ALEXANDRIA - The first meeting ever between Juniata Valley and Huntingdon on the gridiron went to Juniata Valley.
The Green Hornets wrapped up a 9-1 regular season Friday with a 47-7 victory over neighboring Huntingdon at A.R. Simkins Memorial Field.
"It's the first time we ever played so that's pretty neat. A lot of the kids are good friends," Juniata Valley coach Mike Smith said. "Most of these of these kids played together in pee wee and are practically neighbors."
Juniata Valley's season continues next Saturday night with a home playoff game in the District 6 Class A playoffs. The Hornets will get the third or fourth seed depending on what Glendale does tonight against Ferndale and will host either Bishop McCort or Bishop Guilfoyle next Saturday.
Huntingdon wrapped up a rough season at 1-9.
"It was a tough year," Huntingdon coach Mike Hudy said. "Its the same story. We lost the battle at the line of scrimmage. They were more physical than we were. They're a good team. They're 9-1. We're 1-9."
Juniata Valley outgained the Bearcats 353-92.
"Our guys up front did a real nice job on both sides of the ball," Smith said.
Brett Grissinger turned in another big game for Juniata Valley with 236 yards rushing, two long touchdown runs and a short touchdown reception. The senior back also had a nifty 90-yard punt return negated by penalty.
"Brett really opened things for us with a couple long runs. He was pretty good again [Friday]," Smith said. "The punt return that was called back was a heck of a run."
Juniata Valley set the tone on its first possession of the game with a 13-play, 65-yard drive that took nearly six minutes off the game clock. Grissinger and Jesse Claar combined for 12 carries, covering all 65 yards. Claar capped the drive with a 10-yard touchdown after shaking free of a Huntingdon defender in the backfield.
The next three Valley touchdowns came much quicker, starting with Kris Gardner's blocked punt in the final minute of the first quarter that he returned 36 yards for a touchdown.
"Kris made an excellent play. He beat his guy off the edge, blocked the punt and scooped it up on the run," Smith said.
The Hornets scored two more touchdowns in the first three minutes of the second quarter for a 28-0 lead after the first 15 minutes of play.
One the first play after a 57-yard Huntingdon punt pinned Valley at its own 7, Grissinger found a lane, stepped through a couple tackles and took it all the way for a 93-yard score.
Juniata Valley got the ball two plays later on a Claar interception that he returned to the Huntingdon 10-yard-line.
Caleb Taylor found Grissinger open over the middle for a 9-yard touchdown pass on 3rd-and-goal.
Huntingdon got on the board late in the half when Josh Foster connected with Dakota Peters for a 9-yard touchdown.
On the next two offensive plays, the teams exchanged fumbles before Grissinger ripped off a 73-yard touchdown run for his third score of the half.
SCORE BY QUARTERS
Huntingdon0 7 0 0 - 7
Juniata Valley14 20 6 7 - 47
First quarter
JV-Je. Claar 10 run (kick failed), 2:46.
JV-Gardner 36 blocked punt return (Je. Claar from Taylor), :49.
Second quarter
JV-Grissinger 93 run (Staber kick), 11:20.
JV-Grissinger 9 pass from Taylor (Staber kick), 9:00.
H-Peters 9 pass from Foster (Claar kick), 3:06.
JV-Grissinger 73 run (run failed), 2:25.
Third quarter
JV-Je. Claar 6 run (kick failed), 2:26.
Fourth quarter
JV-Wagner 3 run (Staber kick), 5:17.
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING: Huntingdon-Stetchock 10-23, Claar 8-14, Foster 7-16, Spyker 4-26, Bell 2-2, Peters 1-(-2). Juniata Valley-Grissinger 16-236, Je. Claar 17-71, Taylor 2-19, Maysonet 2-(-2), Wagner 6-9, Gable 1-7, Ja. Claar 1-8, TEAM 1-(-1).
PASSING: Huntingdon-Claar 2-9-2-4, Foster 1-3-0-9. Juniata Valley-Taylor 1-5-0-9.
RECEIVING: Huntingdon-Peters 1-9, Stetchock 1-2, Foster 1-2. Juniata Valley-Grissinger 1-9.
INTERCEPTIONS: Juniata Valley-Je. Claar 2.
TEAM STATISTICSHJV
First downs514
Rushes-yards32-7946-347
Passing (cmp.-att.-int.)3-12-21-5-0
Yards passing139
Total yards92356
Fumbles-lost4-34-3
Penalties-yards6-354-41
Punts-avg.6-26.31-27.0
