TIM WEIGHT/For The Express Bellefonte competes against Penns Valley on Friday. The Raiders won for their third victory of the season.

Bellefonte picked up its third win of the season against a tough Penns Valley team by a final score of 34-13, improving their record to 3-2. Bellefonte would rack up 291 yards on the ground while holding the Rams to just 48 yards on 23 attempts.

A 40-yard punt return by Jaeden Gabrovsek down to the 10-yard line with just under five minutes left to play in the third quarter would set up a 10-yard touchdown run from Aden Howell to give Bellefonte the lead for good. The big punt return occurred moments after a costly fumble inside the 10-yard line as Liam Halterman was fighting for extra yards would give the ball back to Penns Valley.

After Penns Valley tied the game at 6-all just before the end of the first quarter on a drive that lasted over 7 minutes, Bellefonte would respond with a quick five-play 63-yard drive, with all yards coming via the run to take a 13-6 lead with 10:17 remaining until halftime.

Trailing 13-6 late in the second quarter, a Bellefonte fumble recovered by Tripp Watson for Penns Valley set the Rams up with good field position. They would score quickly with a 40-yard Touchdown pass from Carter Ironside to Fletcher Inornside to tie the game at 13 heading into the half.

Bellefonte outscored Penns Valley 21-0 after halftime.

“We really talked about just doing your job. It’s a zero-zero game at that point. We challenged the kids, and they responded well,” Bellefonte coach Tony Confer said.

Confer credited his team for responding and “coming to play and win in the second half.” Confer stated that after looking a little sluggish in the first half, they used halftime to “get refocused, and he challenged the team to fix some things and play better in the second half.”

Bellefonte did turn the ball over three times on lost fumbles, two of those coming in the red zone to halt drives and allow Penns Valley to hang around, but it would be the Bellefonte defense that stifled Penns Valley all night when the Raiders were on defense.

Some key three-and-outs forced by Bellefonte early in the third quarter helped set the tone and helped swing the game back in favor of the home team. There was no answer all game long for the Bellefonte running attack, which had 12 runs of over 10 yards as a team, and five players each gained over 40 rushing yards.

Bellefonte will travel to Bald Eagle next week in a showdown between teams with a record of 3-2.

“First, we will get together and look at our tape, and then we’ll meet and look at what they do,” Confer said of the matchup.

Bellefonte 34, Penns Valley 13

Penns Valley 6 7 0 0 13

Bellefonte 6 7 7 14 34

First quarter

B–Halterman 1 run (Kick no Good), 7:19

PV–Shawver 3 run (kick no Good), 0:09

Second quarter

B–As. Howell 8 run (Kick Good), 10:17

PV–C. Ironside to F. Ironside 40 pass (Kick Good), 1:27

Third quarter

B–Ad. Howell 10 run (Kick Good), 4:47

Fourth quarter

B–Gall 7 run (Kick Good), 7:02

B–Smith-Kirk 5 run (Kick Good), 4:02

Team Stats

PV B

First downs — —

Rushes-yds 23-48 44-291

Passing yards 115 19

C-A-I 14-291 4-9-0

Total yards 163 310

Turnovers 1 3

Penalties-yards 7-50 6-65

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING–Penns Valley, Chase Shelley 7-13; Koltin Shawver 6-19 TD; Fletcher Ironside 5-15; Spencer Althouse 2-12; Carter Ironside 2-(-11). Bellefonte, Kaven Smith-Kirk 16-99 TD; Liam Halterman 9-41 TD;Ashten Howell 7-59 TD; Isaac Gall 6-46 TD; Aden Howell 5-42 TD; Carson Crawford 1-4.

PASSING–Penns Valley, Carter Ironside 10-23 109 TD; Colby Miller 4-6 6 INT. Bellefonte, Liam Halterman 4-9 19.

RECEIVING–Penns Valley, Spencer Althouse 6-28; Fletcher Ironside 4-78 TD; Chase Shelley 2-8; Richard Wasson 1-8; Koltin Shawver 2-(-7). Bellefonte, Ashten Howell 2-15; Nathan Benner 1-4; Kaven Smith-Kirk 1-0.