Story by Ryan Gerazounis – Beaver County Radio

(Beaver Falls, Pa)

On Friday night the New Brighton Lions football team made the short trek over the bridge to face rival Beaver Falls. No matter where both teams are in the standings, every fall the Lions and Tigers give everything they have to try to win the “Little Brown Jug”. Friday was no different. New Brighton came into this showdown with a 1-3 conference record while Beaver Falls was still hunting their first win of the season.

Beaver Falls looked ready to take it to the Lions on the first possession when Za’Saun McElvy broke a thirty yard run down the sideline. New Brighton quickly clamped down on the Tigers, forcing them to punt on the drive. The Lions Brycen Porter was able to break through and block the punt giving New Brighton good starting field position. A few plays later Heath Lewis punched it in for a touchdown from one yard out giving New Brighton an early 6-0 lead. The Lions struck again in the second quarter when Jaron King connected with Jojo Montanez for a 25 yard touchdown pass, putting the Lions up by two scores. Just before the half concluded Jaron King would connect with Mike Veon this time on a 50 yard touchdown pass. The Lions took a 20-0 lead into the locker room.

After making the necessary adjustments at halftime, Beaver Falls came out ready to play in the second half. Za’Saun started it off with a 5 yard touchdown run. Making the score 20-8 early in the third quarter. New Brighton would fumble the ball on their next drive giving Beaver Falls good field position. The Tigers would take advantage, this time it was Terrence Banks making his way into the end zone with a 2 yard run. Narrowing the lead to 20-14. That was the score heading into the fourth quarter.

As the last quarter got underway, only 6 points separated these cross river rivals. New Brighton’s Mike Veon would change that when he found pay dirt on a 9 scamper to the end zone. Increasing the Lions lead to 27-14. It wasn’t long before Tigers senior Za’Saun McElvy found the end zone again, this time it was an 18 yard touchdown along with a successful two point conversion and the Tigers only trailed by five, 27-22. With the game on the line it was Mike Veon for New Brighton that broke it wide open when he rumbled into the end zone on an 11 yard carry putting his Lions ahead 34-22. The young Beaver Falls team would come up short when they fumbled the ball away with 1:30 left in the contest allowing New Brighton to recover and run out the clock. New Brighton would go on to win the 2024 installment of the “Jug Game” and will take the Little Brown Jug back across the river until it’s time to defend it next season.

With the win, the New Brighton Lions improve to 2-3 (4-4) and will host the Western Beaver Golden Beavers next Friday at 7pm. While Beaver Falls fall to 0-5 in conference play and 0-8 overall. They will play host to the Riverside Panthers Friday night.