Shuster's 4 TD's guide Windber past Uniontown; Berlin Brothersvalley blanks Brownsville
WINDBER -- Matt Grohal’s Windber football team lost a lot in suffering its first defeat last week. What the Ramblers couldn’t afford to do was let the effects of one loss carry over into the next game.
John Shuster helped make sure that didn’t happen, rushing for 273 yards and four touchdowns, and the Ramblers defense held Uniontown to 38 yards of offense in a 40-0 thrashing of the 3A team from Fayette County.
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“I think some of the kids, we were a little less focused this week,” Grohal said after his team improved to 5-1. “Obviously, you lost the chance to win the WestPAC, the chance to play in the Appalachian Bowl (with last week’s 14-0 loss to Berlin). I think that stung a little bit. I think it took until today to shake that off. We had all of the youth guys in the locker room before the game, and that really set the tone. They came out and played four quarters of pretty good football.”
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Shuster led the Ramblers out of the gate quickly, as he blocked a punt on the fourth play of the game, then found the end zone from 4 yards out on the next play to put Windber in front after just 53 seconds.
“That was a big start for the game,” Shuster said of the blocked punt. “I’ve been close to a couple this year.”
Shuster also had scoring runs of 1, 13 and 59 yards on a night when he went over the 1,000-yard mark for the season. Fullback Blake Klosky also scored on a 3-yard run.
“We just kind of wore them down all game,” Shuster said. “By the end of the game, the holes were getting bigger and bigger. We just capitalized as a team.”
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What it means
The Ramblers accomplished the biggest goal in getting a victory, and the defense was outstanding, but Grohal wasn’t entirely pleased.
“For as well as we played, there’s a lot of stuff we need to clean up,” Grohal said. “We’ll look at the tape and try to get better for next week.”
The Ramblers fumbled four times in the first half, losing two, and had at least a half-dozen more problems on snaps in their single-wing offense.
“Last week we put a couple on the ground, but it was on the running backs,” Grohal said. “Tonight, it was on the center. I don’t know what’s going on there. In the first quarter, we were sloppy offensively. We turned it over twice, but we put four or five on the carpet. That’s uncharacteristic of us.”
Key play
Ethan Brady’s 25-yard touchdown pass to Klosky with 6.4 seconds left in the first half. When Shuster scored his third touchdown with 1:09 remaining in the second quarter, it looked like the Ramblers would take a 20-0 lead into the locker room. Grohal had other ideas, as Windber’s defense stopped Uniontown to get the ball back with 36 seconds remaining. Two Shuster runs produced 30 yards, and Brady found a wide-open Klosky in the left corner of the end zone to put the game out of reach.
By the numbers
Through five games Windber has outscored its opponents 277-28. … Uniontown was shut out for the second time this season and has only scored 13 points in its past three games. … After carrying 69 times in the Ramblers’ first five games, Shuster rushed 29 times on Friday night.
Unsung hero
Windber kicker/punter Bryson Costa booted four extra points, had three touchbacks on kickoffs and boomed a punt that went 49 yards in the air with good hang time. The junior soccer player, who moonlights on the football team, also made a tackle on a kickoff.
“He had a great game,” Grohal said. “His dad was an unbelievable player for us back in ’87. He made that tackle for us. I’m sure the coaches weren’t happy if they were sitting in the stands, but he’s a heck of a kicker. He put them on a short field. We played 80 yards of defense, and when you can do that it’s a huge asset to us.”
They said it
Windber held Uniontown to minus-25 yards in the first half and didn’t allow the Red Raiders to get a first down until the third quarter. For the game, Uniontown finished with 38 yards, 44 of which came on Cameron Jackson’s third-quarter run.
“We just couldn’t get the ball moving the way that we wanted to,” Uniontown coach Keith Jeffries said.
What’s next
Windber will resume WestPAC play with a trip to Meyersdale for a 7 p.m. game on Friday. Uniontown will host Brownsville at 7 p.m. Friday.
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Berlin Brothersvalley pitches 6th straight shutout
Daily American
In Brownsville, the Mountaineers recorded their sixth straight shutout of the season in a 57-0 throttling of the Falcons on Friday night.
Senior Ryan Blubaugh took the opening kickoff for a touchdown. He also caught a 55-yard touchdown pass from Pace Prosser, who also connected with Holby McClucas on a 14-yard TD strike.
Will Latuch (23-yard run), Dalton Maust (21-yard run), Cody Kimmel (6-yard run), Seth Kimmel (11-yard run) and Trace Hay (15-yard run) each had a rushing touchdown in the game.
Connor Montgomery went 6-for-8 in PAT's. He also made a 30-yard field goal.
Berlin (6-0) hosts North Star at 7 p.m. on Friday.
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This article originally appeared on The Daily American: Windber back in win column behind Shuster's 4 TD's; Berlin stays perfect
