The football teams of Johnstown and Indian Valley have met twice in postseason play with the Warriors winning the first meeting 42-14 in 2002 and the Trojans winning the other 17-6 the following year.
The squads will clash a third time on the gridiron at 7 p.m. Friday at Trojan Stadium in the District 6 Class AAA semifinal with the winner facing top-seeded Hollidaysburg (9-1) – which has a bye - in the championship game Nov. 14 at Altoona’s Mansion Park.
“It’s a great accomplishment for the school and a great success for the kids especially since they’ve been facing adversity every week with all the injuries that we’ve had this season,” Johnstown second-year coach Kevin Marabito said. “It’s great to be back in the playoffs, but we don’t want to just be happy to be there. We want to try to make some noise.”
Second-seeded Johnstown (7-3) will put its three-game win streak up against third-seeded Indian Valley (4-6), which has won two straight, but is just 1-4 on the road.
Johnstown averages almost 26 points per game while giving up 10. The Warriors have scored 20 per game, giving up 28.5. Last week, Johnstown defeated Penn Cambria 32-26 and Indian Valley defeated Lewistown 40-14.
At the start of the season, the defending District 6 champion Warriors had just two returning starters back on offense and two back on defense.
“We lost a lot of seniors off of last years team and we’ve had a lot of injuries that we’ve had to work through this year,” Indian Valley coach Tom Shearer said. “We have to be able to control the ball and avoid turnovers and move the ball against Johnstown. They have a nice team with team speed and good size up front.”
For Indian Valley, quarterback Will Long and fullback Cody Battista were both injured earlier in the season and returned for the last two games. Mitch Fultz and Nickolas Myers are the tailbacks while Hunter Thompson is one of the team’s top receivers.
“What we’ve seen of Indian Valley on tape, they are a solid football team,” Marabito said. “They use either a bunch or spread formation on offense. No. 33 (Mitch Fultz) can run the ball both inside and out. They have pretty decent size on the line and have some speed. We are going to have to play solid defense against them.”
Johnstown’s leading rusher, senior Quadir Christian, wasn’t in the Trojans lineup last week against Penn Cambria because he was attending a family funeral and will return this week. Christian has rushed for 1,167 yards on 149 carries.
Trojans’ junior quarterback John Siciliano has rushed for 608 yards and passed for 817 while junior Jordan Jefferson and junior LaQuinn Stephens-Howling have also been key contributors for Johnstown. Junior Richard Agurs is Johnstown’s leading receiver with 14 catches for 250 yards.
“We can spread the ball around,” Marabito said. “There defense is either a 3-4 or a 4-0. The biggest thing is we don’t know how they will play us and will have to adjust on the fly. We’re still pretty banged up. We’ve been plugging different players in every week. The kids have adapted and filled the roles we’ve asked them to play.
Marabito says his team has to be able to stop Indian Valley’s offense.
“Our best defense will be our offense,” Marabito said. “We had the ball 31 minutes (against Penn Cambria). We have to keep the ball out of their hands. We have to be able to execute, but not be overly excited and avoid turnovers and penalties. We have to cut down on those. We’ve made far too many mistakes. We have to eliminate those mistakes and keep their offense off the field.”
High School Sports
Trojans draw Warriors in district semifinal
- High School Sports
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Richland's Lumley settles for pair of silver medals
Paige Lumley was on an emotional roller coaster and seeing silver on Saturday at the PIAA Track and Field Championships at Shippensburg University.
The Richland senior had state record jumps twice during the triple jump competition, but ended up with a silver–medal leap of 40 feet,
1¾ inches.
Defending state champion, second-seeded junior Lanae Newsome of Brookville, won with a jump of 40-3½. -
Ridge’s Dull takes second with school-record time
Matt Dull finished his athletic career with his best on Saturday at the PIAA Track and Field Championships at Shippensburg University.
The Chestnut Ridge senior ran a career-best time of 38.12 to finish second in the 300 hurdles final, also setting another school record. -
Young takes silver in state triple jump
Chestnut Ridge senior Michael Young capped six years of triple jumping with a silver medal Friday on the first day of the PIAA Track and Field Championships at Seth Grove Stadium on the campus of Shippensburg University.
Young had a career-best leap of 45-9¼ just behind Jared Horne of Schuylkill Valley whose winning jump was 46-9. -
Forest Hills’ Smay places fifth in Class AA long jump
Brooke Smay is moving on up.
The Forest Hills junior earned a fifth-place position in the Class AA long jump with a leap of 17 feet, 3 ½ inches Friday on the first day of the PIAA Track and Field Championships at Shippensburg University. -
Bishop McCort wins District 6-A baseball crown
Bishop McCort truly won the District 6 Class A baseball championship as a team on Friday at Peoples Natural Gas Field.
There were more than a few huge plays. Of course a number of individuals stepped up to secure a 3-1 victory over LHAC rival Bishop Guilfoyle. -
Somerset denied 6-AAA baseball title
Hollidaysburg pitcher Dom Viduya and his Golden Tigers teammates beat defending champion Somerset 3-1 in Thursday’s District 6 Class AAA championship game at Peoples Natural Gas Field.
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Pitcher's 'bad day' results in no-hitter
Bridgit Yothers struggled on the mound on Thursday.
But the Chestnut Ridge right-hander was able to persevere through her issues, throwing a no-hitter against Bedford in their District 5 Class AA semifinal and helping the Lions to a 5-0 victory. -
Local athletes look to shine at PIAA track and field meet
Each of the nearly 50 area athletes who will be competing at this weekend’s PIAA Track and Field Championships at Shippensburg University, will be looking for his or her best performance of the season, but only the top eight finishers in each event for both boys and girls will stand on the podium in front of the crowd at Seth Grove Stadium.
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Westmont, Somerset represented at PIAA Class AA tennis tourney
The PIAA Class AA tennis tournament showcases the top players in the state, which includes three area athletes, when it begins today at the Hershey Racquet Club.
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Corridini’s hit propels Shade
Tasha Corridini had been having a tough time at the plate on Wednesday.
The Shade leftfielder had struck out twice in her prior two at-bats against Shanksville-Stonycreek pitcher Kayla Stockenus.
But in the bottom of the seventh of a scoreless game with Kaily Karl on first, Corridini clubbed a triple out to the fence, scoring Karl and giving the Panthers a walk-off 1-0 win over the Vikings in a District 5 Class A softball quarterfinal. - More High School Sports Headlines
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