North Star fell behind early but bounced back and rolled to a Week 1 victory.
BOSWELL — Junior quarterback Kasey Yoder scored five touchdowns with 249 combined yards and added an interception on defense to lead North Star to a 35-19 victory over Moshannon Valley, Aug. 22
“We played pretty good up front tonight,” said Yoder. “They played a lot of cover three zone, so I had to get outside to throw and find lanes, but those big guys on the line paved the way tonight.”
North Star head coach Bob Landis agreed.
“We are going to go as the offensive and defensive lines go,” said Landis. “Obviously Kasey is an amazing athlete back there, and I thought Will Eshleman ran the ball well, but we will go as far as those guys up front take us.”
After North Star went three-and-out on the opening possession, the snap on the punt was fumbled, recovered by Moshannon Valley’s Gavin Lovell and returned to the 3-yard line.
It took the Black Knights only one play to cash in, when Ben Smeal went up the middle to make it a 7-0.
Yoder answered on the next series, calling his own number and bouncing off several tacklers to race 61 yards for the touchdown and an 8-7 lead following the 2-point conversion.
He gave North Star a 14-7 lead with a 2-yard touchdown run on its next series.
On the Cougars first possession of the second quarter, Yoder scored for the third time of the night from 13 yards out, making it 21-7.
Moshannon Valley returned the ensuing kickoff 85-yards for a touchdown to close the gap to 21-13.
North Star took a shot through the air on its next drive and Yoder found a wide-open Cash Hawkins for a 63-yard scoring strike which put the Cougars up 28-13 at the half.
The Cougars defense played takeaway on the first play of the third quarter to give the offense the ball at the 17-yard line. Six plays later, Yoder scored his fifth touchdown of the night from four yards out to extend North Star's lead to 35-13.
Moshannon Valley added an 11-yard touchdown pass from Brady Mihalko to Jack Moore late in the game to set the final.
Coach Landis knows he has big games ahead in the next few weeks.
“Juniata Valley next week is one of the better teams we will see, and then we have Meyersdale,” said Landis. “We need to clean things up and play better if we want to continue to win games.”
Follow Daily American Sports on Facebook and @dailyamericanmedia on Instagram.
This article originally appeared on The Daily American: North Star mauls Moshannon Valley in season opener
Category: General Sports
