DVHS loses to Hollidaysburg in season-ending game

The Delaware Valley High School football season is over.

Delaware Valley lost in a very tough-fought battle to Hollidaysburg Area High School in the PIAA Football Playoffs on Nov. 14 by the amazing score of 42-56.

The game opened up with a thrilling 97-yard return of the opening kickoff off by D.V.’s Trey Newton. They next forced a punt by Hollidaysburg and took possession. A couple of nice passes, a run by Mike Luzzolino, and a 27-yard scamper by Luzzolino put D.V. up 14-0.

Hollidaysburg had another sloppy set of downs and was again forced to punt, giving D.V. possession again. A nice pass to Justin Estevez was followed by a bomb to Newton in the endzone and just like that D.V. was up 21-0 - looking like they were going to run all over Hollidaysburg.

But Hollidaysburg got the ball, and after several nice runs, a 15-yard penalty was called against D.V. that put Hollidaysburg in scoring position - and score they did, bringing it to 21-7. D.V. might have relaxed a little after the big lead, but for sure the momentum shifted.

On their next possession, D.V. was driving fine, but after another penalty and an intercepted pass, Hollidaysburg surged. There were off running and passing, pulling the score to 21-14.

After another sweet return to the 37 yard line by Newton, D.V. was forced to punt though. Unfortunately, it was blocked and Hollidaysburg got the ball on the 46-yard line before scoring again to bring the score to 21 all.

The kick off was returned 92 yards by Luzzolino to pull D.V. back in front 28-21. But Hollidaysburg came right back to tie it again at 28 all.

D.V. worked its way back with nice runs and passes to put them in good position, but penalties that the officials claim they saw that no one else seemed to played big. Still, D.V. plugged along. A field goal attempt saw a roughing call on Hollidaysburg, which blew fresh life into D.V. The pass and run by James Dabney that followed put D.V. up again 35-28.

Not to be out done, Hollidaysburg began driving until D.V. intercepted a pass. Another penalty against D.V. put them out of range and the half ends with D.V. on top 35-28.

Delaware Valley is usually a second-half team because their constant pounding usually wears other teams down, but the line of Hollidaysburg was absolutely massive. On offense, they were opening up holes for their runners while D.V. was missing tackles, which allowed Hollidaysburg to run and pass to tie the score 35-35.

D.V. still had some life in them though - and not to be denied some runs by Luzzolino, a catch and run by Estevez, and a pass to Don Outer led to a touchdown run by Luzzolino to rebound them into the lead again at 42-35.

Unfortunately, that was the end of D.V.’s scoring. Trying to prevent holes and creating running lanes became too much, and D.V. just couldn’t continue to stop Hollidaysburg, which lead to a bitter 42-56 end of the season for Delaware Valley. They fought hard and never quit, but the cards were just not on the table.

They did, however, give fans a very exciting season - and a Section 2 Championship title to boast about. That in itself is something to be proud of.