Mountaineers get past Valley West

The Mountaineers looked to get to .500 as they traveled to Spartan Stadium to take on Valley West. The Spartans looked to get their second straight win after winning on the road last week against Williamsport. Who would take this matchup? Let's get to it. Dallas would start with the ball and get a three and out on the opening drive. The Spartans would start at their own 47 and Rob Dwyer would go for 12 on the first play but back-to-back botched snaps would end up forcing the Spartans to punt. The Mountaineers would start at their own 49 and Danny Meuser would go for a run of 11 and 24 on back-to-back plays to the Valley West 16 and the Mountaineers would end up going for a Nate Maransky 45 yard field goal attempt and he would make it 3-0 with 4:38 remaining in the first quarter. The Spartans would get the ball at their own 23 on their next possession. Sean Mikovitch would go for four on second and 2. They would face a third and 3 and Rob Dwyer would get 10 on the next play. They would be forced to punt but they would attempt a fake but the pass would fall incomplete and the Mountaineers would take over at their own 48. Three plays later, Meuser would go 39 yards for a Mountaineers touchdown. The PAT would make it 10-0 with 29 seconds remaining in the first quarter and it would be the score at the end of the first quarter. They would face a third and 1 and Mikovitch would get a yard for the first down. After a Dwyer five yard run, Jake Shusta's pass would be picked off by Matt Maransky and returned to the Spartans 31. The Spartans would hold the Mountaineers to a Nate Maransky 41 yard field goal attempt that ended up going wide left. Dwyer would go for six yards on second and 2, then go for 13 on a second and 8. However, a sack on third and 10 would force the Spartans to punt. The Mountaineers would take over at their own 11. The Mountaineers would face a third and 3 but Michael Starbuck would run for seven and a first down. On first down, Meuser would go for a one yard gain but the Spartans would get called for a facemask to get an automatic first down. The Mountaineers would run it down to 10 seconds and then the Spartans would return the punt but they would take a knee as we head into halftime 10-0 in favor of the Mountaineers. The Spartans would start with the ball and Mikovitch got a gain off 24 on the first play but the Mountaineers defense would force a punt and get the ball back at their own 40. Matt Maranski would go for 23 on second and 4 to the Spartans 41 yard line. They would face a third and 8 and Starbuck would find Jack Farrell for 9 yards for a first down. The Spartans would get a stop and force a Mountaineers punt. The Spartans would go three and out on their next drive and be forced to punt. The Mountaineers would go three and out as well and the Spartans would start their drive at their own 22 yard line. Dwyer would go for 16 on second and 10. On a second and 6, Dwyer would go for 20. The Spartans would face a third and 13 and Shusta would find Darrian Tyson for 24. Tyson would for nine yards on second and 9 for a first and goal at the six. Zach Davies would go in from six yards out and the PAT would be no good as the Spartans would cut the Mountaineers lead to 10-6. Matt Maransky would go for 15 and then an personal foul penalty on Valley West would move it 15 more yards to the Spartans 37. Starbuck would find Matt Maransky for nine as the third quarter came to an end with Dallas leading 10-6. The Spartans would go offsides on third and 9 to make it a third and 4. On the third and 4, Starbuck would go to Bradley Adams for an 18 yard score. The PAT would make it 17-6 with 10:17 remaining in the fourth. On the first play of the Spartans possession, Tyson would go 73 yards for a touchdown. The two point conversion would be no good as the Mountaineers would still lead 17-12 with 9:57 remaining. The Mountaineers would start at their own 26. Meuser would go for six on the first play but another personal foul on the Spartans would move the ball to their Dallas 47. They would face a third and 6 and Starbuck would find Adams for 20. On second and 15, Starbuck would find Christian Motley for a 33 yard touchdown. The PAT would make it 24-12 with 7:48 remaining in the game. On the second play of the drive, Shusta's pass would be intercepted by linemen Mike Andersen. On third and 4, Meuser would go in for a 16 yard touchdown run, his second touchdown of the game. The PAT would make it 31-12 with 5:55 remaining. The Spartans would face a third and 19 but Dwyer would find Jake Blaski for a 52 yard gain to the Dallas 48. Dwyer would go for 18 on the next play. After an incompletion, there would be offsetting unsportsmanlike penalties on both sides but a Mountaineer player would end up getting another unsportsmanlike conduct to give the Spartans 15 extra yards and a first down. Mikovitch would go for 12 for a first and goal at the three and Davies would go in for his second touchdown of the game from one yard out. The two point conversion would fail and the Spartans would make it 31-18 with 3:44 left. The Mountaineers would be able to run out the clock as they would take the victory on the road over the Valley West Spartans 31-18.

Thoughts on the game: The Mountaineers sure spread around the ball around but the player who stood out was Danny Meuser. He had two touchdowns and almost 100 yards in the first half alone. The Mountaineers got several big plays from Matt Maranski, Bradley Adams, and Christian Motley and Michael Starbuck did a great job distributing the ball around. Nate Maranski is definitely a good weapon to have, he impressed me as a kicker. The Spartans need to fix up a few things but I will say I was impressed by Darrian Tyson, his touchdown run impressed me as he got past everyone for the touchdown.