Bulldogs rack up 50 in second, blast Hubs 71

SMETHPORT — Giving up the first touchdown of the game and sitting in a 7-7 tie after one quarter in its season-opening road trip, the Redbank Valley Bulldogs had zero trouble the rest of the way.

Like zippo, no issues.

Racking up a whopping 50 points in the second quarter and leading 57-7 by halftime, the Bulldogs rolled to a 71-7 thumping of Smethport Friday night.

“Our pre-game speech was about that 2021 game we lost in the opener to Keystone,” Bulldogs head coach Blane Gold said. “We felt like we were the better team and we didn’t take advantage of the opportunity. … I’ll tell you what. I was having flashbacks after the way the game started, but I was impressed. I looked at Braylon’s eyes and the seniors eyes and there was a sense of calm and that was something two years ago we didn’t overcome.

“We were able to overcome some of that adversity, which is a good thing.”

Although he threw an interception that was returned 93 yards on the fourth play of the game for what turned out to be the only Hubbers points of the night, Bulldogs quarterback Braylon Wagner, as did the rest of his team, had an efficient night. He completed 14 of 18 passes for 273 yards with four touchdowns while running for another.

Wagner’s top target was Mason Clouse, who grabbed five passes for 104 yards with TD plays of 13 and 32 yards while returning an interception 45 yards for one of the Bulldogs’ six second-quarter touchdowns. Jaxon Huffman also returned an interception 31 yards for a score in the second quarter.

Wagner also flipped TD passes to Ashton George covering 19 yards and 42 yards to Rylan Rupp which capped the 50-point second-quarter onslaught with still 1:46 left in the second quarter.

The Bulldogs, with their regulars out after halftime, scored twice in the second half when Brock George capped the opening drive of the third quarter with a 30-yard TD run. Third-string quarterback Sean Yeany threw a 16-yard TD pass to Austin Easlick to cap the game’s scoring with 1:27 left in the game.

The Bulldogs outgained the Hubbers, 477-86. Smethport wound up turning the ball over five times, three of them interceptions with two of those returned for touchdowns.

Owen Rounsville stepped in front of a Wagner pass one play after Wagner hit George for a 50-yard pass to the Hubbers’ 5 and galloped his 93 yards to paydirt.

After the Bulldogs’ drive stalled on downs at the Hubbers’ 8 in their next possession, they got revved up and tied it up when Wagner hit Clouse for their 13-yarder at the 5:18 mark of the first quarter.

Another Bulldogs stalled drive at the end of the first quarter ended a lost fumble at the Hubbers’ 4. But the Bulldogs were primed for a big second quarter.

Five plays after a Hubbers punt, Wagner went in from two yards out to make at 14-7. Clouse returned his interception two plays later and after a Hubbers three-and-out, it took two plays to score again on Drew Byers’ 3-yard run. It was 29-7 with 6:19 left in the half.

Huffman’s interception return followed by a recovered onside kick that led to Wagner’s 19-yard TD pass to George put the score at 43-7 with 4:52 left.

The Bulldogs scored twice more when Wagner found Clouse for the second TD on their 32-yarder and Rupp’s 42-yarder to make it 57-7.

The Bulldogs travel to Karns City next Friday.