COWANSHANNOCK TWP. -- Almost the moment the clock ran out the scoreboard at West Shamokin blinked immediately to black. It's hard to blame the Wolves faithful for immediately trying to forget the 62-0 drubbing Ford City handed them. "We moved the ball all right, but we just couldn't punch anything in," West Shamokin senior quarterback Trevor Henderson said. "They just came out and ran the ball real well on us and our defense just couldn't stop them." They couldn't even hope to contain them. Ford City (6-2, 5-1) amassed 449 yards including 290 on the ground. The Sabers Wing-T rushing attack was led by senior Brandon Goldinger, who carried 11 times for 99 yards and a score, while senior wingback Aaron Bell rushed seven times for 53 yards and three touchdowns, doubling his scoring output for the season. "West Shamokin has some good athletic kids, they really do," Ford City head coach John Bartolovic said. "I think they just got down and have had some tough times and it's tough to play that way." In its first year after moving out of the District 9 Keystone Shortway Athletic Conference West Shamokin (1-7, 0-6) has given up 344 points, more than any other team in the WPIAL. The Wolves also entered the game one week after head coach Randy Tira informed them he would not return next season. "It was pretty tough," Henderson said. "It was our last home game and with all the crap that's gone on around here with the parents and stuff, and it's going to be tough even next week." While West Shamokin will finish up next Saturday in a battle for last place in the Allegheny Conference with Shady Side Academy, Ford City will have an eye on the playoffs, and a possible home game in the first round, when it hosts rival Kittanning (6-2, 4-2) in the regular season finale. "Kittanning has a good football team with a lot of good athletes and a lot of seniors," Bartolovic said. "That's going to be a tough game for us." Since the two teams resumed their 89-year rivalry, Ford City has won both meetings between the schools by an aggregate score of 57-14, but those games were only meaningless opening-night exhibitions. This one will have postseason implications for both schools. Ford City needs a win to make the playoffs and clinch at least second place in the conference. A Sabers loss by fewer than five or fewer points and they will also find themselves in the postseason for the third time in four years. "Our experience and maturity is starting to show each week," Bartolovic said. "We're starting to click a little better." It would be hard to believe that Ford City could play a better game than it did against its Armstrong School District rival. Ford City scored more points than it ran plays, 62-47, averaged 9.6 yards per play, and had 19 plays of 10 yards or more. The Sabers started the game making plays of this nature as quarterback Jesse Stivason, who finished 6-of-10 for 153 yards and a touchdown in the air, ran a draw up the middle for 21 yards. Two plays later Goldinger hit the hole for 14 and Bell capped it off with a 12-yard scamper around right end for the score. Ford City's next drive only lasted one play as Goldinger broke one up the gut for a 48-yard touchdown to put the Sabers ahead 14-0 with 4:36 to play in the first quarter. After the Sabers went ahead 21-0 on Josh Gispanski's 2-yard run with 1:12 to play in the opening period, West Shamokin finally started clicking on offense. The Wolves drove from their own 24 to the Ford City 1-yard line, but two three plays and a Goldinger sack of Henderson later and the Wolves were staring at a fourth-and-goal from the 7. Henderson threw incomplete and the Sabers held. "That was a heck of a defensive stand for us," Batolovic said. "Overall the kids played real well everywhere." On the ensuing possession, Ford City drove 93 yards on nine plays in 2:16 - keyed by a 37-yard connection between Stivason and Ryan Eckman who caught three balls for 107 yards - before Bell put the Sabers ahead 28-0 at halftime. Stivason started the clock running with an 18-yard strike to tight end Jeremy Hospodar on the opening drive of the third quarter, the first of four straight possessions on which the Sabers scored. Henderson, meanwhile, went 0 for 5 in the second half and finished his home career with an interception by Ryan Farah. "We were trying to get them going deep on the man-to-man like they did against Valley, but then they came out and ran a little bit different stuff so we went underneath," Henderson said. "We moved the ball real well there, then they changed it up at the half and we had to change up our game plan again. They're a well-coached football team." Bell scored for the third time, this time on a 8-yarder around right end to put Ford City ahead 41-0, then Derek Bush padded thinsg with a 32-yard run up the right sideline. farah scored the last offensive touchdown for Ford City with a 2-yard run, then Erik Densmore returned a Luke Wilson interception 26-yards for a touchdown to cap the scoring. "I was honestly concerned," Bartolovic said. "I know it seems strange now but, with some of the players they have and some of the athletes and Henderson throwing the ball was a concern of ours. But we came out and played pretty well and took them out of the game."

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