UNIONTOWN - It had been a long time since Francis Scott Key won a football game. The Eagles entered Friday with a county-record 23-game losing streak.
The streak is now over.
Francis Scott Key defeated North Carroll, 33-21 on Friday, winning its first game since Sept. 2010. Sophomore quarterback Clayton Vleck led the Eagles with 139 yards on 16 carries. He had four touchdowns - three rushing and one passing.
"It's a great sigh of relief," Vleck said. "Not only for me, but for some of the upperclassmen. ... It's a great feeling that we could come out and accomplish that."
FSK and North Carroll entered the fourth quarter tied at 21-21. Vleck punched in a touchdown on a fourth-and-goal from North Carroll's 1-yard line, capping off a 14-play drive less than two minutes into the fourth quarter that gave the Eagles a lead they would not surrender.
Vleck scored on another quarterback sneak from a yard out with less than three minutes remaining to seal the victory.
"Our line was doing a great job," Vleck said. "We were doing a great job carrying out our fakes and making the proper reads and taking what the defense gives us."
In addition to Vleck's 139 yards on the ground, Matt Clingan added 122 yards on 29 carries. Rye Thomas had 92 yards on 18 carries.
"We were more motivated," Clingan said. "It finally started to click for some of us. It sucks to lose. ... We finally pulled through. We just came together as a family."
The win was the first for FSK's first-year head coach Dave Smith.
"It's great to win," Smith said. "Everybody wants to win. I'm just proud of these guys. Our players, our coaching staff, they all did a great job tonight. ... It's all the hard work and all the validation. It's just great to win."
Entering Friday's game, the Eagles (1-6, 1-3 county) had not led a game once in the first six games of the season. FSK got off to a fast start against North Carroll.
The Eagles drove 83 yards on 14 plays on a drive that lasted more than six minutes. Matt Clingan finished it off with a 13-yard run up the middle for a score.
On the Panthers' first drive of the game, Aaron Heinle had a fumble that was recovered by the Eagles at the North Carroll 34. Four plays later, Vleck ran in a 15-yard touchdown on a draw off of an option play.
"Going up 14-0 was huge," Smith said. "Every football game, high school, college, pro, it's all about momentum. We had momentum in the first half."
Added Vleck: "We had been starting slow in the past games, so it was real nice coming out here and getting a lead."
FSK forced three turnovers on defense, two fumble recoveries and a fourth-quarter interception by Eric Smith on the Panthers' final drive of the game.
But North Carroll (1-6, 0-3) got back into the game after falling behind early. Terin Kelsey threw a pair of touchdowns in the first half to Tyler Whitehead and Sean Floto.
Dan Gebhart opened the first drive of the second half with a 48-yard rush down the left sideline to tie the game 21.
"They didn't quit," Panthers coach Mike Martello said. "We couldn't stop them on defense in the second half."
Gebhart led North Carroll offensively with 148 yards on 12 carries and a touchdown.
"He's a good player," Martello said. "Unfortunately, right now, we have to rely on him to play defense too because we have a lot of injuries."
For Francis Scott Key, it will look to take the momentum from this victory into next week against Liberty, now that the losing streak has been snapped.
"When you go through what we've been going through," Smith said, "there's a tendency to think that there's something wrong with the kids, with the community. There's nothing wrong with FSK. There's nothing inherently bad about FSK.
"We've just hit a rough stretch lately. These guys are fighting their guts out to turn it around, and tonight was our first big step."
North Carroll 0 7 14 0 - 21
Francis Scott Key 14 7 0 12 - 33
SCORING SUMMARY
F-Matt Clingan 13 run (Billy Healey kick)
F-Clayton Vleck 15 run (Healey kick)
N-Tyler Whitehead 26 pass from Terin Kelsey (Kyle Fiedler kick)
F-Billy Healey 8 pass from Vleck (Healey kick)
N-Sean Floto 17 pass from Kelsey (Fiedler kick)
N-Dan Gebhart 48 run (Fiedler kick)
F-Vleck 1 run (2 pt. conversion failed)
F-Vleck 1 run (2 pt. conversion failed)
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
Rushing
F-Vleck 16-139, Clingan 29-122, Rye Thomas 18-92, Eric Smith 6-6; N-Gebhart 12-148, Aaron Heinle 5-66, Sean Floto 2-7.
Passing
F-Vleck 3-3-0 29; N-Kelsey 5-12-1 77.
Receiving
F-Justin Daigle 1-12, Thomas 1-9, Healey 1-8; N-Whitehead 1-26, Gebhart 1-22, Floto 1-17, Heinle 2-12.
