Good Night in Gumtown: Redbank Valley Holds on for 34-28 Win Over Visiting Brockway

NEW BETHLEHEM, Pa. (EYT/D9) – Freshman quarterback Braylon Wagner was sharp. The defense made a huge play. And, the Redbank Valley football team got back on track.

It was a good night in Gumtown.

(Pictured above: Freshman quarterback Braylon Wagner looks for an open receiver. Photo by Madison McFarland.)

The Bulldogs built a 34-14 lead over red-hot Brockway and held on for a 34-28 win over the Rovers on Friday night.

“Braylon’s a very good football player,” said Redbank Valley coach Blane Gold. “We’re very excited about Braylon’s future. He played well enough last week (in an 8-7 loss to Port Allegany) to win the game. We just didn’t make enough plays around him.”

They did on Friday night.

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The Bulldogs (8-1) scored on their first four drives. Wagner threw a 5-yard TD pass to Aiden Ortz, rushed for a 1-yard touchdown, connected with Tate Minich on a 22-yard TD and then handed off to Drew Byers, who found the end zone from the 2.

Brockway, though, matched Redbank’s first two TDs on a 13-yard pass from Brayden Fox to Alex Carlson and a 74-yard strike from Fox to Dylan Hanna.

Redbank Valley was able to turn Brockway away late in the first half to take a 28-14 lead into the half.

That ended up being huge.

“Coach (Frank) Verischetti is an excellent offensive coordinator — he’s one of the best in District 9,” said Gold about the Rovers’ assistant coach. “He gave us some looks that we had never prepared for. We kind of had to settle in and change some things that we did, so I was pretty happy with how we played defensively from the second through the third quarter.”

Brockway coach Jake Heigel lamented some of the missed opportunities in the game.

The Rovers (5-4), who came in on a three-game winning streak, had their chances, especially in the second half when they dominated time of possession, but couldn’t make it pay off until late.

And when it was almost too late.

“We had opportunities — a ton of opportunities — the whole game and we just didn’t capitalize,” Heigel said. “I know at one point it was 34-14, but it didn’t feel like it. I felt at any given time we could have come back and won the game.”

Brockway almost did.

After Redbank Valley moved ahead 34-14 on a 47-yard interception return for a touchdown by Ortz with 1:11 remaining in the third quarter, the Rovers scored two fourth-quarter touchdowns on an 8-yard pass from Fox to Hanna with 3:30 remaining and a 5-yard pass from Fox to Carlson with 1:07 left.

The onside kick after the final score actually went backward and Redbank was able to kill the clock for the win.

“The interception was a backbreaker,” Heigel said of the pick-6 by Ortz. “The kid made a great play. It stinks when you look at the final score, but at the time, we had to take risks. That was one that just backfired on us. I have a ton of respect for our offense for just deciding that that wasn’t going to be the nail in the coffin. They didn’t panic at all.”

And Redbank’s defense didn’t fold.

“The defense was on the field a lot in the second half,” Gold said. “But at the end of the day, the offense bailed us out in the first half and the defense put up the points that really made the difference.”

Brockway junior running back Jendy Cuello had a big first half. But as the Bulldogs extended their lead, the Rovers had to go to the air more.

“He’s a very good running back,” Gold said of Cuello. “But we’ve talked about this often that when we can get that two-score lead, we feel like we’re better defending the pass than we are at stopping the run. So if we can get that two-score lead, we can take teams out of their element. When it was 14-7, 14-14, 21-14, they were able to continue to hand it to him. Getting that lead was big for us.”

Wagner also showed progress from last week when he was called upon to start with little prep time.

This week, he got first-team reps and it showed.

“That first half was really some evidence there of what he can do when he gets some practice time with the ones,” Gold said. “Unfortunately, the defense wasn’t able to give him the ball much in the second half and when we did get the ball, we were trying to eat some clock at times.”

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Redbank Valley, Keystone, and Union/A-C Valley sports coverage on Explore and D9Sports.com is brought to you by Heeter Lumber.


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