Cortes, Cook, Lewis star as SA races past Ligonier Valley

The Gladiators’ offense had another huge night despite missing Cam Epps.

After South Allegheny’s hiccup last week against South Park derailed the Gladiators’ early-season momentum, they got back to their winning ways Friday night, surviving another Allegheny Conference challenge — this time from unheralded Ligonier Valley.

Ryan Cortes threw for 186 yards and two touchdowns to Drew Cook, Camden Lewis rushed for four touchdowns and South Allegheny held off a second-half charge by the Rams to come away with a 49-28 victory at Ligonier’s Weller Field.

South Allegheny (5-1, 2-1) rebounded from a 48-38 home loss to South Park a week ago by building a big first-half lead against Ligonier Valley before finishing off the Rams with a 15-0 advantage in the fourth quarter to pull away from a six-point lead.

The outcome seemed to satisfy South Allegheny coach Brian Hanson, though he made clear it was far from a complete performance for his team.

“We have to learn how to dial in and really focus, because you can’t play games like this all the time,” Hanson said. “Even in our victories this year, we make things way harder. It’s like we have a sports car and we’re driving it like it’s a beater sometimes.”

The loss was the second in a row for Ligonier Valley (24, 1-2), which trailed 28-6 but managed to make it 2814 on Boden Schreyer’s 21yard touchdown pass to Mark Jablunovsky on the final play before halftime.

“Proud of the effort, not happy with the outcome,” Ligonier Valley coach Roger Beitel said.

South Allegheny, playing without all-state running back Cam Epps (sprained ankle), spotted Ligonier Valley a 6-0 lead after John Jablunovsky burst through the Gladiators defense and raced 35 yards for the game’s first score.

The Gladiators ripped off four touchdowns to seize control — Lewis scored on a 2-yard run, Tyreeke Chatman followed with a 4-yard score, Lewis added another 2-yarder and Cortes found Cook open for a 31-yard scoring strike — before Schreyer threaded a pass to Mark Jablunovsky at the goal-line for their 21yard scoring play.

“Credit those guys,” Hanson said, giving a nod to the Rams. “I mean they played hard, and they didn’t quit. That’s a scrappy bunch over there.”

Indeed, Ligonier Valley kept the pressure on South Allegheny after the Rams seemingly had fallen out of contention.

John Jablunovsky’s 2-yard touchdown run to open the second-half scoring pulled Ligonier Valley within 2821. But the Rams’ defense couldn’t contain South Allegheny’s high-octane offense, led by Cortes, who finished 10 for 15 and at one point completed nine consecutive passes.

His 15-yarder to Cook, who caught six passes for 145 yards, answered Ligonier Valley’s score and boosted South Allegheny’s lead to 3421.

But Ligonier Valley got within 34-28 when John Jablunovsky returned a kickoff 79 yards and later scored on a 3-yard run before South Allegheny iced the outcome on a pair of fourth-quarter touchdown runs of 3 and 4 yards by Lewis.

Ligonier Valley, coming off an uninspiring 28-7 loss at Our Lady of the Sacred Heart, responded to Beitel’s angry postgame reaction with a spirited effort against South Allegheny.

“The team knew I was disgusted,” Beitel said. “There was no effort last week. I know that was in the past, and this week we played with enthusiasm. We played downhill. We played with a lot more effort. I thought the kids played hard football. They just couldn’t make the plays against a good football team with a lot of playmakers.”

Chatman led South Allegheny’s balanced rushing with 80 yards. Lewis added 72.

John Jablunovsky’s 72 yards paced Ligonier Valley’s ground attack. Schreyer finished with 104 yards passing on 7 of 16 completions.