Wildcats Stun Seals, 7-3

BALD EAGLE TOWNSHIP – “Defense, baby,” that was the exclamation from Central Mountain head football coach Jim Renninger after his Wildcats stunned longtime Heartland Conference power Selinsgrove Friday night.

The defensive struggle ended up with Central Mountain on top by a 7-3 score. It was the Wildcats’ first ever win over Selinsgrove and it did not come easily. But time and again the Wildcat defense made the plays to nurse a 7-point first quarter lead home to victory.

Coach Renninger couldn’t say enough about his defense, from the line to the linebackers and the secondary, what he called “an entire team effort.”

Twice the defense stopped the Seals at close range. In the second period Selinsgrove picked off a Brett Gerlach pass and returned it to the ‘Cats’ 5-yard line. But the CM defense stiffened and a Seal 25-yard field goal try misfired. Selinsgrove threatened again in the third period. A blocked punt set the visitors up at the Wildcat 3-yard line. But Wildcat defensive back Peyton Johnson made a saving tackle on one play and knocked down a potential scoring pass on the next; Selinsgrove had to settle for a 25-yard field goal from Devon Pardo to cut the score to 7-3.

Selinsgrove had one good final opportunity, moving to the Wildcats’ 16 yard line midway through the fourth quarter. But on a fourth down play, ‘Cat linebacker Ben Herrick pressured Seal quarterback Coy Bastian into an incompletion on a fourth down and Central Mountain took over and moved to mid-field before Tyler Weaver placed a fourth down punt at the Selinsgrove 5-yard line with just 39 seconds to go. The Seals finally ran out of time still in their own territory.

The game’s only touchdown came on a Wildcat 89 yard first quarter drive. Junior tailback Ryan Pentz had several key runs in the drive, the last a 17-yard touchdown run. Weaver’s extra point made it 7-0 and the Wildcat defense remained strong the rest of the night.

Pentz finished with 61 yards on 18 carries. Gerlach completed 8 of 12 passes for 77 yards, (including a couple clutch receptions to Nick Long) with one interception. Long caught three for 45 yards and Johnson three for 20 yards.

Selinsgrove was forced to play without senior fullback/nose guard Nate Schon, out with a knee injury sustained in the Seals’ opener last week. Coach Renninger said Selinsgrove obviously missed him, noting that the Seals tried to spread things out to compensate for his absence on offense. He said the Wildcat secondary played well in response.

Central Mountain finds itself off to a 2-0 start for the first time in recent memory. The Wildcats hit the road for the first time next Friday, Sept. 25, at Jersey Shore, defending Heartland Conference champions. The Bulldogs shut out Shikellamy Friday night by a score of 53-0.