Scranton Prep Tops Jersey Shore 27-19 on Senior Night
By Doug Byerly
JERSEY SHORE-Senior night at Jersey Shore brought a new opponent to Thompson Street Stadium in the 7-1 Cavaliers of Scranton Prep (3A). Prep is a perennially strong program and this year is one of the favorites to advance deep into the state 3A playoffs.
Jersey Shore came into tonight’s game at 6-2, off a road Saturday win over 6A Penn Wood (42-8).
The Bulldogs were able to strike first scoring on their second offensive drive. ‘Shore cashed in on a 1 yard Elijah Jordan carry at the 4:19 mark of the first stanza. Paul Hale converted the PAT and ‘Shore led 7-0. The short scoring run was set up by a Bo Sechrist counter run of 33 yards.
The Cavaliers tied the game as the second quarter got underway on a 3 yard run by Will McPartland at the 8:52 mark. The Bianchi PAT tied the score at 7-7. Prep converted a second and 21 on a dazzling screen pass from Paris to McPartland covering 79 yard to set up the scoring play.
Prep put together another scoring drive just before the end of the half and Paris continued to be effective on the ground. The senior quarterback broke free on a nice 23 yard draw and scored with 1:43 to go in the half. The PAT kick was missed and the Cavaliers took the lead 13-7.
After halftime, Prep added to its lead with another Paris touchdown run from 19 yard. Bianchi added the PAT kick and Prep led, 20-7.
“Shore put together a nice drive to get back into the game almost exclusively utilizing an effective running game. A Jordan scramble run to the 3 yard line set up a Bo Sechrist touchdown two plays later. At the 4:12 mark of the third quarter, the Bulldogs got back into the game at 20-13 (PAT kick was blocked).
Less than a minute later, Prep added to its lead on another great run by Paris from the quarterback position. The senior QB raced 63 yards to score and with the PAT kick, Prep reclaimed a two score lead at 27-13.
On the first play of the final quarter, a Jordan to Hale pass play brought the Bulldogs back within one score. With 11:51 remaining (PAT kick missed), the Prep lead was 27-19.
Prep had a solid drive using an effective run game to use up much of the quarter, but ‘Shore came up big on a fourth down play to get one final offensive drive in the game.
The Bulldogs put together a drive to the Prep 30 but a fumble on third and two forced the offense into a tough 4th and 9 situation. The solid Prep defense forced another fumble which they recovered to seal the win.
Bo Sechrist lead ‘Shore offensively with 19 carries for 121 yard and a touchdown. Paul Hale had 8 catches for 78 yards with a TD to lead the Bulldogs passing game.
With the road win, the Cavaliers improved to 8-1. The loss drops Jersey Shore to 6-3 with the team on the road next week at neighboring rival Central Mountain.
