JOHNSTOWN — The 2009 edition of the “Battle of Johnstown” was a one-sided affair, with Johnstown scoring at least two touchdowns in each quarter to crush the Vikings, 62-8.
Brad Couts ran for 250 yards on 28 carries, and scored four touchdowns for the Johnnies. Johnstown ran for 464 yards on 44 carries in all, and six different players scored touchdowns. Northridge had the same number of carries for 163 yards, and the Johnnies even passed for 82 yards to 14 for the Vikings.
It took until the 5:08 mark of the first quarter for Johnstown to score, and Scott Robinson’s 30-yard run and Patrick Benton’s kick left the Johnnies ahead, 7-0. Johnstown got the ball back in the period, and Couts scored his first TD of the game, a 15-yard run, with 2:45 left.
The Johnnies had the ball again early in the second quarter, and Riley Cannon completed a 41-yard touchdown pass to James Sapp for a 21-0 lead with 10:42 to play in the half. A turnover gave Johnstown great field position for its next score, a 5-yard run from Couts with 9:30 left, which left the Johnnies up, 28-0. With under a minute to play, Cannon threw his second TD pass, this one a 6-yarder to Taylor Atwood, and Johnstown led at the half, 35-0.
Couts produced two touchdown runs in the third quarter, one a 6-yarder with 5:29 to play and the other a 1-yarder at the 1:19 mark, which left the Johnnies ahead, 48-0. Northridge finally broke its drought with Tony Stanley’s 7-yard TD scamper with 6:25 to play in the fourth quarter, but Johnstown’s reserves scored on two big runs, a 36-yarder from Ross Franklin and a 40-yard run from Garrett Jackson, later in the period.
Jackson ran twice for 95 yards for the Johnnies, and Robinson had five carries for 64 yards. Cannon completed 4-of-6 passes for 82 yards, and Atwood caught two pases for 28 yards. Stanley paced Northridge with 21 carries for 97 yards, and Brandon Hull was 4-of-14 for 14 yards.
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