Port Allegany head coach Justin Bienkowski was fond of saying “you’re going to feel us,” over the course of the 2024 season.
It was much more than just a mantra — it was the way the Gators played all season, all the way up until the final seconds of their 41-22 loss to Bishop Guilfoyle in the PIAA Class 1A championship game.
Trailing 41-14 in the final minutes of the game, the Gators could have simply packed it in, hung their hats on the fact that they did something no other Port Allegany team has ever done before, and called it a day.
That would have gone against everything they are, however.
Instead, facing the 27-point deficit with 4:01 to play, they went on a 7-play, 67-yard drive capped by Aiden Bliss’ 56th and final rushing touchdown of the season. It was also the final touches on one of the most decorated seasons by a running back in the history of Pennsylvania High School football. In fact, his total rushing yards put him fifth all-time in a single season.
So no, this wasn’t just a mantra…it’s who the Port Allegany Gators were and are.
“I’m very proud of the way our guys kept fighting,” Bienkowski said. “They didn’t give up. Scoring that last touchdown is a testament to their drive and composure.”
As good as they were on the field, they are better young men off of it, as Bienkowski is the first to point out. They certainly felt the sting of coming up one win short of a state championship, but even in the moments after, you could feel they had a sense of pride about what they were able to accomplish.
“This has been just unimaginable,” said senior lineman Carson Neely. “For me, wrestling at the state tournament, this experience has been neck-and-neck with it. It’s been a lot of fun.”
Neely is one of the top heavyweight wrestlers in the state, and he has the hardware to prove it. After this season, he’s off to Division I Clarion to wrestle. In fact, with the winter sports season already underway, both Port Allegany wrestling coach B.J. Greenman and basketball coach Kyle Babcock will be happy to have those athletes on the football team back. But they would also be among the first to tell you just how happy they were that they had to wait to get those guys back in the swing of their respective sports.
Bliss (189), Juuso Young (215) and Neely (285) will make for a scary trio in the upper weights for one of District 9’s top wrestling programs.
Those three captains personified exactly what Bienkowski was talking about, and it permeated throughout the whole team.
Make no mistake, this was an old school football team. Oftentimes, opponents knew what was coming, yet they were powerless to stop it.
Football isn’t a complicated game, and I mean that in the best possible way. Port Allegany proved that this season.
You felt them, and they not only loved every second of it, they relished it, from the first day of padded practice, to their first game of the season against Keystone, all the way up until those final moments on a blustery December day at Cumberland Valley High School.
“We loved every ounce of it,” Neely said. “Especially me being a senior. Those guys are my brothers. I love them. We do everything together. It was just an amazing experience.”
