Johnsonburg JV Football bests Punxsy Youth Football 24-13
PUNXSUTAWNEY — The Punxsutawney A. J. Parise Youth Football JV team hosted the Johnsonburg Shamrocks at Jack LaMarca Stadium this past Saturday in the season opener for both teams, where the visitors scored a touchdown in all four quarters to beat the Junior Chucks 24-13.
The Shamrocks started the game at the 41, and after running for seven yards on a first down, Alex Raubenstauch had a 14-yard run during his next touch to move the ball to the 20.
Punxsy’s Gaitlin Knapik had a tackle for a loss on the second down, and Raubenstrauch followed that with a run for 13 yards on third down to get the ball to the seven.
The Shamrocks’ Ralphie MacDonald finished off the drive with a seven-yard run for a touchdown over the right tackle. Punxsy's Liam Lydick and Gavin Creggar teamed up for a tackle on the conversion run and hold the score to 6-0.
Punxsy started their second drive at the 47 and had runs of three yards from Lydick, Cammerick Maines, but on the fourth down, the Johnsonburg defense stopped the home team. A false start penalty against Johnsonburg on the first play of the second quarter set up a 4th-and-6 at the 49.
Raubenstauch put the visitors up by two touchdowns when he broke loose for a 51-yard touchdown run on a sweep around the left side. Punxsy's Vincent Miller made a nice tackle on the conversion attempt, keeping the score at 12-0.
Punxsy’s offense still struggled to find its footing, turning the ball over on downs, but Miller intercepted a Shamrock pass on the first down to give the Punxsy squad some energy.
Maines ran for 11 yards to give Punxsy a first down at the 37, and on the fourth down, Lydick bulled his way through the defense for a four-yard run and a fresh set of downs at 26. Two defensive penalties got the ball down to 16, but the Shamrocks were able to stop the drive when
Tritan McAlee intercepted a Punxsy pass attempt on the last play of the half.
Johnsonburg received the second-half kickoff and their drive started at the 47. But, Punxsy pounced on a fumbled snap to get the ball. On second down, Maines had a 17-yard run to the 30, and Hunter Elkin ran for two yards to get the ball to the 25.
Maines ran for 18 yards, giving Punxsy a first and goal at the seven. On the second down, he ran for four yards to the four, and Maines finished off the drive following his center Knapik’s block up the middle to make the score 12-6.
After both teams exchanged possessions with fumble recoveries, Raubenstrauch scored his second touchdown to extend the visitors lead to 18-6. Punxsy answered right back, as Lydick had a 10-yard run to get the ball to midfield.
The next play saw Maines follow a nice block by Maddox McCullough over the right side and out run the Shamrocks defense for a 50-yard touchdown run. Miller followed that with a three-yard run on the conversion, making the score 18-13.
Johnsonburg maintained possession of the ball to start the fourth quarter, though Punxsy's Jagger Lorenzo made a nice tackle down field after a 21-yard run by Raubenstauch.
The Shamrocks continued to push the ball downfield, as Raubenstauch scored his third touchdown of the game with a sevenyard run to set the final tally at 24-13. Punxsy's last drive was highlighted by a 15-yard run by Maines.
The Punxsy offense was led by Maines, who ran for 110 yards, as Lydick followed with 51 yards on the ground. Defensively, Creggar led the squad with seven tackles, while Lydick had five tackles and a fumble recovery. Also, Miller followed with four tackles and an interception.