JOHNSTOWN — Greater Johnstown’s offense accounted for 438 total yards on Friday night at Trojan Stadium.

Those numbers helped the Trojans light up the scoreboard in a 39-6 victory over visiting Bishop Guilfoyle.

But Johnstown’s defense had more than a minor role in helping the Trojans improve to 2-0.

“Our defense is unbelievable,” Johnstown coach Tony Penna Jr. said. “They play so hard. They’re so focused. The guys in the

interior front seven can dominate the line of scrimmage, and they make such a difference.”

The Trojans limited Bishop Guilfoyle (1-1) to 65 rushing yards on 28 carries, a 2.3 average, and 119 yards of total offense.

The Marauders finished with only eight first downs, and five of those came on a late fourth-quarter scoring drive with many starters pulled.

“We just made the plays. We just came together on defense the way we do every week,” said junior linebacker Alkwan Williams.

Johnstown’s defense kept Guilfoyle in check and the Trojans offense scored three times to give the hosts a 20-0 halftime advantage.

The Marauders netted only

5 rushing yards in the first half and 44 yards of total offense

– 16 of those came on a successfully executed fake punt.

Meanwhile, the Trojans mixed the pass and the run while collecting 11 first downs, 109 rushing yards and 176 passing yards in the first 24 minutes. Johnstown finished with 18 first downs overall.

“The results are really good, but it was a very frustrating game,” Penna said. “Bishop Guilfoyle was very scrappy. They played their hearts out. There is just so much stuff we need to clean up. There is tons of talent all over the field. Football is a game of precision and there were so many things we weren’t precise on.

“We’re young and we’re showing some of our green-ness. They make plays, and they play so well, but there were so many times it was a struggle because we were battling ourselves. We had a rough week. This team is going to keep growing. I told them, ‘When you guys get all things focused and heading in one direction, look out.’ ”

Johnstown moved 78 yards in 14 plays that chewed up six minutes and 19 seconds of first-quarter clock. The drive was capped by junior quarterback Gervon Simon’s fourth down conversion from less than a yard to make it 6-0.

The Trojans used another fourth-down conversion to take a 14-0 advantage at 7:18 of the second quarter. On fourth-and-5, Simon threw a pass to the right corner of the end zone, and Williams used his height advantage to pull the ball in over a defender. Tyler Arsenault ran the two-point conversion.

“I tried to jump over his back and get the ball from him,” Williams said.

Calvin Anderson’s interception set up Johnstown’s third score in the opening half. Simon ran for 16 yards and later threw to Williams for 62 yards to set up Shon Brantley’s 1-yard touchdown with 1:40 left.

“I said last week Gervon sat patiently for two years behind a heck of a player (the graduated John Siciliano),” Penna said. “He’s another kid who hasn’t played a whole lot of football. He’s a tremendous athlete, but he hasn’t taken a whole lot of snaps under center. He made a lot of great reads and a lot of improvised plays.”

Johnstown opened the second half with a 64-yard drive. Senior John King was put into the quarterback spot and quickly hit Simon on a 42-yard pass into Bishop Guilfoyle territory.

“John’s been so unselfish as a senior,” Penna said. “That’s his package, and it’ll keep expanding as the year goes on. Gervon is so multi-talented wherever you put him. He goes in and makes a play (at receiver).”

Simon went back under center and scored on a 9-yard run to make it 26-0. Simon completed 11 of 20 passes for 193 yards, and he rushed for 34 yards on three carries.

“The quarterback, Gervon Simon, threw me some good balls so that I could catch the ball, run and make plays,” Williams said.

“He made the difference.”

Arsenault’s 10-yard score made it 32-0 with 5:46 showing in the third. Arsenault gained a game-high 80 yards on 16 carries.

Guilfoyle avoided the shutout when David Baker caught a

10-yard scoring pass from Pat Irwin.  Johnstown’s Anderson returned the ensuing kickoff

92 yards for a score. Michael Brooks’ extra-point kick set the final.

Johnstown did suffer a major setback when three-year starting outside linebacker Marcus Seals, a senior, was taken off the field on a stretcher and put into an ambulance en route to the hospital in the second half.

“It’s not good,” Penna said.

“He’s such a great kid and a great player. He just got rolled up and broke his leg. It’s really sad. This team is so close, closer than we’ve been in a long time.

“You could just see the pain in their faces. A great kid like that gets hurt and it was kind of hard to keep things rolling.”