Persevering
Trojans fight through turnovers, penalties to edge Bearcats, 8-7
COAL CENTER — Mistakes derailed California’s offense for three quarters on Friday night.
When the game was on the line, though, the Trojans finally pulled together and did what they needed to do to win.
Logan Hartley’s 13-yard touchdown pass to Elijah Carpenter on fourth and three capped a 13-play, 71-yard drive with 4:30 remaining in the game, and Malachi Peak’s two-point conversion run gave California the points it needed to pull out a tense, 8-7 home victory over a gallant Bentworth squad in the Tri-County South Conference opener for both teams.
Peak shook off a pair of first-half fumbles to finish as the game’s leading rusher with 25 carries for 130 yards and Hartley completed 8 of 11 passes for 133 yards, the one TD and one interception.
The Trojans turned the ball over four times in the first half and were penalized 12 times on the night for 90 yards.
“There were quite a few clutch plays out there at the end and we were able to complete those,” California coach Ed Woods said. “Nobody quit. The kids worked hard. They just had a bad night.”
A bad night with a good ending.
Hartley completed two fourth-down passes on the touchdown drive, which took 7:29 off the clock, with one coming two plays after California (1-0, 3-1) faced second and 29 from its own 20 after a 9-yard loss and two consecutive five-yard penalties.
From there Hartley ran for six yards, tossed a short pass that Peak turned into a 17-yard gain and then connected with Landon Abercrombie who made a one-handed catch for 14 yards on fourth and six to the Bearcats 43.
Abercrombie ran for 10 yards then two plays later made a 10-yard reception for another first down to the Bentworth 20. Three runs got the ball to the 13 and on fourth down Hartley stood composed in the pocket and zipped the TD pass to Carpenter who held on despite tight coverage by Bentworth’s Matthew Behanna.
“It was a flood route to the left and then a skinny post on the back side,” Woods said of the touchdown. “Nice throw, nice catch. We ended up being able to put a couple plays together in order to score.”
Still down 7-6, California handed the ball to Peak and he bulled his way into the end zone for the pivotal two-point conversion.
“We’re going for two all year,” Woods said. “We’re not kicking the ball.”
The Trojans defense stepped up one last time from there with Colton Lowden making a third-down tackle for no gain on Ben Hays and a fourth-down tackle of Bearcats quarterback Ty Watson six yards short of a first down.
California ran out the final 2:46 from there with Peak’s 20-yard run to the Bentworth 1 on fourth and four sealing it.
Hays, one of the WPIAL’s top running backs, had 15 carries for 99 yards with most coming on a 38-yard touchdown run in the second quarter and a 41-yard run in the third quarter after officials ruled his knee didn’t touch the ground after he rolled over a California defender.
“We were able to contain him for the most part,” Woods said. “Bentworth is much improved.”
Bearcats coach Dave Pordash commended his team.
“I’m very proud of these guys,” Pordash said. “If you remember last year we got beat 72-14. We’ll come back. We’re going to build, we’re going to work hard and we’ll come back and beat Beth-Center (next week’s home opponent), and that’s our goal.”
California out-gained Bentworth 342 yards to 157 and had 14 first downs to seven for the Bearcats.
Even so, it was Bentworth (0-1, 2-2) that held a 7-0 halftime advantage.
The Trojans fumbled on the fourth play of the game with Brayden Taggart recovering for the Bearcats.
California turned it over again in the most unlikely fashion on its next possession.
Hartley completed a 50-yard pass to Adin Keyes but Hays yanked the ball from Keyes’ hands for a fumble recovery and returned it 15 yards to the Bentworth 46.
The Trojans forced a turnover of their own when Alan Dennis outjumped Bentworth’s Kaden Ayres for an interception but California fumbled the ball right back on the next play from scrimmage with Taggart again diving on the loose ball at the Trojans 42.
The Bearcats finally converted a turnover into points when Hays burst through the line two plays later and outraced California defenders down the middle of the field for a 38-yard touchdown. Caden Hackinson’s extra point made it 7-0 with 10:04 left in the second quarter.
Bentworth turned the ball over for the second time on a fumble recovered by Carpenter with 4:46 left in the first half, but again the Trojans would turn it back over themselves when Ayres pulled down an interception in the end zone between two California receivers on a long pass by Hartley and the half ended with the visitors in front 7-0.
Despite all the turnovers, the Trojans defense allowed just one score on the Bearcats’ seven first-half possessions, four of which began in California territory.
“We just couldn’t capitalize,” said Pordash, who credited his defense for keeping the Trojans off the board in the first half. “Our inside backers (Taggart and Preston Jaquay) played a hell of a game and we’ve got two stud d-ends (Levi Urcho and Cam Krejci) and we just kept putting pressure on them.”
“We gave everything we had.” Urcho said.
Woods was frustrated by his team’s performance, especially in the first half.
“All night was about execution,” Woods said. “We’d run three or four plays really well and then we’d have a mistake and it wasn’t a little mistake it was the big type of mistake, fumbling the ball, holding penalties. There was no consistent play tonight at all. It was just too sporadic. It wasn’t that they were beating us, we were beating ourselves.
“I felt good when we came out in the third quarter and we started to move the ball. I thought we were doing things better than we were in the first half.”
Jaquay had eight carries for 30 yards as Bentworth produced 139 rushing yards on 28 attempts and were limited to 18 passing yards on two completions.
Abercrombie was the Trojans’ leading receiver with three receptions for 51 yards and added eight carries for 42 yards on the ground. California ran the ball 44 times for 212 yards.
Woods gave his team kudos for fighting through adversity.
“I told them I was proud of the way they came out in the second half and that I thought they played hard,” Woods said. “I also said, though, that there’s a lot of things that we have to clean up and we have to continue to get better because if not then we’re going to be in trouble.”
The Trojans are at unbeaten Avella (1-0, 4-0) next week.
“We’ll be watching film tomorrow,” Woods said. “Hopefully we can correct a lot of this stuff and get better for Avella.”