H.S. FOOTBALL: Cedar Cliff outlasts Waynesboro in offensive battle, 55-32
WAYNESBORO >> Two undefeated teams collided Friday night, so one team came in knowing they would be leaving with a loss.
Cedar Cliff was a heavily favored juggernaut, but you could tell from the start that Waynesboro wasn't going to go down easily.
Throughout the first half the two team exchanged touchdowns, with Cedar Cliff coming out ahead only by one touchdown at the half, but the Colts outlasted the Indians for a 52-33 victory in non-league action.
"We struggled in the first half," Cedar Cliff coach Colin Gillen said. "We were very flat and we weren't playing Cedar Cliff football. Going into halftime we challenged the team to man up and they did in the second half."
The challenge worked, because it was in the second half that things began to unravel for Waynesboro – they gave up 34 points while scoring only 18.
Cedar Cliff's offense surged as quarterback Grant Breneman threw for 202 yards and four touchdowns and added a 66-yard touchdown run to cap off his performance.
Cedar Cliff also had a strong performance from running back Jayden Demmy, as he shredded the Waynesboro defense for 180 rushing yards and three touchdowns, and had 80 receiving yards with a touchdown as well. He shone a lot of the spotlight on his teammates, however.
"If the line doesn't block, how am I supposed to get holes?" Demmy said. "We have good wide receivers who were making plays and on the defensive side of the ball, we came out a little flat but got things straightened out."
Demmy also contributed on defense. He was one of four Cedar Cliff players to pick off Waynesboro quarterback Brady Riddell.
The Waynesboro offense kept up with Cedar Cliff's in the first half thanks a stunning 89-yard kick return by Brady Beckner and a six-yard touchdown pass by Riddell to receiver Matt Peck.
But they were unable to match the Colts in the second half, even though Riddell threw two more touchdown passes in addition to a 1-yard run by Jake Wertz.
"We played tough," Waynesboro coach Steve Myers said. "There were some mistakes here and there that we need to clean up, but overall I was pleased by the effort for the night."
Cedar Cliff 55, Waynesboro 32
Cedar Cliff1471321—55Waynesboro77612—32
First Quarter
CC — Mike Viti 26 pass from Grant Breneman (Reed Bertram kick), 7:50
CC — Jayden Demmy 1 rush (Bertram kick), 4:24
Way — Brady Beckner 84 kick return (George Souders kick), 4:10
Second Quarter
CC — Cole Whalen 6 pass from Breneman (Bertram kick), 11:16
Way — Matt Peck 6 pass from Brady Riddell (Souders kick), 9:36
Third Quarter
CC — Breneman 66 run (Bertram kick), 11:44
Way — Cameron Keck 50 pass from Riddell (kick failed), 10:09
CC — Demmy 18 run (kick blocked), 8:31
Fourth Quarter
CC — Demmy 21 pass from Breneman (Bertram kick), 11:52
Way — Jake Wertz 1 run (kick failed), 11:02
CC — Charles Ghiazza 15 pass Breneman (Bertram kicK), 6:15
CC — Demmy 32 run (Bertram kick), 5:00
Way — Peck 5 pass from Riddell (pass failed), 4:36
CCWayFirst downs2314Rushes-yards47-31229-170Passing17-25-07-17-4Passing yards178144Total yards487314Punts1-242-33Fumbles-lost3-25-1Penalties-yards6-406-40
Individual statistics
Rushing — CC, Demmy 29-180, Breneman 10-91, Chris Thompson 6-21, Patrick Duggan 1-13, Bobby Whalen 1-7. Way, Beckner 13-94, Wertz 11-47, Riddell 4-28, Peck 1-1.
Passing — CC, Breneman 17-25-202-0. Way, Riddell 7-17-144-4.
Receiving — CC, Demmy 4-80, Whalen 4-19, Mike Viti 3-50, Ghiazza 1-15, Ryan Schoppert 1-13, Chandler Heiple 2-17, Tre Neal 1-4. Way, Peck 5-85, Keck 2-59.
Interceptions — CC, Demmy, Schoppert, Thompson, Neal III.