ALTOONA, Pa. — You can't teach speed and athleticism.
You can show all the fundamentals in the world about blocking, tackling and pass defense, but when you have a team loaded with athletic ability at each position, especially skill spots, the lights get flipped off quickly.
Ask Bellefonte's Duffy Besch. The first-year Red Raider head coach quickly found out.
Greater Johnstown junior quarterback
Gervon Simon threw for four touchdowns and 246 yards, all in the first half, as the Trojans opened up a 34-0 lead at halftime en route to a 49-8 win at Mansion Park in the District VI Class AAA championship.
Click here to view MaxPreps' Pennsylvania football playoff brackets.Johnstown moves into the Districts 6-9 sub-regional championship to meet up with state-ranked
Clearfield, a winner over Punxsutawney.
Leading 6-0 after one, the Trojans basically slammed the door shut with 28 points in the second quarter and pushed the game into the mercy rule late in the third quarter.
"It was exactly what we talked about before the game," Besch said. "We needed to limit the big play, and cut down on the mental mistakes, and quite frankly, we just didn't do that. To Johnstown's credit, they are a great football team. They have a lot of playmakers and they did just that."
Simon was everything as advertised, entering the game with nearly 2,000 yards and 24 scores.
He finished with 303 yards and five touchdowns – the final coming on a 48-yard jailbreak screen where
Marc Watson went to the end zone untouched with 26 ticks left in the third.
"It just feels great to win a district championship," said Simon, who threw for 402 yards and five touchdowns in last week's win over then-undefeated Forest Hills. "Last year, I just had a small role on the team. This year, to win a district title and be the starting quarterback, man, it feels great."
His receivers weren't too shabby, either.
Daquan Minter had a spectacular catch in the first quarter, leaping in the air and wrestling a ball away from a Bellefonte defender in the end zone.
Alkwan Williams one-upped him, literally. Simon threw a 10-yard pass between two Red Raider defenders. Williams, a junior, reached his right hand out and snatched the pigskin before either defender could grab it. A sure interception turned into the Trojans' second score of the evening.
"Our receivers are just ridiculous," Simon said. "I just throw the ball up to them because I know they are going to make the play. The receivers and the line deserve all the credit. They make up our offense, and they make up my statistics. Honestly, I don't think there is a team in the state that has better receivers than ours."
Simon, though, showed his touch – lofting a beautiful, 19-yard pass toward the back-right corner of the end zone for a wide-open
Calvin Anderson. It was a highlight night for Johnstown (10-1) and its high-octane offense.
"I'm so proud to have a chance to win a district title," first-year head coach Tony Penna, Jr. said. "This is an unbelievable feeling. Our coaches deserve as much credit as I do. Those guys work their tails off and work hard with our kids in practice to make sure our plan is in place."
Simon was too much for Bellefonte to contain.
He completed 12 of 16 in the first half, including 10 straight at one point. Six of them were jump balls where he threw it up to one of his athletic receivers in one-on-one coverage. All six times, his teammate came down with the ball.
When he wasn't hurting Bellefonte with his arm, he was doing it with his legs – breaking containment and scrambling out of the pocket, rushing for a team-high 51 yards.
"He's a special quarterback," Besch said of Simon. "We had defenders around their receivers on three of the touchdowns. What can you say? Big-play receivers make big plays, and that's what their kids did tonight. I think our kids were kind of down at halftime. Up until tonight, we had not lost a second half all season. We put some points on the board, which was good for our kids. We've had a great season. There wasn't a single person that thought we would be 7-3 and playing for a district championship. I'm so proud of this team. They never quit."
Johnstown's defense was stout.
The Trojans only allowed three first downs in the first half, and Bellefonte had a mere 40 yards of total offense. Out of those 40, 33 came on one play – when Tyler Lucas found Jonas Holderman streaking open down the middle of the field.
The Red Raiders had four negative rushes, and completed only five of 12 in the opening 24 minutes.
In fact, it took Besch's crew just one play to reach that mark in the second half. Lucas found junior Malik Breon, who broke two tackles at the 35-yard line and went down the right sideline untouched. A 2-point conversion, a shovel pass from Lucas to Travis Struble, cut it to 34-8.
"Our defense was unbelievable," Penna said. "Credit our defensive coaches because their hard work in practice shows up on the field. Bellefonte has a nice team, but our kids just did a good job of making plays. We are starting to peak, but there is always something you can work on. We have to keep doing that. No one wants this run to end."
Tom Fox is sports editor at The Lock Haven (Pa.) Express and covers Central and Northeastern Pennsylvania for MaxPreps. He can be reached at tfox@lockhaven.com.
