CENTER TWP. — Central Valley had the momentum right from the get-go Friday night in its second Western Hills Conference game of the season.
After a defensive touchdown on the game’s first drive, the Warriors’ offense dominated the game in the trenches as Mason Dixon broke free for several big gains and rushed for three touchdown scores in the Warriors 51-37 win over Beaver Area.
“My teammates set it up great for me tonight,” Dixon said. “We practiced hard all week so there is no me without the team. When we practice, we practice like we play so when I am breaking off those 40-50 yard runs, it comes easy to me because I do it every day.”
Before Dixon controlled the game on the ground, the defense provided a spark to the offense on the game’s very first drive.
Central Valley (2-3, 2-0 Western Hills) flipped the momentum in its favor as Bobcat junior quarterback Travis Clear dropped back to pass on third down.
As Clear was about to release the ball, the junior gunslinger was hit by linebacker Ethan Shearer and it was jarred out of his hand. Senior defensive end Tyler Ondrusek scooped up the loose ball and took it 39 yards into the end zone for the game’s opening score.
“That was a huge play by Ethan [Shearer],” Central Valley head coach Mark Lyons said after the game. “Tyler [Ondrusek] talks all the time during practice that he is going to score a touchdown, and we tease him that we don’t think he will make it to the end zone. That is one of our senior leaders and our captains so when that happens, you could see the excitement from our sideline.”
After scoring the game’s opening points, the Warriors began wearing down the Beaver Area (2-2, 1-1) defensive line. They did so for the entire game scoring all of their points off of runs with five of its touchdown scores coming from the running back tandem of Dixon and Jance Henry.
After missing last week’s game with a foot injury, Henry picked up right where he left off scoring two touchdowns on the ground scampering in from 13 yards out in the second quarter and punching in a 3-yard score to open up the second half scoring his eighth touchdown of the season.
The aforementioned Dixon, who also found success on the ground in the game, feeds off of Henry’s play and did so Friday night breaking off two 40-plus-yard touchdown runs.
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The senior converses energy on the sideline when Henry controls the ball on the ground, which allows him to find success as well.
“It’s great to have a teammate like Jance [Henry], Dixon said. “When you have two running backs like us, we are fresh and we are both dawgs. No matter who is in the game you know what you are going to get.”
As for Beaver Area, penalties squandered any early offense in the first quarter of Friday night’s Western Hills contest.
The Bobcats committed 35 yards worth of penalties on the team’s third offensive drive of the game, which negated big gains downfield to Amari Jackson and forced Beaver Area to punt.
“That’s just part of the game,” Beaver Area head coach Cort Rowse said. “You have to be able to overcome that and go and play the next play. I told the guys that we don’t want to make excuses, and we don’t want anyone making excuses for us. We just have to play good clean football.
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However, the Bobcats cleaned up their game in the second quarter, which allowed them to start moving the ball downfield.
Beaver Area senior wide receiver Amari Jackson found success Friday night out of the wildcat as he scored four total touchdowns on the evening rushing for 223 yards.
His first came as he connected with Qualan Cain on a 55-yard screen pass as Cain tight-roped his way into the end zone for the Bobcat’s first score.
Later in the first half, Jackson would call his own number bobbing and weaving his way 56 yards for the touchdown score.
In the second half, Jackson broke off several big touchdown runs including 55 and 56-yard touchdown runs in the third and fourth quarter, respectively.
“Amari is that type of kid,” Rowse said. “No matter how much you give him, it is never too much. He will put the team on his shoulders and do whatever he has to do. He emptied the tank tonight and even though we lost, he showed a ton of heart and a ton of courage.”
For the Bobcats, after dropping the game on the road, they will return home next week to face McGuffey at Pat Tarquinio Field. As for Central Valley, they will put its undefeated Western Hills Conference record on the line next Friday as it travels to face Avonworth.
This article originally appeared on Beaver County Times: Central Valley grabs second conference win over Beaver Area Friday night
