Ed Kiesendahl's 231 Rushing Yards Lift Wallenpaupack Past Valley View, 27-13

Ed Kiesendahl did almost everything for Wallenpaupack on Friday night, and it was enough to hold off Valley View 27-13 at Wallenpaupack High School.

Kiesendahl carried the ball 31 times for 231 yards and three touchdowns, scoring on runs of 18 and 67 yards plus a 1-yard plunge in the fourth quarter. Outside of Kiesendahl's workload and Anthony Kiesendahl's 10 carries for 39 yards, the Buckhorns leaned almost entirely on the ground game, finishing with 43 rush attempts for 272 yards and three rushing touchdowns as a team. Sam Kiesendahl attempted just five passes all night, completing 2 for 77 yards, with Ryan Vargo hauling in both for all 77 of those yards.

Wallenpaupack controlled the game from the start. Ed Kiesendahl's 18-yard touchdown run in the first quarter put the Buckhorns up 7-0, and they never trailed. Colby Bonagura added a 32-yard field goal in the second quarter, and Kiesendahl broke off a 67-yard score later in the quarter to make it 17-0 at halftime. Bonagura connected again from 43 yards in the third quarter and finished 3-for-3 on extra points to go with his two field goals.

Valley View didn't go quietly. Brady Bachman capped a third-quarter drive with a 1-yard touchdown run, and after Bonagura's second field goal made it 20-7, the Cougars pulled within a touchdown in bizarre fashion. Cash Roe hauled in a pass and fumbled it after the catch, but Colin Witkowski scooped the loose ball and rumbled 8 yards for a touchdown, cutting the deficit to 20-13 with under two minutes left in the third quarter.

That was as close as Valley View would get. Kiesendahl punched in his third rushing touchdown of the night from a yard out in the fourth quarter to push the lead back to two scores, and Kiesendahl came up with an interception on defense in the fourth quarter to help close out the win, making his fingerprints visible on both sides of the ball.

Colin Dempsey kept Valley View competitive through the air, completing 14 of 21 passes for 212 yards and a touchdown, though he was intercepted twice. One of those interceptions came after the ball deflected off a receiver's hands into the air before being picked off. Roe was his top target, catching 9 passes for 157 yards. Witkowski's touchdown came off the fumble recovery and took it 8 yards for the TD, while Jonathan Anuszewski chipped in on the ground and through the air with 11 carries for 27 yards and a catch for 11 yards.

Valley View's lone offensive touchdown came on Bachman's short run, with Braden Loff adding the extra point. Loff also handled kicking duties for the Cougars and put a pair of touchbacks into the end zone, part of an effort to pin Wallenpaupack's offense deep whenever possible.

Wallenpaupack's defense forced two interceptions and held Valley View's run game to just 35 yards on 20 attempts, a stark contrast to the 272 yards the Buckhorns piled up on the ground themselves. The 18 first downs to 11 in Wallenpaupack's favor told the story of a team that controlled the clock and the line of scrimmage for most of the night.