HEGINS — It was a great way for Tri-Valley to finish the season and build for the future.
It couldn’t have been a better finale for Hunter Harner’s career.
The Bulldogs’ quarterback ran for a senior-high 238 yards and four scores, while Jaden Buchanan and Tyler Lucas returned interceptions for touchdowns during Tri-Valley’s 38-7 rout of Millersburg in the Eastern Conference Class A title game Friday at Bulldog Stadium.
Harner scored on runs of 28, 20, 5 and 29 yards, with the final three coming in the second half as Bulldogs (7-5) pulled away from a 12-7 halftime lead. Harner’s previous season high was 180 yards against Juniata in Week 6, an 18-6 Tri-Valley victory.
“It is pretty amazing, it really is,” said Harner, who finished the season with 1,122 yards. “I couldn’t do it without my teammates, though. It is just an amazing experience to play with them.”
Harner finished his career in style, scoring on the last official run of his career. On a fourth-and-14 play with 6:47 left in the game, Harner found a big hole over the left side of the line and then took it in to make it 31-7, sealing the game and the championship.
“Hunter Herb loves to run that play,” Harner said. “He is like, ‘Follow me, it will be a touchdown, I promise.’ So I followed him.”
Tri-Valley bounded back from several down points this season to win its title.
The Bulldogs started the season 1-3, but went 4-2 over its final six regular-season games. Another down came in Week 10 when Tri-Valley needed a victory in its finale against Newport to qualify for the District 11 Class A playoffs, but were blown out 49-12, putting the Bulldogs in the Eastern Conference playoffs.
Tri-Valley ended up finishing the year with a championship, starting with a dominating 27-14 win over Line Mountain in the semifinals last Friday.
“It felt pretty good,” Herb said. “We weren’t going to make districts and we made this. We made the most of it and came out with a win.”
There was some adversity Friday, too.
Already thin on both lines, depth-wise, the Bulldogs lost Beau Rothermel to an ankle injury in the second quarter. But Tri-Valley didn’t miss a beat, as Anthony Snyder moved from fullback to the offensive line, while Deven Schwalm and Tyler Dalton filled in on defense.
Offensively, the Bulldogs finished the night with 359 yards rushing on 40 attempts, as Tyler Lucas added 85 yards on 10 carries.
Perhaps lost in Harner’s night was the play of Tri-Valley’s defense, which has been stout during the playoffs.
Buchanan’s pick, his second of the postseason and 13th of the year, came on Millersburg’s first offensive possession following Harner’s first touchdown of the game in the first quarter.
The Indians (6-6) tried a swing pass into the right flat but Buchanan picked if off Christian Wingard’s pass at the Indians’ 40-yard line and returned it for the score, making it 12-0.
Lucas’ interception came with 4:52 left in the game, this one covering 70 yards. Wingard overthrew his receiver and Lucas took it down the sideline in front of Tri-Valley’s bench in for the score.
Chase Schaeffer added an interception for Tri-Valley early in the fourth quarter that set up Harner’s final touchdown. The Bulldogs finished the night allowing 269 yards of offense, but forced four turnovers.
That followed last week’s performance against the Eagles, when Tri-Valley held Line Mountain to 104 yards of offense and also picked off three passes.
“We had two really good weeks of practice after the Newport game,” Herb said. “We got our heads back on.”
Herb is one of the underclassmen who will return for the Bulldogs next season, as Tri-Valley loses seven seniors to graduation.
“We are young team and we had our ups and downs this year and it is always nice to end up on an up,” Bulldogs coach Mike Ulicny said. “We are ending with some medals and the kids are happy that they got to play in Eastern Conference and play for a championship.
“Hunter Harner took over. Our offense did the job. We told our offense at the half they have to win the game for us and they did.”
Game Summary
Eastern ConferenceClass A Championship
Mill (6-6) 0 7 0 0 — 7 TV (7-5) 12 0 8 18 — 38
TV —H. Harner 28 run (kick failed)
TV —Buchanan 40 interception return (run failed)
Mil —Wingard 2 run (Wingard kick)
TV — H. Harner 20 run (H. Harner run)
TV —H. Harner 5 run (kick failed)
TV —H. Harner 29 run (kick failed)
TV —Lucas 70 interception return (no attempt)
Mil TV
First Downs 12 13
Rushes-Yards 38-135 40-359
Passes 8-24-3 2-9-0
Passing Yards 124 17
Total Yards 269 376
Fumbles-Lost 2-1 1-0
Penalties 5-59 7-55
INDIVIDUAL LEADERS
RUSHING: Millersburg — Keim 9-61, Lehman 10-29, Shomper 5-29, Wingard 13-17, Koppenhaver 1-(-1). Tri-Valley — H. Harner 20-238, Lucas 10-85, Schaeffer 5-31, Snyder 3-9, Team 2-(-4).
PASSING: Millersburg — Wingard 8-24-3, 124. Tri-Valley — H. Harner 2-8-0, 17; Buchanan 0-1-1, 0.
RECEIVING: Millersburg — Shomper 2-42, Troutman 1-33, Keim 2-23, Burger 1-13, Koppenhaver 1-10, Lehman 1-3. Tri-Valley — Lucas 2-17.
INTERCEPTIONS: Tri-Valley — Buchanan, Schaeffer, Lucas.