By HUNTER O. LYLE
PORT ALLEGANY, PA – Playing on a night where they honored their senior leadership, the Port Allegany football team added another blowout win to their record, dominating Smethport 68-6.
A large part of what makes the Gators’ engine go comes from their seasoned veterans. Ahead of kickoff, the Black and Orange took time to recognize their eight seniors, most of which have spent their entire high school career on the gridiron: Brayden Babcock (four years), Aiden Bliss (four years), Jarrod Funk (three years), Julian Kaple (four years), Tristan Kiser (four years), Patrick McMahon (two years), Ethan Tarbox (four years) and Nicholas Wilfong (four years).
“This class will go down as the winningest class in school history if things continue to go. I believe Carson and Juuso Young’s class who graduated last year had mid-40s wins and I believe these kids will surpass that,” said Port Allegany head coach Justin Bienkowski. “These kids have been playing together since they were in third grade. We’ve always had the same system, the youth guys to the junior high guys to the varsity guys and it’s just their turn and their taking it and running with it.”
Honorary night or not, there was no doubt Port was bound to hit the field running, literally, and they did so relentlessly against the Hubbers.
Starting with the ball on their own 45-yard-line, the Gators would make incremental gains with a six-yard run from quarterback Brennan Fillhart and a screen pass to Wilfong before putting the ball in their star running back’s hands. On his very first touch of the game, Bliss carried the ball 34-yards downfield, putting Port just three yards away from the endzone. Two plays later, Kellen Veilleux closed the distance for the first touchdown of the night just two minutes into the game.
Things would steamroll from there.
The Gators’ defense would then show their might, punching holes into Smethport’s offensive line and coming away with back-to-back sacks, the second of which resulted in a safety. On the very first snap of Port’s second drive, Bliss would cross the field for a 68-yard touchdown before Fillhart ran in the 2-point conversion. With just under four minutes missing from the clock, the Gators’ had quickly amassed an 18-0 lead.
“We want to be able to play fast. We want to be able to huddle up. We want to be able to play multiple formations and we run so many formations. Our offensive staff is as good as anybody and I’m so proud of how they do things,” said Bienkowski on his team’s rapid pace. “With that being said, they put guys in position and we want tempo. (When opponents) are down and getting tired, we’re going to beat them up and put our foot on their throat.”
Settling down from the initial gut punch, the Hubbers then finally found some footing. Giving their ball to the the main weapon in their arsenal, Jonah Ganoe put the team on his shoulders, bruising for short gains at a time. Using his smash-mouth toughness, Ganoe slowly marched the Hubbers downfield, including a pivotal seven-yard gain on fourth down that put Smethport in the redzone.
“(Ganoe’s) done an excellent job this season. Last week we came out and had over 518 yards of offense and he was the breakaway runner for us and tonight was no different,” said Smethport head coach Ryan Yingling. “He powered through. We knew we were coming into a tough situation and not one of those kids backed down. That’s really what we were gauging tonight.”
However, the Hubbers’ most successful drive of the night would fall just shy of the endzone. Landing on the Gators’ 18, a massive sack would break the ball loose and although Smethport recovered it, they were now facing third-and-20. Port’s defense remained vigilant despite the Hubbers switch to the air, deflecting a pass to put the final nail in the possession and put the ball back in their hands.
Rolling into the second quarter following another big run from Bliss, Port then showed off their capabilities in the passing game, starting with a 26-yard reception from Wilfong. One play later, Fillhart found Veilleux for a 30-yard catch that ended with another six points.
The next 16 minutes were filled with more of the same.
The Gators ended the half with three more touchdowns – Veilleux reached the endzone twice with a 27-yard carry and 50-yard punt return while Bliss scored on a 34-yard rush – before shutting the Hubbers out in three at the top of the third and scoring once more uninterrupted with six minutes left in the quarter.
Then the Hubbers finally found their break. Down 56-0, Smethport received the kickoff, with the initial handler switching back and giving the ball to Ganoe. Finding perfectly-timed blocks and scrambling through closing windows, Ganoe streaked down the left sideline for a 75-yard touchdown, breaking the shutout.
Their revelry was short-lived. Kicking the ball to the Gators immediately after, Smethport watched as Port repeated the feat. Seeming to have endless energy, Veilleux added to his night with a 75-yard return of his own, retaliating with his sixth score of the night.
From there, both teams relented and substituted in their junior varsity rosters to cross the finish line. Keeping their foot on the pedal, the Gators would tally one more touchdown with 9:49 left in the fourth after Valon McFall scrambled across the goal line for a 10-yard gain.
“It’s so important to get the young guys experience because when those guys are at practice, they’re getting beat up by our ones obviously but they don’t run away. They’re a part of this team,” said Bienkowski. “We’re good top to bottom.”
Then the clock would wind down without any more celebrations. While one team recorded their fourth win, the other recorded their fourth loss.
Veilleux’s big night concluded with 47 rushing yards and 28 receiving yards, reaching the endzone six times. Fillhart finished 5-for-5 through the air, collecting 86 passing yards and one touchdown, carrying the ball in for another while Bliss ended with 197 rushing yards, one rushing touchdown and one passing touchdown.
“Most importantly, I want to credit Aiden Bliss. He was three yards short of 200, he knew that but he also knew the right thing to do for our team was to sub out at that time and be as classy as we could,” said Bienkowski. “Aiden was 100 percent on board with that and I think that’s noteworthy. This team goes as he wants to go, the guys buy into him, the coaches support him and it was a hugely adult move from him.”
For Smethport, Ganoe ended with 61 rushing yards on 20 attempts.
Looking forward, both teams move into Week 5 with regional opponents. However, while Port, in Region 2, has just one of said matchups left, Smethport has four, starting with Bucktail on Friday at home.
“Next week we start our Region 4 competition again. We’re going right back to what we do. We had to make some changes tonight but we’re going back to our plan,” said Yingling. “We’re going to focus on Bucktail and take it week to week.”
