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Hollidaysburg has two players reach 1,000 milestone in 69-6 rout over Millionaires

By Jon Gerardi 6 min read

It seemed that any time Williamsport had a read on Hollidaysburg, the Golden Tigers did something to counter it.

Have the receivers covered well? Quarterback Cole Delattre would take off on a run himself for a first down.

Put pressure on Delattre and have a QB spy? He'll hand the ball off instead and let Carter Muth do damage with his legs.

The Millionaires knew Hollidaysburg would be a tough Class 5A team to defend against, and Hollidaysburg showed why they're undefeated this year on Friday night in Week 9.

Hollidaysburg moved the ball seemingly at will all night and never let Williamsport contain them en route to a 69-6 rout over the Millionaire to improve to 9-0 while the Millionaires fall to 4-5, the fourth loss in a row for Williamsport.

"Any time you see a Hollidaysburg team it's always a well-coached team and a really well-balanced team. So there were times we were lined up right and made good plays on the run play and the quarterback would keep it," Williamsport coach Mike Pearson said. "That was the one thing you couldn't account for. There were times we had the quarterback accounted for and the running back was given the ball. The fact that they read you, it's a really, really well-coached team and those kids did a great job with that."

It was that duo of Delattre and Muth who were too much for Williamsport's defense to handle. Both players entered Week 9 closing in on 1,000 rushing yards for the season and both reached the milestone. Muth carried the ball 11 times for 166 yards while Delattre had nine carries for 76. The rushing efforts gave them 1,109 and 1,016 yards and counting, respectively.

"That's awesome. They needed 120-something yards coming in, I think coaches said we had it before the first half was over," Hollidaysburg coach Homer Delattre said. "It's just a great accomplishment for these offensive lineman, they've done a great job all year long. We missed our starting center tonight, we had to shuffle some guys around, but they filled in great."

"That's awesome. Same game, same night here in Week 9, that means a lot to both of us. We're both so thankful to everyone," Hollidaysburg quarterback Cole Delattre said. "I give all glory to my lord and savior Jesus Christ, I'm nothing without him. He's my strength. The O-line played well all year for us, they've been dominating guys and getting five yards a push every play. It goes down to those guys."

That offensive line was key on Friday by allowing Hollidaysburg to pick up 21 first downs. Fifteen of those came in the first half, and 13 were rushing first downs as the Golden Tiger skept moving the chains and keeping drives alive. Of Hollidaysburg's eight first-half possessions, all but two ended with a touchdown. One ended at the Williamsport 5 after the Mllionaires had an outstanding four-play goal-line stand to prevent a score.

"We had a couple possessions where we didn't score, but for the most part we moved the ball all night long," Homer Delattre said. "We were set up with great field position with our defense, which was phenomenal again tonight. Our offense feeds off our defense a lot with short fields. We didn't have to go very far to score and that's a great help to the offense."

Hollidaysburg led just 13-0 after the first quarter. The Golden Tigers had a 14-play drive to reach the Williamsport 5, but the Millionaires as noted held strong with a goal-line stand. After getting the ball on their own 5 however, Williamsport's offense sputtered with three plays for no gain. That's when disaster struck for the Millionaires.

Williamsport couldn't capitalize on the turnover on downs and the ensuing punt was blocked as Isaac Wallace fell on the ball in the endzone for a Golden Tigers' touchdown. It shifted momentum in that moment and led to Hollidaysburg scoring five touchdowns before halftime in an eight-minute span.

"The second quarter's been big for us all year long. We don't have a lot of guys who play both ways. I don't think tonight other than maybe Josh Banks, No. 1, he plays a little bit of tight end/H-back, but we used another guy in that position," Homer Delattre said. "So we didn't really have a guy going both ways. That really affects teams if we get a rhythm and start figuring out what their game plan is. Scoring, I'm very proud of those guys with how they played. Last week we dind't play very well vs. Selinsgrove in the first half. We want to take the next step as a great team, we have to play very well against all opponents be it on the road, at home, whatever it may be."

Hollidaysburg ran for 328 yards and had 388 yards of total offense. The 328 rushing yards comes just one week after the Golden Tigers set the school record vs. Selinsgrove with 385. As a team, Hollidaysburg out-gained Williamsport in total yardage, 388-69. Of Williamsport's 69 yards, 50 came on the team's final possession in which Williamsport drove down and scored a touchdown to avoid the shutout. That came when Delante Haberstroh-Stotts caught a 9-yard pass for a touchdown from Kason Ulmer with 28 seconds to play.

"It's hard to stop (our running game). Look at our size, the guys are so strong," Cole Delattre said. "We work so hard up front. Last year we lost a couple guys who both went Division I and everyone said you're going to take a little hit, but I think our O-line is most likely better than last year and we're really playing well as a team. Communication is a big part of that."

After trailing 20-0 following the blocked punt, Williamsport threw an interception -- one of four on the night -- to give the Tigers the ball on the 20. But Hollidaysburg threw an interception in the endzone on the next play that Giovanni White caught, but the Millionaires weren't able to convert and went three-and-out on that possession.

Anthony Manley recorded a sack for Williamsport on the first play of the game.

While the loss was lopsided, Pearson noted some positives from his team.

"Oh my gosh, it was a great week with these kids, they work hard. They understand they're going through a really hard stretch against first-class teams. I couldn't ask any more from these kids," Pearson said. "They're fantastic kids and I'm really thankful for our seniors, this was their senior night. Our younger guys we talked about seeing what you want to be and work to be what you want to be. I think it's a great group of kids."

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