LOYALSOCK TWP. — High school football is supposed to be fun, and nobody is having more fun than the Shikellamy football team right now.
The Braves topped 40 points for the fourth time in five games, Thomas Pollock threw two touchdown passes, ran for another and caught one as well, and the Braves rolled to a 42-10 win over Loyalsock on Friday night to move to 7-1 for the first time in 45 years.
"I really like what we are doing with (Thomas). (Offensive coordinator) John (Schaeffer) is going with him," Shikellamy coach Mike Hoover said. "Most teams just line up their best receiver out there and let him get bracketed. We are moving him around, and now other teams are probably 'oh, now he's throwing the ball.'
"It's creating a lot of havoc for defenses."
The Braves used a personnel grouping against the Lancers that had Pollock line up at quarterback with Willie Bender and Noah Johnson as the sidecars in the shotgun. Pollock ran for 119 yards on nine carries, and threw touchdown passes of 5 yards to Brady Kurtz and an 85-yarder to quarterback Bobby Felmy to cap the scoring. Pollock also had six catches for 52 yards and a score.
"It's incredible. I just got to make sure I follow my blockers," Pollock said.
Another big plus for the Braves in the victory. Felmy called it “our most complete game of the season.”
“We haven’t been playing well in the first half,” Felmy said.
“We stressed getting off to a good start all week,” Shikellamy coach Mike Hoover said. “Not only in practice, but we really emphasized it before the game tonight.”
The Braves put together two long scoring drives in the first half, and never really let the Lancers feel like they were in the game.
“The last two games we didn’t start well. We came out slow against Lewisburg, but we were ready from the start,” Hoover said.
Shikellamy stopped the opening Loyalsock drive on a fourth down at the Braves’ 26. Shikellamy then went 74 yards in 11 plays to take a 7-0 lead when Pollock found Brady Kurtz on a 5-yard TD pass with 3:22 left in the first quarter for a 7-0 lead.
The Lancers (4-4) answered with a long scoring drive of their own — 11 plays, 83 yards — and Dyson Dupont found Carter Brown for a 17-yard touchdown grab to tie the game early in the second quarter.
Shikellamy then went 90 yards in 14 plays, capped by Tristan Smith’s 7-yard TD run with 4:14 left in the first half. Shikellamy had only two third downs on the long drive — Felmy scrambled nine yards on third-and-8, and the touchdown run.
The Braves ran the ball 20 times in the first half for 163 yards.
“We were able to spread the ball around in our running game because our offensive line played so well,” Hoover said. “They are the engines that are running this offense.”
The Braves were able to punch another score in before halftime, getting the ball back with 1:17 left. It took just three plays for the Braves to make it 21-7. Felmy ran for 21 yards, then found Maddox Hoover for 28 yards, before Pollock caught a 23-yard pass from Felmy with 39 seconds left.
Shikellamy scored on the opening drive of the second half when Felmy found Maddox Hoover for a 12-yard TD catch, but the big play was Hoover’s 25-yard grab to convert a third-and-10 and keep the drive alive.
The Lancers cut the lead to 28-10 with a field goal after the next Shikellamy drive was bogged down by penalties, but Shikellamy salted the game away with his helicopter grouping.
Pollock ran for 66 yards in a 68-yard drive to push the lead to 35-10 on Pollock’s 13-yard touchdown run.
Loyalsock pinned Shikellamy at the 15 with a punt, but Pollock threw an 85-yard TD to Felmy to cap the scoring with 6:35 left in the game.
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SHIKELLAMY 42, LOYALSOCK 10
Shikellamy (7-1);7;14;14;7—42
Loyalsock (4-4);0;7;3;0—10
SCORING SUMMARY
First quarter
S-Brady Kurtz 5 pass from Thomas Pollock (Ryan DePhillips kick)
Second quarter
L-Carter Brown 17 pass from Dyson Dupont (Ethan Boyer kick)
S-Tristan Smith 7 run (DePhillips kick)
S-Pollock 25 pass from Bobby Felmy (DePhillips kick)
Third quarter
S-Maddox Hoover 12 pass from Felmy (DePhillips kick)
L-Boyer 30 field goal
S-Pollock 13 run (DePhillips kick)
Fourth quarter
S-Felmy 85 pass from Pollock (DePhillips kick)
TEAM STATISTICS
;S;L
First Downs;23;18
Rushes-yds;29-249;40-167
Passing yds;241;81
Total yds;490;241
Passing;16-20-0;6-12-1
Fumbles-lost;1-0;1-0
Penalties;10-110;3-20
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING — Shikellamy: Thomas Pollock 9-119, TD; Bobby Felmy 7-65; Gavin Keefer 6-30; Tristian Smith 2-17, TD; Willie Bender 3-13; Kyler Campbell 1-6; team 1-(-1). Loyalsock: Cayden Sones 28-93; Dyson Dupont 7-56; Zahki Dicks 4-17; Zach Campbell 1-1.
PASSING — Shikellamy: Felmy 14-18-0 for 151 yards, 2 TDs; Pollock 2-2-0 for 90 yards, 2 TDs. Loyalsock: Dupont 6-12-1 for 81 yards, TD
RECEIVING — Shikellamy: Felmy 1-85, TD; Maddox Hoover 4-70, TD; Pollock 6-52, TD; Smith 3-25; Brady Kurtz 2-9, TD. Loyalsock: Sones 3-42; Carter Brown 2-28, TD; Jackson Keefer 1-11.