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Jordan, defense lift Shore to 48-7 rout vs. Selinsgrove in District 4 Class AAAA semifinals

By Jon Gerardi 7 min read

JERSEY SHORE -- There may be a set design each play, but that doesn't necessarily mean it's going to follow that path when Elijah Jordan goes under center. Sure, initially it may. But then Jordan will see a receiver cutting back as a defender barrels in, and Jordan quickly spins out and takes off the other way.

His lineman may not always know where Jordan's going on any given plan, but more times than not, it results in positive yardage. And sometimes a few huge plays.

Fans saw that in action on Friday night at Thompson Street Stadium.

Jordan turned nothing into something time and time again and was a huge factor in Jersey Shore's 48-7 rout over Selinsgrove in the District 4 Class AAAA semifinals. With the win, the Bulldogs advance to face undefeated top-seed Shamokin, a 50-7 winner over Athens on Friday night.

With 4:17 to play until halftime, the Bulldogs had the ball on the Selinsgrove 4. Jordan initially ran to his right, looking like he was going to call his own number. That's when he suddenly took a step back and threw opposite direction to a wide-open Luke Thompson in the back of the endzone for a 21-0 lead.

It was a display of Jordan's pure athleticism as he ended Friday's game going 10 for 22 for 165 yards with two touchdown passes and added 32 rushing yards, extending drives with short-run pickups.

"You now sometimes people are like 'hey where's he at? How am I supposed to block?' They might get him sometimes, but he's going to extend plays and make plays like he did," Jersey Shore coach Tom Gravish said. "Sometimes guys might say 'he didn't run where he was supposed to go,' but hey he still got yardage."

Jordan's 4-yard touchdown pass where he reversed direction helped get the Bulldogs' offense rolling. That 21-point lead turned into 28 points heading into the half. And to begin the third quarter, the Bulldogs scored on a 55-yard fumble return by Brodie Herr and put the mercy-rule into effect.

There was no looking back from there as Jersey Shore kept its foot on the pedal.

"(Jordan) bailed us out with his own style. If he can extend the play, got to give the line credit because they help with some really intense players on the other side," Gravish said.

The third quarter belonged to Shore's defense making highlight-reel plays. Selinsgrove quarterback Roco Amato fumbled away the ball on a first-down play, which Herr returned 55 yards. The Bulldogs would later pin Selinsgrove deep in its own territory to close out the third quarter. Thompson made an outstanding play off the edge, hitting Amato and forcing him to let go of the ball. Owen Vandruff picked it off and ran it in 2 yards out for the touchdown, giving Jersey Shore a dominating 41-7 lead.

"We think it really sets a tone for us really and helps our offense get going and gets the whole team going if we make the play on defense," Thompson said.

Thompson was a thorn in Selinsgrove's side all night. The Bulldog ended with three sacks, had a quarterback hit which resulted in an interception return for a touchdown, and routinely was pressuring Selinsgrove's backs and Amato. Add that all together, and it's a huge reason why the Seals had just 56 rushing yards on 37 carries and 72 passing yards.

"Luke's really going to a different level as the season's progression. He caught a touchdown pass, he just works so hard," Gravish said. "He's extremely coachable and it's so great to see him have a night like that, both offensively and defensively. He had some key blocks out on the perimeter today."

In total, the Bulldogs registered seven sacks. In addition to Thompson's three, Brodie Herr had two sacks, Talyn Lope had one and Slate Sechrist had one.

Selinsgrove had just one redzone trip all game but didn't walk away with points from it. Selinsgrove also was just 3 for 13 on third-down conversions and 0 for 2 on fourth-down conversions.

"I was pleased with our defense. We gave up the one pass for a touchdown, we don't like to really give those up, but all in all they played lights out with two scores," Gravish said.

"It feels great (to have three sacks and play well), but we have to look ahead to next week because it'll be a better challenge next week," Thompson noted.

Selinsgrove avoided the shutout when Jake Beddall reeled in a 58-yard pass from Amato for a deep touchdown, getting past Shore's secondary to cut the deficit to 41-7.

