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Connellsville’s Jayden McBride (4) hauls in a touchdown pass in front of Ringgold’s Daryl Tolliver during Friday’s game at Connellsville Stadium.

Connellsville’s Jayden McBride (4) hauls in a touchdown pass in front of Ringgold’s Daryl Tolliver during Friday’s game at Connellsville Stadium.

Desperate to find some positive energy and some feel-good emotions, the Connellsville football team came up big in front of their home crowd on Friday night. The Falcons shook off the negative vibes of a three-game losing streak and scored 14 points in the second half on their way to a thrilling 20-6 win over Ringgold in their Class 4A Big 7 Conference opener at Connellsville Stadium.

“To do this in front of our home fans, it feels great,” Connellsville coach Jace McClean said after the Falcons earned their first home victory since they defeated Albert Gallatin, 30-6 on Oct. 25, 2019. “Not only did our kids need this, our community needed it.”

Connellsville’s offense had struggled in its past three games, but a steady ground attack allowed the Falcons to hit three big passing plays for scores. Jayden McBride was the recipient of all those big pass plays as he hauled in touchdown catches of 30, 22 and 18 yards. McBride finished with four catches for 77 yards.

After a scoreless first quarter, Connellsville made the first big play of the game as Ethan Shultz intercepted a pass, which set the Falcons up inside Ringgold territory. The turnover led to points as McBridge caught a 30-yard fade in the end zone from Grayden Gillott to give Connellsville a 6-0 lead.

“We needed that ice-breaker, just to the get the nerves out,” McClean said, noting that the assistant coaches in the press box spotted something in the Ringgold defense and were able to exploit it through the air on each of Connellsville’s scores.

McClean added that his team was able to battle back from some penalties, which also proved critical in the Falcons’ win.

Connellsville took its 6-0 lead into the third quarter, but Ringgold opened the second half with a seven-play drive that was capped with a two-yard touchdown run by Keyshawn Goggins to knot the score at 6-6.

The Rams started to move the ball and threatened to take the lead, but they hurt themselves with some costly penalties.

“We had too many mental mistakes and penalties,” Ringgold coach Marcus McCullough said, noting that his young team showed its inexperience in key situations. “This one hurts, and it hurts for our seniors who are trying to lead us. We made some adjustments in the second half and things were going in our favor. But then we took steps back and we made more mistakes than they did.”

With the score tied at 6-6, the Falcons took control of the game with two huge scores in the fourth quarter. Midway through the fourth, McBridge got a little space and capped a seven-play drive by bring down a 22-yard touchdown strike from Anthony Piasecki to give Connellsville a 12-6 lead.

Moments later, the Falcons made a huge play on special teams as Gabriel Ruggieri blocked a punt deep in Ringgold territory. The block led to another Connellsville score as McBride sealed the Connellsville victory by hauling in his third touchdown catch, a beautiful 18-yard pass from Piasecki.

“They’ve been working on that in practice,” McClean said. “Tonight they took advantage of it.”

Piasecki then found Taylaun Barrett on a two-point pass play to give the Falcons the 14-point lead. Piasecki completed four passes for 57 yards. Gillott was Connellsville’s leading rusher, racking up 37 yards on six carries.

McClean noted the importance of the offense getting into a rhythm.

“Once you get momentum, you really gain confidence and it allowed us to fight through some penalties,” McClean said.

Although the Rams came up short, Ringgold quarterback Alex Coccagna completed 12-of-20 passes for 134 yards. Evan Parsons caught six passes for 98 yards. Donte Newton finished with 13 carries for 69 yards.

Next week, Connellsville plays a home game against Hampton. Ringgold is home against McKeesport.

Jason Black is the sports editor at The Daily Courier. Reach him at jblack@dailycourier.com or 724-628-2000.

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