Published: September 29, 2007 12:49 am      

Somerset wins shootout with Johnstown

SOMERSET — Somerset’s poise under pressure in the closing minutes helped the Golden Eagles preserve a wild and woolly 42-39 victory over visiting Johns-town on Friday night in a Laurel Highlands game.

“In years past, this program would have folded up their tents,” Somerset coach Steve Costea said. “These kids believe. They believe in us and in the program and they want to win. They want to turn it around for the community and everybody. There’s no head dropping. We don’t have that here anymore. We made big plays when we had to and were able to put the ball in the zone at the end.”

Somerset’s victory came despite another impressive performance by the Trojans’ Antwuan Reed, who scored five touchdowns (56 yards, 1, 66, 55, 1) and ran for 292 yards on 27 carries. Reed added another touchdown on a 23-yard pass from quarterback Shawn Lehman.

“Our defense had to contain Antwuan,” Somerset quarterback Jordan Kaufman said. “He’s a heck of a kid and had an incredible game, but we did good enough to win.

“We worked hard all week at practice. This was a tough team and a tough game. I’m just glad we didn’t give up. We really have confidence with our offense this year. We have confidence that we can move the ball down the field.”

After playing catch-up most of the game, Johnstown took its first lead with 1:09 left, putting together six plays, all Reed runs, capped by a 1-yard scamper. Jon Maurizio’s extra point kick put Johnstown ahead 39-34.

Somerset (3-2) came right back, as Josh Walters returned the kickoff to the Johnstown 36.

On the second play from scrimmage, Kaufman connected with Kyle Miller in the left side of the end zone for a touchdown with 46 seconds left.

Kaufman then hooked up with Garrett Breen for the conversion, giving Somerset the three-point cushion.

The Trojans (3-2) had one last march, but with no timeouts remaining, ran out of time.

“It was a great high school football game,” Johnstown coach Kevin Marabito said. “It was a shame a team had to lose. Somerset played a great football game. Our kids kept battling back. I’m very proud of what we did. My hat’s off to Somerset, they got the job done in the last 40 seconds or so and our kids didn’t quit. That’s all you can ask of them. We are a threat to break it at any time and if we had 10 more seconds, it might have been a difference.”

Somerset’s offense accounted for 301 yards on the ground with Vince Corden leading the way (six carries for 93 yards). Kaufman added 78 yards on 12 carries and Bryce Marker had 67 yards on seven runs.

Chase Dykstra scored a pair of Somerset touchdowns in the first quarter sandwiched around Reed’s first touchdown run for a 14-7 lead.

In the second, Josh Walters scored on a 13-yard pass from Kaufman and Reed added another touchdown as Johnstown trailed 21-13 at the half.

On Johnstown’s first possession of the second half, the Trojans capped a four-play drive with a 66-yard Reed dash down the right sideline, but missed the conversion pass to pull within 21-19.

In a stretch of the third quarter, their were three scores in 20 seconds, a Walters 2-yard run, a Reed 55-yard touchdown and Corden scoring on a 90-yard kickoff return for a 34-25 Eagles lead heading into the fourth.

“Our offense picked it up,” Kaufman said. “We made plays when we had to.”

Somerset will take on Richland next week while the Trojans face Bishop Carroll.

“We started with attitude and got the attitude rolling,” Costea said. “Now, you’ve got to have heart to play this game and we’re just not giving up.”