SIDMAN —
After Johnstown took a 23-point advantage at Forest Hills, the crowd at G.H. Miller Field probably didn’t expect the Trojans to need a couple fourth-quarter defensive stands to hold off a determined Rangers team.
Behind senior linebacker Alkwan Williams, the Trojans won 23-17 in the final regular season date for the LHAC co-champions.
“This is one of the toughest places to play in the league and no game is over,” Johnstown coach Tony Penna Jr. said. “That’s a great coach over there (Forest Hills’ Don Bailey) and that’s a great team. I’ve got a great team and some great coaches over here. It took every inch and every ounce to win this game.”
The 6-foot-1 Williams made 10 tackles, had two jarring sacks and returned what was ruled an interception 33 yards for a touchdown. The Pitt-bound backer also recorded his 500th career tackle.
“He is all over the field,” Forest Hills’ Bailey said. “That’s why he’s going to Pitt. He’s a tremendous football player. He makes tackles from sideline to sideline. He’s a force in the middle. We didn’t have an answer for him.”
“We’re running out of adjectives with him,” Penna said. “He seems to have that knack to make that big play.”
His biggest came after the blitzing Trojans converged on Forest Hills quarterback Justin Gdula, hitting him as he attempted to throw.
The airborne ball landed in Williams’ hands, and he ran to the end zone to make it 23-0.
“My teammates stripped the ball from the quarterback, the ball popped out,” Williams said. “That was a big play. It gave us a lead, but we couldn’t score after that.”
Forest Hills picked up the intensity. Gdula found junior Jared Shope for an 11-yard touchdown pass. Shope ran the two-point conversion out of the wildcat to make it 23-8 at 2:51 of the third.
“We were able to get the ball to Shope,” Bailey said. “He was making plays all over the field.”
Gdula (10 of 25, 171 yards) teamed with Shope seven times for 129 yards, including a 32-yard touchdown that made it a six-point contest with 5:40 left. Johnstown punter Grant Noon had intentionally taken a safety about a minute earlier with Johnstown facing a fourth-and-20 from its own 4.
“I trust my defense and I trust my defensive coaches,” Penna said of the safety call. “We felt that at that point of the game it was better to take the safety rather than risk the block.”
Johnstown stopped the Rangers at the Trojans 17 on a Williams fourth-down sack early in the fourth, Daquan Minter intercepted a ball inside the 5 after Forest Hills had great field position on a fumble recovery, and Johnstown forced a punt with less than 3 minutes left.
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