Both teams played tough in the first quarter. Jersey Shore was ahead just 7-0 after the first quarter thanks to a 21-yard touchdown run by Evan Snyder with 4:30 to play. The Bulldogs' first possession was just six plays which resulted in a punt before they lost a fumble after two plays on the next possession.

From there, however, Jersey Shore started putting things togetehr. After Snyder's touchdown run, the Bulldogs punted its next possession away. But that would be followed with three consecutive touchdowns to build up the lead going into halftime.

Ethan Miller led Selinsgrove with 65 rushing yards on 12 carries. Miller had a huge 48-yard run that he nearly broke for a touchdown, but was tackled from behind by Paul Hale. Miller tweaked his knee on the play, and wasn't able to make any huge plays the remainder of the game. Sechrist led Shore's ground game with 58 rushing yards, averaging 5.8 per carry, Jordan ran it eight times for 32 yards and Herr had 11 carries for 41 as the Bulldogs had 186 rushing yards as a team.

Jersey Shore out-gained Selinsgrove in yards, 351-128, and at the half, held a 220-69 edge. One thing that hurt Shore, however, was penalties. The Bulldogs committed nine penalties for 120 yards, and Gravish knows his team has to clean that up heading into next week's game.

"We had a couple penalties there where we put ourselves in what we call 'not highest manageable down and distance situation.' A hold, second-and-20, first-and-20. That's difficult," Gravihs said. "Even when we got out of some of those, we got a penalty called on us. We got to clean those penalties up and have a manageable down and distance situation. If we do that, sky's the limit of what we can do."

Jersey Shore 48, Selinsgrove 7

(District 4 Class AAAA semifinals)

Selinsgrove 0 0 7 0 -- 7

Jersey Shroe 7 21 13 7 -- 48

First quarter

JS--Evan Snyder 21 run (Paul Hale kick), 4:30.

Second quarter

JS--Bo Sechrist 35 pass from Elijah Jordan (Hale kick), 9:33.

JS--Luke Thompson 4 pass from Jordan (Hale kick), 4:17.

JS--Sechrist 2 run (Hale kick), 0:44.6.

Third quarter

JS--Brodie Herr 55 fumble return (Hale kick), 9:18.

S--Jake Beddall 58 pass from Rocco Amato (Noah Walter kick), 8:51.

JS--Owen Vandruff 2 interception return (kick faileD), 2:18.

Fourth quarter

JS--Herr 4 run (Hale kick), 2:56.

TEAM STATISTICS

S JS

First downs 8 20

Rushes-yds 37-56 31-186

Passing yards 70 165

Comp.-Att.-Int. 4-9-1 10-22-0

Total yards 126 351

Fumbles-lost 2-2 2-1

Penalties-yards 5-35 9-120

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING--Selinsgrove, Ethan Miller 12-65; Rocco Amato 7-(minus 56); Brett Rice 4-3; Gavin Bastian 9-18; Logan Dressler 1-8; Crue Carter 3-11; Andrew Gesumaria 1-7. Jersey Shore, Brodie Herr 11-41; Elijah Jordan 8-52; Luke Thompson 1-(minus 5); Evan Snyder 2-40; Bo Sechrist 10-58.

PASSING--Selinsgrove, Rocco Amato 4-7-1 70, Gavin Bastian 0-2-0 0. Jersey Shore, Elijah Jordan 10-22-0 165.

RECEIVING--Selinsgrove, Gavin Bastian 1-9; Jake Beddall 1-58; Carlos Stuter 1-3; Andrew Martinez 1-0. Jersey Shore, Paul Hale 4-53; Evan Snyder 2-34; Bo Sechrist 1-35; Luke Thompson 1-4; Carson Watkins 2-39.

INTERCEPTIONS--Jersey Shore, Owen Vandruff 1.

SACKS--Jersey Shore, Luke Thompson 3; Brodie Herr 2; Talyn Lope 1; Slate Sechrist 1.

Starting at /week.