Times Observer photo by Steve Younger Youngsville’s Rylan Benton, right, guards Erie First Christian’s Avery Collins during Friday’s District 10 Class 1A championship game at the Hagerty Family Events Center in Erie.

ERIE — Some days you’re the windshield; some days you’re the bug.

Three days after a thrilling playoff victory, Youngsville fell behind early and couldn’t recover during a 75-38 loss to Erie First Christian in the District 10 Class 1A championship game Friday at the Hagerty Family Events Center in Erie.

The news isn’t all bad for the Eagles as their season will continue when the PIAA Class 1A playoffs get underway on March 7. Youngsville will play the loser of today’s District 9 Class A championship game between Elk County Catholic and Otto-Eldred.

As far as Friday’s contest went, things started about as bad for the second-seeded Eagles as you could think up.

Erie First’s leading scorers, Avery Collins and Ayden Blum, were on fire early and a thunderous dunk from Collins highlighted a 16-0 Erie First run to start the game.

“Erie First came out with a much higher energy level and we had to fight to match it,” said Youngsville coach Jesse Benton. “Once we did, we had unfortunately dug too big of a hole.”

Rylan Benton hit Youngsville’s first field goal of the game — a 3-pointer — with 3:01 left in the opening quarter. However, Collins kept scoring for Erie First and it was 25-7 after a quarter. Collins scored 17 of his game-high 26 points in the opening stanza.

Collins opened the second quarter with two more 3-pointers, but Youngsville started to match the offensive pace with Benton, David Manning and Ethan Beers doing the scoring.

Despite the more consistent production, the top-seeded Erie First team had managed to extend the lead to 21, 45-24, at halftime.

Any chance of a Youngsville comeback was quickly thwarted in the second half as Erie First started the second half much like it did the first.

This time, Erie First completed a 12-0 run before a pair of Cash Moore free throws ended Youngsville’s dry spell.

The fourth quarter featured a bevy of substitutions, but Youngsville did get a 3-pointer from Hudson Haight to add one more highlight in defeat.

Benton, Beers and Manning all finished with 11 points in the Youngsville loss. Collins led Erie First with 26 points and Blum added 21.

YOUNGSVILLE (38)

Benton 2 6-6 11, Beers 4 1-3 11, Manning 4 2-4 11, Moore 0 2-2 2, Rowland 0 0-0 0, Pikna 0 0-0 0, Haight 1 0-2 3, Gallegos 0 0-0 0, Boozer 0 0-0 0, Rex 0 0-0 0, Gallegos 0 0-0 0, Montgomery 0 0-0 0, Totals11 11-17 38

ERIE FIRST CHRSTIAN (75)

Titus 2 2-2 6, Tate 1 0-0 2, Collins 9 4-5 26, Gonzales 3 1-2 7, Phillips 2 0-1 5, Rupp 1 0-0 2, Collins 2 0-0 4, Ocasio 1 0-0 2, Blum 9 2-2 21, Totals 30 9-12 75

Youngsville 7 17 6 8 — 38

Erie First 25 20 16 14 — 75

3-point goals — Benton, Beers 2, Manning, Haight, Av. Collins 4, Phillips, Blum