Stadium on Friday night.
Redbank came into the game after allowing a staggering 430 yards on the ground to Clarion-Limestone the week prior, but stacked the box and were able to limit any big plays from the Smethport (6-0) offense over the first two quarters.
Nate Hollowell had just 19 yards at half, while fellow senior running back Blake Kinner finished with 21. Some savvy halftime adjustments by Smethport head coach and offensive play-caller Adam Jack made proved to make all the difference after the intermission.
“Basically I had to start throwing the ball there to get them to loosen up,” Jack said of the game plan. “They were playing a five-man box against us and actually it seemed like they had eight or nine guys in the box at times. Once we started passing the ball to loosen them up, we opened up the running game for us.”
Smethport quarterback Grant Ognen began to chuck the ball around the field (10 pass attempts in the second half), and Jack’s plan fell into place.
On the opening drive out of halftime, the Hubbers marched the ball 65 yards on an eight-play drive that was capped off by a three-yard touchdown from Kinner.
After nearly 27 minutes of scoreless football, the Hubbers found themselves in familiar territory with a 7-0 lead.
“We’ve talked a lot about playing 48 minutes of football, and we’ve struggled in the second quarter (this year), Jack said. “Now today we didn’t score any points in the second, but we didn’t give any up so I just complimented them on their play and what they did in the second half as well.”
Playing with the lead and having Kinner and Hollowell at their disposal, the Hubbers had no trouble grinding down the clock.
Smethport’s next touchdown came off of a 12-play, 96-yard drive that started on the Hubber four.
Hollowell capped it with a four-yard touchdown run, and then put the game away with a 16-yard score late in the fourth. After the early struggles, Hollowell and Kinner combined for 188 yards on the ground.
That 96-yard drive was aided by two crushing fourth down penalties from the Bulldogs: an offside, and then a roughing the kicker penalty after the Hubbers had already made a field goal.
That drive was a bad example of an undisciplined day for the Bulldogs as the 4-2 RV squad committed 12 penalties for 119 yards in the game.
But for as much as Rebank shot itself in the foot, they also had to contend with one of District 9’s top defenses.
After giving up seven first downs over the first 24 minutes, Smethport allowed just one over the first 15 minutes of the second half.
“The defense has been playing great for us all year long,” Jack said. “We had great effort from them and we have been in the right spot on most every play. The goal every week is to post a shutout, it doesn’t always happen obviously and we’ve been giving up points, but I’m just real proud of the effort they give on the defensive side of the ball.”
Even more impressive for Jack and his staff is that his Hubber defense — which is allowing less than 10 points per game — has so many different guys making plays.
This week, Logan Christie logged an acrobatic interception on the sideline, while Travis Cooney came up with a big sack to stall a drive in the first half.
“If you look at the tackle sheet from week to week, the tackles are spread pretty evenly across the board so you can’t really single anybody out,” Jack said. “It’s one guy helping another guy that makes it work for somebody else.”
With Smethport’s win and Coudersport’s loss to Curwensville, the Hubbers have a two-game advantage over the Falcons in the overall standings, but both schools remain 3-0 in Small School North games.
These two schools will matchup in a huge Week 9 meeting on the final Friday of the regular season in Coudersport. For now, Jack is just taking a week-by-week approach while certainly enjoying his team’s first 6-0 start since the 2001 season.
“I feel great about the team,” he said. “I feel great about the strides these guys have made in terms of their maturity and development throughout the season.”
“We are not going to overlook anybody,” he added. “We had Cameron County and Keystone the next two weeks before Coudy. There are no gimmies.”
AT SMETHPORT
BY QUARTERS
Redbank Valley 0 0 0 7—7
Smethport 0 0 7 13—20
TEAM STATISTICS
First Downs: RV: 13, SM: 12; Rushes/Yards Rushing: RV: 24-66, SM: 35-184; Yards Passing: RV: 161, SM 73; Comp-Att-Int: RV: 17-30-1, SM: 7-13-1; Penalties: RV: 12-119, SM: 4-40; Fumbles-Lost: RV: 2-0, SM: 3-0; Total Yards: RV: 227, SM: 257; Offensive Plays: RV: 58, SM: 49
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
Passing: RV: Keaton Kahle 17-29-161-1-1; SM: Grant Ognen 7-13-73-0-1
Rushing: RV: Hudson Wiles 11-44, Kahle 5 (-2), Hunter Martz 1-3, Hunter Buzard 3-17, Travis Crawford 4-4; SM: Blake Kinner 12-118-1, Nate Hollowell 17-70-2, Braedon Johnson 3 (-2), Ognen 3 (-2)
Receiving: RV: Hunter Martz 7-74-1, Buzard 5-53, Sam Hetrick 2-17, Joe Mansfield 1-3, Ethan Hetrick 1-17, ; SM: Bryent Johnson 3-45, Hollowell 1-20, Kinner 2-3, Sanderson 1-5
Scoring summary
First quarter
No scoring
Second quarter
No scoring
Third quarter
SM: Kinner, three-yard run (Noah Costa PAT), 9:46
Fourth quarter
SM: Hollowell, four-yard run (Costa PAT no good), 11:39
SM: Hollowell, 16-yard run (Costa PAT), 6:19
RV: Hunter Martz, three-yard pass from Keaton Kahle (Hudson Martz PAT), 3:28
