Published: October 05, 2008 12:06 am      

Northern Cambria stops Laurel Valley

NEW FLORENCE — Northern Cambria quarterback Anthony Penska scored the go-ahead touchdown late in the fourth quarter and the Colts’ defense held off a frantic last-minute drive by Laurel Valley, ruining the Rams’ homecoming with a 12-8 Heritage Conference victory on Saturday.

“We’ve never won on this field,” Colts coach Paul Taranto said. “It feels really good, it really does.”

Northern Cambria took advantage of a poor Laurel Valley punt, which went just 14 yards, giving the Colts the ball on the Rams’ 35.

Ten plays later, Penska plunged in from the 1. The conversion pass failed, giving the Colts a 12-8 lead but leaving the Rams with 2:34 left in the fourth quarter.

Laurel Valley – aided by a Northern Cambria 15-yard face-mask call – moved the ball to the Colts’ 33. A sack by Northern Cambria’s John Kerr pushed the ball back 6 yards. With 53 seconds left and the Rams needing 16 yards to extend the drive, quarterback Patrick Hall lofted a pass down the right sideline to Justin Tantlinger. Tantlinger leaped between three Colts defenders and appeared to have snared the ball, but the senior split end couldn’t hold on as he hit the ground.

“Our kids battled, we had a chance to pull it out at the end, but it fell short,” Rams coach Jerry Page said.

Laurel Valley had a chance to get on the scoreboard first, driving to the Colts’ 1 but turned the ball over on downs.

Northern Cambria (3-3) usually relies on the run but it was the passing of the Colts that doomed Laurel Valley (4-2).

On second-and-10 from its 1, Northern Cambria’s Penska hit Ryan Novella with a 24-yard pass.

“That was a big starting play,” said Penska, who was 8 of 14 passing for 132 yards. “That gave us confidence as a team.

“We had receivers on different levels. If it wasn’t there, I’d check up to the next level and we’d get a good 15 yards for a first down. We had some big plays out of that.”

Six plays later, Lieb went in from the 2, putting the punctuation on a 99-yard drive. The kick failed.

“That was a 99-yard drive, and 80 of it was through the air,” said Taranto, who is in his first season. “You’re pinned down, what else do you do?

“I like to run the ball. It’s a challenge for us. When you’ve got a quarterback like Penska and our receivers, they can all catch the ball. We’ve actually got to start doing a little more of that. I’m a run-type guy, but the pass was there, so we took advantage of it.”

The Rams answered after Matt Black blocked a Colts punt and Tantlinger recovered at the Northern Cambria 8.

Two plays later, Hall passed to Tantlinger for an 8-yard touchdown. Marcus Welshons ran in the conversion and the Rams led 8-6 with 51 seconds left before halftime.

“Give credit to Northern Cambria,” Page said. “We knew they were better than that 2-3 record indicated.”

Northern Cambria plays at Marion Center on Friday night while Laurel Valley heads to Homer Center.