Great Valley, Talone rally to knock off Oxford

EAST WHITELAND — Trailing in the fourth quarter can often feel like an uphill battle.

Thanks to some timely defense and special teams, Great Valley was able to tilt the field the other way to erase a seven-point deficit.

The Patriots scored 11 points in the fourth to earn a comeback win against visiting Oxford, 17-14, in Ches-Mont American Division action, Friday night.

“It’s awesome,” Great Valley coach Jeff Martin said. “We’ve had a rough two weeks, but we stayed resilient and showed a lot of character and composure. The guys stepped up and made big plays, and I’m just really proud.”

Great Valley (2-2 division, 2-2 overall) led early, when Andy Talone connected with Jake Rupert for an 11-yard score, but defense dictated things the majority of the game, and the Patriots were stymied the next two-plus quarters.

Despite interceptions by Michael Corrigan and Dan Crouse, and a fumble recovery, also by Crouse, Great Valley could not capitalize until midway through the fourth.

A 20-yard return by Storm Johnson off a short Oxford punt set the Pats up with the ball at the Hornet 12. The drive fizzled, but Seth Turner drilled a 28-yard field goal, after missing two earlier in the night, to cut Oxford’s lead to five.

The Hornets (0-3, 0-3), who were held to 71 rush yards on 30 carries, lost 16 yards their next possession and had to punt from their own four.

“We had all the momentum going into the fourth quarter,” Oxford coach Mike Means said. “Field position killed us. Our defense could only hold so many times. Offensively, I have to do a better job putting them in positions to be successful. We played poorly offensively in the fourth and that led to good field position for (Great Valley).”

The Pats took over at the Oxford 38 and finally got the ground game going. Great Valley pounded for 33 of its 59 second-half rush yards, the final yard capped by Talone, who kept it himself off the right side. His two-point conversion put the Pats up three with just over two minutes to go.

“These are the games that are the most fun,” Talone said. “To come back like that, we rallied as a team and our offensive and defensive lines kept us in this game. … The O-line brought me in and took us home.”

Oxford reached midfield on its final drive, but four straight incompletions ended its hopes. Senior, and first-year starter, Seth Yoder passed for a career-high 183 yards, including a 58-yard score to Dustin Long, but the Hornets were done in by a 3-0 turnover margin and eight penalties.

“This is a tough one,” Means said. “These seniors deserve to win one, but you have to hand it to them. Great Valley really fought and played a great game and our guys were surprised. They shouldn’t have been, because (Great Valley) showed good things on film, but this one hurts because we didn’t expect to lose.”

Talone finished with 96 yards passing and 81 on the ground, but prior to the game-winning drive, Oxford had held him to 1-for-5 for minus-one yard through the air in the second half and just 13 rush yards on five second half carries.

The rally puts Great Valley in a spot to earn a winning season, with the scheduled part of this Covid-abbreviated season completed. The Patriots plan to pick up at least one more game, in hopes of ending the season over .500.

“We’re looking to have a winning season, which we haven’t done in three years,” Martin said. “We’re a young team and we’ve played some tough opponents and had some tough losses, so it would be huge for the program and for our great group of seniors.”

Great Valley 17, Oxford 14

Oxford    0 6 8 0-14

Great Valley    6 0 0 11-17

                                     Scoring

First Quarter

GV- Rupert 11 pass from Talone (PAT failed)

Second Quarter

OX- Long 58 pass from Yoder (PAT failed)

Third Quarter

OX- Yoder 3 run (Yoder run)

Fourth Quarter

GV- Turner 28 FG

GV- Talone 1 run (Talone run)

                                      Team Totals

                         OX              GV

First downs      10            17

Yards rushing  30-71    43-148

Yards passing  183            96

Total yards      254          254

Passing      14-24-2         9-17-0

Fumbles-lost    1-1           0-0

Punts-avg.      3-36.3     5-23.8

Penalties-yds  8-62        2-20

                                    Individual Statistics

Rushing: Oxford — Pantalone 11-22; Foutrakis 2-17; Long 3-15; Yoder 10-10, TD; Piskun 4-7. Great Valley — Talone 18-82, TD; Corrigan 18-49; Maslowski 4-16; Rupert 1-2; team 1-(1).

Passing: Oxford — Yoder 14-23, 183 yards, TD, 2 INTs; Long 0-1. Great Valley — Talone 9-17, 96 yards, TD

Receiving: Oxford — Figueroa 5-67; Long 3-67, TD; Highfield 1-30; Foutrakis 2-20; Piskun 3-(-1). Great Valley — Johnson 2-48; Cave 2-31; Rupert 2-16, TD; Crouse 1-1; Corrigan 2-0.

Interceptions: Great Valley — Corrigan, Johnson.