Susquehanna Township crushes Conrad Weiser 42-3 in D-3 Class AAA first round
HARRISBURG>> The second meeting played out much like the first.
Susquehanna Township overcame some early goal line issues but never let up, using a superior line on both sides of the ball to take out Conrad Weiser 42-3 in Friday’s District 3 Class AAA first-round encounter at Roscoe Warner Field.
The No. 7 Indians (8-3) handled the 10th-seeded Scouts (7-4) by a 42-17 score in Robesonia back in Week 1. They’ll advance to face York County outfit and No. 2 seed Northeastern in the AAA quarterfinals next weekend.
Weiser was solidly out-beefed in the trenches, the effects of which were almost immediate. Hanna’s offensive line did a superb job of walling off the ends and gashing holes at the point of attack, which allowed running back Sylas Pope and Trael Seegars to gain huge chunks of yards in spots.
Pope touched the ball three times in the second half and gained 102 yards. He scored touchdowns on two of those carries, runs of 53 and 40 yards, and finished with a game-high 155 yards on 15 totes.
Quarterback Ben Moser provided enough of a passing threat to keep Weiser honest defensively. Moser found Alfonzo Rivera on a pair of touchdown passes — little more than pitch and catches in the flat — that the latter took to the house twice. Moser was 8 of 14 for 90 yards and those two scores. He did not attempt a pass after the break. Didn’t need to.
“That’s a good football team there,” Weiser head coach Al Moyer said of the hosts. “Kids gave it a great effort, you know, a team that wasn’t supposed to win five games still playing in Week 11. So I’m proud of them.
“Anybody who can knock off (Bishop) McDevitt is strong. Tonight they were strong up front, they beat us in every aspect of the game. We just couldn’t get anything going offensively.”
The Tribe’s ground game was potent enough — and its executioners, now mature enough — to handle a pair of first-half flubs inside the 2-yard line that might have caused consternation a year ago when the team struggled to a 3-7 mark.
Leading 7-0, Hanna had a 14-play drive die inside the 1 when they were stuffed for no gain on third and fourth downs. On its next possession — a short drive from 28 yards out set up by a 20-yard punt into a stiff wind — Moser fumbled at the Weiser 2. The team dusted itself off both times and simply went back to work.
“Maturity. Confidence,” is how Indians head coach Joe Headen put it. “Last year, I think our confidence would have deflated. A year makes a tremendous difference and our kids are playing with a ton of confidence.”
Headen praised the work by his trenchmen, on both sides of the ball. Weiser’s Koran Jordan gained 96 yards, but it took him 22 carries to do so and the majority of his total was gained with the issue already decided. Scouts’ quarterback Tyler Hoss was a non-factor, finishing 4 of 13 for 46 yards with an interception. He rushed for 16 more on nine carries.
“Our line has come a long way from the beginning of the season,” he said. “Even though they’re big kids, they had a lot to learn. As the season went along, they stated to learn the scheme better. Tonight, they blocked well, they plugged well and all of our running backs ran the ball well.”
Hanna took the opening kickoff and promptly marched 80 yards in 11 plays, with Seegars (12 carries, 69 yards) going in from three yards out for a quick 7-0 lead.
The Indians finally doubled that margin — after those two deep flubs — with 8:46 to go in the first half on the first of Moser’s two TD tosses to Rivera. it came on the first snap of the drive, following another short punt, this one 21 yards, into the brutal headwind at Warner Field. The 25-yard strike gave the hosts a 14-0 edge.
Rivera’s second scoring catch made it 21-0. The Tribe marched 53 yards on eight plays right before the end of the half. They had 12 first downs to Weiser’s two at the break and ran 46 plays from scrimmage to the Scouts’ 22.
Hanna had the ball for one snap during the third quarter and scored twice. Pope’s huge 53-yard run to paint was on the first snap following another Scouts’ punt; Isaiah Millberry made it 35-0, on defense, when he recovered a fumble by Jordan and returned it 20 yards for the score.
Weiser’s Jake Roth booted a window-dressing 25-yard field goal early in the fourth quarter with the mercy clock rolling, before Pope finished it off at the other end with a 40-yarder for the final margin.
Conrad Weiser – 0 0 0 3 — 3
Susquehanna Twp – 7 14 14 7 — 42
First quarter
ST – Trael Seegars 3 run (Jonah Williams kick), 8:32
Second quarter
ST – Alonzo Rivera 25 pass from Ben Moser (Williams kick), 8:46
ST – Rivera 7 pass from Moser (Williams kick), :27
Third quarter
ST – Sylas Pope 53 run (Williams kick), 9:11
ST – Isaiah Millberry 20 fumble return (Williams kick), 8:20
Fourth quarter
CW – Jake Roth 25 FG, 9:13
ST – Pope 40 run (Williams kick), 5:30
