Too much Bliss for Fort Cherry in state semifinals
Port Allegany junior runs for 284 yards, scores 40 points
CLARION — Aiden Bliss’ rushing totals entering Friday’s Class A state semifinal looked like something out of a “Madden” football game.
The Port Allegany junior backed up his statistics in rushing for 284 yards on 35 carries and scored five touchdowns and ran in five two-point conversion attempts in the Gators’ 46-8 victory over Fort Cherry at PennWest Clarion’s Memorial Stadium.
Port Allegany (13-1) will play Bishop Guilfoyle for the state championship Thursday at Cumberland Valley High School’s Chapman Field. Kickoff is scheduled for 1 p.m.
“Our kids executed the game plan that the coaches put in to a ‘T’,” Port Allegany coach Justin Bienkowski said. “We want them to feel us. That was the biggest focus. It’s hard to tackle people for four quarters, especially when we have some of the linemen that we got and Aiden (Bliss) at running back. We just wanted them to know that we are here, and you better strap it up for four quarters.”
The Rangers’ season ends at 14-1, but coach Tanner Garry wants his team to remember a second straight WPIAL championship and a trip to the state semifinals.
“Whenever you lose the way we did today, it will do nothing but motivate our kids,” Garry said. “We made it to the state championship last year, and we wanted to get back there again, obviously, and try to find a way to redeem ourselves this year. We fell short, which means we have more work to do now.”
It was no secret the Gators lived and died with Bliss, and Port Allegany took the opening kickoff and drove for a touchdown that Bliss capped off with a 13-yard touchdown run with 5:07 left in the first quarter. Bliss ran in the two-point conversion for an 8-0 lead.
Bliss scored on the Gators’ next drive from one-yard out and added another two-point conversion run for a 16-0 advantage with 11:20 remaining in the second quarter.
Fort Cherry drove to Port Allegheny’s 17 on the ensuing drive, but the Gators forced a turnover on downs.
Port Allegheny extended its lead to 24-0 when Isaac Postlewait returned a fumble 21 yards for a score and Bliss ran in the two-point conversion with 6:38 remaining in the second period.
The Rangers were hindered by five turnovers.
“You want to see your team play their best game in situations like this, and we just didn’t play our best ball tonight,” Garry said. “That’s a fantastic football team, but we hurt ourselves way too much this game to really be in it.”
Bliss scored his third touchdown from seven yards out with 4:17 left before halftime.
Fort Cherry got on the scoreboard with 20 seconds remaining in the second quarter when Matt Sieg scored on a 10-yard run and added the two-point conversion to cut the deficit to 32-8.
The Rangers received the second-half kickoff, but couldn’t get their offense going and Bliss scored on a 44-yard run with 7:53 left in the third quarter.
Bliss scored on a 35-yard run with 3:44 remaining in the third. He was stopped on the two-point conversion attempt, but the Gators have the mercy rule in effect.