HS FOOTBALL: Bears defeat Devils to keep trophy, earn EC playoff berth
KAYLEE LINDENMUTH / SHENANDOAH SENTINEL - Shenandoah Valley's #2 Ben Dempster bats the ball out of the hands of Mahanoy Area's #17 Levi Terry.
MAHANOY CITY – For the 10th year in a row, the Damato/Szematowicz Memorial Trophy is staying in Mahanoy City.
Mahanoy Area’s 35-17 win Friday night over Shenandoah Valley extended their current win streak in the series, which is now the longest either school has had since the series began in 1899.
The Damato/Szematowicz Trophy wasn’t all that was on the line for the Bears. Depending on the result of the Palmerton/Northern Lehigh game, Mahanoy would earn a spot in the Eastern Conference Playoffs.
Mahanoy needed Northern Lehigh to lose, and they lost big, falling 47-13.
“It’s a great rivalry, both teams played hard football,” Mahanoy Area Head Coach Paul Babinsky told the Sentinel postgame. “Our kids, we were 1-6 three weeks ago, and we turned a corner and now we have an opportunity to play one more game so we’re excited about that.”
With three one-possession losses on the season, Mahanoy came just short of making the District XI playoff field.
“We needed a break here and there and we didn’t get it done,” Babinsky said. “we stumbled a little earlier in the season which hurt us, but that’s football.”
Babinsky said the Eastern Conference game will be a rematch against Pen Argyl. The Green Nights defeated the Bears in the Slate Belt 43-13.
“We played with them, we just let it go in the 4th quarter,” Babinsky said. “Hopefully we’re better now and we’ll be able to bring a championship home to Mahanoy Area.
Friday’s game was also record-breaking for one Mahanoy Area player.
Senior running back Colm McGroarty scored four rushing touchdowns in the game, rushing for 199 yards and earning his teams MVP award.
His performance helped him eclipse Jim Dudash’s career rushing total, which stood at 4,033, the highest in school history.
Friday’s matchup was one of the more competitive games in the series in recent years.
McGroarty scored first for the Bears with an 80 yard run with 7:22 remaining in the first.
The Devils drove downfield but were stopped in the red zone, where they settled for three points off the boot of freshman kicker Sam Mentusky.
Mahanoy led 7-3 at the end of the first, but, not long into the second quarter, McGroarty found paydirt again, extending the lead to 14-3.
He’d strike again with 5:44 left in the second, and the Bears took a 21-3 lead into the halftime break.
Shenandoah Valley won the initial coin toss and elected to receive the opening kickoff, but, via an onside kick, they took the second half’s as well.
A run by senior quarterback Ben Dempster took the Devils to the red zone, and senior receiver Nick Ryan punched it in for six as the PAT failed.
Sophomore running back Kyler Quick scampered in for a Mahanoy touchdown after multiple attempts from the red zone with under 5 minutes left in the third quarter.
With 10:34 left to play, Dempster ran it in for another Devils score, narrowing the Mahanoy lead to 28-17.
The Devils defense held off a Mahanoy charge late in the 4th but, with two minutes left to play, a Mahanoy defender picked off a Dempster pass, followed immediately by a McGroarty touchdown to seal the game 35-17.
“Our kids played hard. In the end, we just didn’t make quite enough plays to win the game,” Shenandoah Valley Head Coach Ed Moran told the Sentinel postgame. “I’m proud of our kids, they played hard, they never gave up during the game. Unfortunately, we just ended up on the short end.”
Dempster was named MVP for Shenandoah Valley, and both he and McGroarty were presented plaques by the family of the late Senator James Rhoades.
Mahanoy improved to 4-6 with the victory and moves on to face Pen Argyl (5-5) in the Eastern Conference playoffs at a date and time to be announced.
Though the 2-8 Blue Devils are not playoff bound, their season isn’t over yet. A week 11 contingency game has been scheduled for Thursday at 6:30pm as they travel to face the 0-10 Falcons of Salisbury Township in suburban Allentown.
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