CENTER TWP. – Since the inception of the program, Central Valley head coach Mark Lyons has scheduled tough opponents every chance he had.
He continued that tradition this season as the Warriors opened the season against perennial local power Beaver, led by quarterback Jaivin Peel, who set a WPIAL passing record for freshmen and is now a senior.
Central Valley (1-0) has a senior quarterback of its own, though, in Braddock Ambrose and he was looking for a record of another sort.
“We’ve started 0-3 before and I’ve never won the first game,” said Ambrose, who threw three touchdown passes in the first half as the Warriors won 28-18.
“I knew we’d come out throwing and once I got the first one, I kept rolling. My teammates were amazing and it was huge to get the win.”
Ambrose completed 10 of 15 passes for 163 yards and ran for 31 more. His first touchdown pass was to Jackson Sullivan, grandson of longtime Geneva coach Gene Sullivan, for 26 yards.
The second was to Antonio Perri for 67 yards and the third to Ethan Ondrusek for eight yards with 3:02 left in the first half.
That Ondrusek touchdown was significant to the junior running back in more ways than one. With a double-digit lead, he knew it would be a ground and pound offense in the second half.
“I knew we wouldn’t be passing in the second half,” said a smiling Ondrusek, who finished with 60 yards rushing and scored the final Warriors touchdown on a run of 11 yards. “The offensive line did an amazing job.”
Ondrusek was one of six different Central Valley players to carry the ball as Lyons took advantage of the first game to gain experience.
“We have a bunch of young guys that are still learning and that makes you enjoy coming to practice,” said Lyons. “We’re still finding ourselves and we’re going to need every one of these guys so we want to make sure we got everyone involved.”
On the other side of the line, Beaver (0-1) was making sure Peel got involved. He passed for 182 yards and ran for 96, scoring both Beaver touchdowns on the ground.
“Jaivin is tough, we knew he could handle it,” said Beaver coach Cort Rowse. “I told the kids our hats are off to Central Valley, they played well.
“We made too many mistakes (23 penalties accepted by the two teams combined) and we’re going to have keep working on that, but we’re going to keep coaching them.”
This article originally appeared on Beaver County Times: Central Valley High School football knocks off rival Beaver Area
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