PINE GROVE — Williams Valley coach Tim Savage bragged about his running-back depth during the preseason.
Savage, however, hasn’t had much of an opportunity to showcase it. It’s been impossible to get Matt Miller off the field.
Miller had another big night, rushing for a career-high 244 yards and two short, second-half touchdowns to help Williams Valley to a 27-13 victory over Pine Grove in a Tri-Valley League contest Friday at Cardinal Stadium.
Friday’s victory snapped a two-game losing streak for the Vikings (4-3, 4-1 TVL) and moved them into a first-place tie with Juniata (6-1, 4-1) and Newport (5-2, 4-1). The Buffalos rolled past Millersburg 49-28 on Friday, while Juniata downed Mountain Ridge, Md., 50-28 in a non-league game.
“We practiced harder than ever,” Miller said of practices this week. “We had fun, but we came up here, we did what we had to do.”
Miller ran the ball 26 times Friday. It was the sixth consecutive game that Miller has gone over 100 yards this season, as he bested his previous season high of 172 yards two weeks ago against Upper Dauphin.
Miller gave all the credit to his offensive line of tackles Daymain Shoop and Kailin Hoffman, guards Tim Carl and Ian Minnich and a center rotation of Hero and Yuuki Sasaki.
Williams Valley finished the night with 336 yards of offense.
“Our offensive line did really good tonight,” Miller said. “They practiced really hard. Our offense was just really good. We had a couple of messed-up plays, but other than that, we were solid.”
One of the Vikings’ most important drives came on their first possession of the second half after Pine Grove (3-4, 3-3 TVL) tied the game at 13 late in the first half on a 55-yard interception return by Tyler Wolfe.
Williams Valley started at their own 29-yard line and put together a nine-play 71-yard drive. Miller ran the ball on six of those plays, including a 29-yard run to start the march. A 19-yard completion from Nick Rodichok to Cody Miller on a crossing route put the ball at the Pine Grove 3, and Matt Miller went over on the next play.
“Once we scored that touchdown, it brought our momentum back up,” Miller said. “We had a nice talk, we all got back in it and we knew that we had to do it.”
The Vikings’ final scoring drive was all Miller, as he ran the ball on all four plays, including a 45-yarder, breaking two tackles along the way, that put the ball at the Cardinals’ 4. Two plays later, Miller appeared to be stopped at the line of scrimmage but kept churning and broke from the pile to score from 3 yards out.
While Miller has been gobbling up yards in chunks, Pine Grove’s offense has been struggling.
The Cardinals dropped their second game Friday — they were blown out 41-7 at Upper Dauphin last week — and have scored just two offensive touchdowns in the past two games.
Mark Weinus led Pine Grove with 70 yards rushing, while quarterback Logan Levan was 14-for-20 for 143 yards. Injuries up front have hurt, especially to Scott Warner, who missed his second straight game with a knee injury.
“We have issues on the offensive line, obviously,” Pine Grove coach Jeff Sampson said. “You have some injuries and some kids who are playing hurt. I don’t want to make any excuses but we are just not getting it done up front.”
One of the Cardinals best drives of the night produced no points.
Down by seven, Pine Grove got the ball at its own 29 with 6:10 left in the third quarter. The Cardinals proceeded to turn out a 17-play drive that lasted into the fourth quarter and chewed up nearly 9 minutes of the clock. But the drive eventually stalled for good at the Vikiings 21 on an incomplete pass on fourth down.
Williams Valley put the game away on its next series.
Savage was happy to win, but knows the Vikings can do much better. Still, he was pleased with how they responded following Wolfe’s interception return.
“The enthusiasm was much better than it has been,” Savage said. “When we had that pick six, we had that adversity and we just didn’t insert head and start to fall apart. The kids, they didn’t get shook this time. We are trying to mature. We have a lot of young kids. Football has a lot of up and down swings and the younger guys have to adjust to that.”
Game Summary
WV (4-3, 4-1) 0 13 7 7 — 27 PG (3-4, 3-3) 0 13 0 0 — 13
WV —Dy. Rabuck 2 run (Hill kick)
WV —C. Miller 14 pass from Rodichok (kick failed)
PG —Diaz-Walton fumble recovery in end zone (Diaz-Walton kick)
PG — T. Wolfe 55 interception return (kick failed)
WV —M. Miller 3 run (Hill kick)
WV —M. Miller 3 run (Hill kick)
WV PG
First Downs 17 11
Rushes-Yards 35-278 37-79
Passes 6-15-1 14-20-1
Passing Yards 88 143
Total Yards 366 223
Fumbles-Lost 0-0 3-0
Penalties 6-39 6-72
INDIVIDUAL LEADERS
RUSHING: Williams Valley — M. Miller 26-244, Dy. Rabuck 2-13, A. Wolfgang 2-10, Rodichok 1-8, C. Miller 1-3, Harris 1-1, Team 2-(-1). Pine Grove — Weinus 25-70, S. Aungst 5-13, Levan 6-(-3), Diaz-Walton 0-0, Team 1-(-1).
PASSING: Williams Valley — Rodichok 6-15-1, 88. Pine Grove — Levan 14-20-1, 143.
RECEIVING: Williams Valley — C. Miller 4-55, Zimmerman 1-31, M. Miller 1-2. Pine Grove — T. Wolfe 7-118, Weinus 4-23, S. Aungst 3-2.
INTERCEPTIONS: Williams Valley — Dy. Rabuck. Pine Grove — T. Wolfe.