Local Sports

Shadyside hands Frontier first loss, 43-21

NEW MATAMORAS -- After falling behind early to the visiting Shadyside Tigers the Frontier Cougars closed the gap and had the momentum clearly on their side.

Unfortunately the Cougars lost that momentum on an outstanding defensive play Shadyside and never recovered as they lost for the first time this season 43-21 to the undefeated Tigers.

The Cougars fell behind 13-0 in the first quarter before quickly cutting the lead to 13-8 thanks to a 24-yard pass from Luke Mendenhall to Caden Barrows and a safety when the Tigers botched the snap on a punt attempt and ended up kicking the ball out of the back of the end zone.

Facing a fourth-and-nine at the Shadyside 35-yard line after the free kick, Mendenhall connected with Davyn Ferrell on a pass play down the middle of the field and Ferrell found an opening in the Tiger secondary an appeared headed into the end zone for the go-ahead score.

Shadyside's Colt Cook never gave up on the play though and he caught Ferrell from behind inside the five-yard line and managed to strip the ball out of Ferrell's hands where it was recovered by the Tigers at the one-yard line.

Adding insult to injury, the Cougars were assessed a personal foul penalty at the end of the play moving the ball out of harms way and out to the 16-yard line for the Tigers.

"We were right there and a couple of things didn't go our way and we let it slip away," said Frontier head coach Damon Metheney. "Credit to them for making that play and it was kind of a turning point in the game and was very hard to overcome."

Shadyside took full advantage as they put together an 13-play 84-yard drive capped by a 4-yard touchdown run by Ace Nelson to increase their lead to 21-8.

The Tigers offense kept the Cougars defense on the field for the majority of the first half and that would pay dividends later on.

Shadyside ran 43 offensive plays from scrimmage in the opening half compared to just 23 for the Cougars.

After forcing the Cougars into a three-and-out to start the second half, Shadyside struck once again when they marched 61-yards on seven running plays with quarterback Jayden Johnson scoring his second touchdown of the game to push the Shadyside lead to 29-8.

"They certainly had some long drives and that may have wore us down a little bit," admitted Metheney. "I felt like our preparation this week was good but they just out executed us tonight."

Cook carried the ball six times on the drive for 59-yards before allowing Johnson to cash it in.

Frontier answered quickly as Hunter Ruble returned the ensuing Shadyside kick-off 85-yards for a touchdown to keep the Cougars in the game.

That hope would prove to be short-lived however as the Tigers took less than three minutes to march 92-yards with Logan Cather scoring on an 11-yard touchdown run with 4:44 to play in the third.

A 56-yard run from scrimmage by Cook was once again the key as the Tigers shoved their lead back to three possessions.

Johnson rambled 40-yards for a touchdown on the first play of the final quarter for Shadyside and Frontier rounded out the scoring when Mendenhall connected with Barrows on an 8-yard touchdown pass, the second connection between the two in the game.

Both Johnson and Cook eclipsed the 100-yard rushing mark for Shadyside as they piled up 411 total yards including a bruising 352 on the ground on 54 attempts.

Johhnson rushed for 173 yards on 30 carries while Cook carried the rock 11 times for 125, most of them coming in the second half.

The Cougars were unable to get much accomplished on the ground as they rushed for just 60 yards in the game on 25 carries.

Mendenhall completed 10-of-25 pass attempts for 171 yards and the two touchdowns while being picked off once.

Barrows caught five balls for 65 yards.

The loss was the first of the season for the Cougars and Metheney hopes it will be a learning experience for his young squad.

"I really think this is what our guys are going to thrive at because I know these guys aren't going to quit on anyone," said Metheney. "That was a playoff caliber team (Shadyside) and we were right there so I think we will bounce back just fine."

The Cougars will remain at home next week when they welcome the Valley Wetzel Lumberjacks.

Shadyside 43, Frontier 21

SHS (4-0) 13 8 15 7 - 43

FHS (3-1) 6 2 7 6 - 21

S: Jayden Johnson 11 run (Hunter Ramsay kick) 8:50, 1st

S: Ace Nelson 1 run (kick no good) 4:42, 1st

F: Caden Barrows 24 pass from Luke Mendenhall (kick no good) 2:32, 1st

F: Safety, Shadyside snapped the ball out of the end zone 9:40, 2nd

S: Nelson 4 run (Nelson run) 4:45, 2nd

S: Johnson 2 run (Kolton Wallace from Bryce Sloan) 8:01, 3rd

F: Hunter Ruble 85 kickoff return (Preston Binegar kick) 7:48, 3rd

S: Logan Cather 11 run (Ramsay kick) 4:44, 3rd

S: Johnson 40 run (Ramsay kick) 11:53, 4th

F: Barrows 8 pass from Mendenhall (kick blocked) 5:29, 4th

Team stats

Shadyside: First downs: 20, Rushes-yards: 54-352, Passing yards: 59, Total yards: 411, Passing: 5-15-0, Punts-avg: 2-29.5, Penalties-yards: 5-40, Fumbles-lost: 3-1.

Frontier: First downs: 9, Rushes-yards: 25-60, Passing yards: 171, Total yards: 231, Passing: 12-26-1, Punt-avg: 2-31.0, Penalties-yards: 11-92, Fumbles-lost 2-1.

Individual stats

Shadyside: Rushing: Jayden Johnson 30-173, Colt Cook: 11-125, Logan Cather 8-28, Ace Nelson 4-17, Jonah Klug 1-9. Passing: Johnson 5-15-0, 59yds, Receiving: Cather 3-56, Michael Hendershot: 2-3.

Frontier: Rushing: Austyn Kephart: 6-24, Luke Mendenhall: 13-23, Davyn Ferrell 2-7, Hunter Ruble 2-6, Caden Barrows 2-0, Passing: Mendenhall 10-25-1, 171yds, 2TD, Kephart: 1-1-0, 33 yds., Receiving: Barrows 5-65, Ferrell 1-34, Gage Stafford: 1-33, Kephart: 1-21, Ruble 2-20, Phoenix Nedley: 1 (-2).

Next game: Valley Wetzel at Frontier.