H.S. FOOTBALL: Passing game shines, Blue Devils cruise past Cardinals
· Yahoo Sports
PINE GROVE — For the first time in nearly two decades, the Shenandoah Valley Blue Devils are 2-0.
For the second time in two weeks, the Blue Devils scored over 50 points in a game, defeating the Pine Grove Cardinals 52-13 on Friday night.
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Shenandoah Valley’s passing game continued to impress, as quarterback Ethan Bench threw for four touchdowns to four different receivers.
The first came with 7:18 to go in the first half.
Already ahead 7-0, Bench connected with David Burrous on a 9-yard catch-and-run to make it a two-score lead.
A 27-yard touchdown run by Mike Elsichak and a 22-yard field goal by Sam Mentusky put the Blue Devils up 24-0 at the half.
The lead probably could have been even bigger.
Shenandoah Valley just missed on several deep passes that would have likely resulted in touchdowns.
“Last week, we had some deep throws,” Shenandoah Valley coach Dave Bench said. “We practice a lot of deep throws, but if that’s not going for us, we go to our short passes.”
So that’s what the Blue Devils did.
Just 30 seconds into the second half, Ethan Bench hit Gene Sinkus on a hitch for a 68-yard touchdown.
“Well, obviously they know we try to go deep a couple times on them, so their corners played back, 10 yards off,” Dave Bench said. “So we noticed that and we started going with the hitches. They gave us the 10-yard gap, so we just started shooting those short hitch hitch-and-gos and little hitches. We took advantage of the defense.”
After Pine Grove got on the board with an 8-yard run by Logan Troup, Shenandoah Valley had an immediate response. Todd Seiger became the third Blue Devil to catch a touchdown pass, going 63 yards on the same play call, but to the opposite sideline.
Facing an offense with a deep playbook and a deep receiving corps made it difficult for the Cardinal defense to find answers.
“It helps us out significantly,” Dave Bench said. “You can’t really double-team one guy because you have one, two or three other guys on the field that have that speed to spread that defense out. So that’s huge for us.”
Just as that depth hurts the defense, it helps the quarterback.
“They get the ball, they make the plays and score touchdowns,” Ethan Bench said.
Ethan Bench finished the night with 248 yards and 10 completions on 17 attempts, the lone blemish an interception in the second quarter.
Sinkus caught his second touchdown late in the third quarter, this one a 15-yarder.
He finished the game with 83 receiving yards and an interception. Seiger led the team with 86.
The ball was also spread around in the run game, with three different Blue Devils — Elsichak, Joel Nunez and Jonnuel Reyes — all finding the end zone.
It’s a stark contrast to where the team was a year ago — two weeks into a winless season.
Not only has Shenandoah Valley’s on-field performance improved, but so has its mentality.
“Last year, we had our backs against the wall most of the season,” Dave Bench said. “There’s a different feeling and aura around the team this year. We put a lot of work in.”
The Blue Devils are in a good spot, but with 80% of the season still remaining, Dave Bench emphasized the need to continue putting in that work.
“We just want to keep that momentum,” he said. “Two wins is a good start to the season, obviously. We got to keep pressing because it’s in the thick of things in Schuylkill League. Football is tough.”
Shenandoah Valley will play its first home game of the season against Panther Valley in Week 3.
“Next week’s another tough opponent, Panther Valley,” Dave Bench said. “So it’s just week-to-week we have to focus on and hopefully we come out on top.”
Troup was a bright spot in an otherwise forgettable night for Pine Grove, finishing with 229 rushing yards and two touchdowns.
The Cardinals will travel to face Mahanoy Area next Friday.