Northern Cambria stuns Cambria Heights in sensational Coal Bowl

Aug. 27—NORTHERN CAMBRIA — Without question, heading into the final two minutes, Northern Cambria opened the 2022 high school football season with a performance better than anything it did last year, even in its two wins.

However, the Colts still needed one more play to ensure it wasn't just a moral victory, and, with reigning Heritage Conference champion Cambria Heights at the Northern Cambria 5, that was anything but certain.

"I was like, 'Should we let them get in?' Then Coach (Colt defensive coordinator Marty) Lessard said, 'Give me one more play. I think we've got this.' "

How right Lessard was. The Colts managed to rip the ball free from the enormous mitts of hulking 225-pound fullback Garrett Jasper and Northern Cambria's Dawson Shutty recovered it with 1:19 left to put the cherry on the top of 35-28 win in a sensational Coal Bowl on Friday night at Duffy Daugherty Memorial Stadium.

"It's amazing," Northern Cambria quarterback Owen Bougher said. "We didn't like the outcome (a 35-0 loss in Patton) last year, and we came out fighting."

Bougher was a big reason for the victory, completing 11 of 17 passes for 96 yards and rushing for 70 more on seven carries. He threw a 31-yard touchdown to Ty Dumm in the third quarter and staggered Cambria Heights' rally hopes in the fourth with an 8-yard bullet in the end zone to Peyton Myers.

Bougher, though, got plenty of support. Colton Paronish, who's missed more games than he's played in his four years at Northern Cambria, ran for a game-high 95 yards, including a 41-yard touchdown with 3:08 left that staked the Colts to a seven-point advantage. He also threw a 23-yard option pass to Dumm for a score at the end of the first half.

Jackson Sheredy tacked on 82 yards on the ground and Logan Dumm had a 42-yard run in the second half for Northern Cambria, which shredded one of the best defenses in the area a season ago for 298 yards rushing and 417 yards total.

"I just saw a hole open up and my linemen making beautiful blocks. I wouldn't have gotten anywhere without them," Paronish said of the go-ahead touchdown.

Of course, to make it hold up, the Colt defense needed to come through at the end. After Ty Stockley and Tanner Trybus combined for a 21-yard completion to the Colt 5, it was up to the run defense to find a way to stop Heights' potent rushing attack. Dawson Shutty finished off the play and preserved the win.

"I don't know what happened. We worked our (tails) off. I saw the ball on the ground, so I dove on it. We were all in a pile," the junior tackle said.

Stockley tied the game at 28 on a two-point run with 5:11 left after Jasper pushed in from the 1. Trybus scored on runs of 50 and 18 yards and finished with 81 yards rushing, while Stockley had 62.

It was Cambria Heights' first Heritage Conference defeat since joining the league last year.

"We had our opportunities. You've just got to capitalize," Highlander coach Jarrod Lewis said.

Northern Cambria tied the game at 14 just before the half Colton Paronish found Ty Dumm all alone just outside the end zone on the third leg of a 23-yard double pass. Owen Bougher then threw to Ben Messina for the conversion that evened the score.

The Paronish-to-Dumm pass culminated a 14-play, 80-yard drive.

The Highlanders only needed 10 seconds to score first, Tanner Trybus taking a jet sweep 50 yards after Heights recovered an onside opening kickoff at midfield. However, Northern Cambria evened it up at six on Peyton Myers' 2-yard plunge with 3:46 left in the quarter.

Bougher broke loose on a 47-yard run that set up the score. Bougher had 108 yards of total offense in the first half.

Cambria Heights' Ty Stockley, though, put the defending Heritage Conference champions back up before the quarter changed, spinning after taking the snap and bolting 18 yards to the end zone. The drive was helped by a pass interference penalty two plays prior.

"This game will be etched in these boys' memories," Coach Shutty said, "forever."