The Governor Mifflin Mustangs (1) hosted the Spring Grove Rockets (4) on Friday night for the District III 5A Semifinals. Governor Mifflin’s Nick Singleton was coming off a seven touchdown outing in their quarterfinal victory against Warwick last week.
The Mustangs started off with the ball and drove down the field to the Spring Grove 25 yard line before the Rockets defense forced a turnover on downs. Governor Mifflin had two crucial penalties on the drive that assisted in halting it.
On the Rockets first time with the ball, they got only 16 yards before having to punt the ball back to the Mustangs.
More Governor Mifflin penalties forced them to punt it back to Spring Grove. However, the snap flew over the punter, Lamarion Northan’s head. He was lucky enough to recover it and throw it up for grabs which turned into an interception at the line of scrimmage. This set up Spring Grove with excellent field position at Governor Mifflin’s 45.
The Rockets turned this into a touchdown off of a 43 passing touchdown from Andrew Osmun to Darien Osmun. Andrew Osmun then made the PAT. The brothers’ touchdown connection gave Spring Grove the lead 7-0 ending the first quarter.
The Mustangs answered back quickly from an Aiden Gallen nine-yard touchdown run capping off a 47 yard drive. The PAT was good from Jackson Schools, tying it up at 7-7 with 9:41 left in the half.
Spring Grove’s next possession resulted in a three and out forcing a 27-yard punt to the Mifflin 25. Bad field possession wasn’t enough to stop Governor Mifflin from driving 75 yards and taking the lead on a Nick Singleton 31-yard touchdown run. The PAT made it 14-7 Governor Mifflin.
The Rockets were forced to go three and out a second time in a row forcing them to pin the Mustangs at their own 20. With over three minutes left in the half, Mifflin had plenty of time to drive down the field. Right before the end of the half, Jackson Schools hit a 28-yard field goal to put Mifflin up 17-7 at the half.
Spring Grove came firing out of the gates in the second half scoring a touchdown just 21 seconds into the second half. The touchdown came off of a 44-yard run from Zyree Brooks. The PAT was no good. The Mustangs still had the lead 17-13.
However, Mifflin came right down the field on their first drive of the half getting a touchdown from Nick Singleton off of a 36-yard touchdown run. The PAT made it 24-13 in the third.
The Mustangs’ defense forced another three and out from Spring Grove giving them the ball back at their own 35-yard line. On a fourth down and ten situation, Governor Mifflin decided to go for it. Eden Johnson connected with Braylon Stewart for a 36-yard passing touchdown. The Mustangs were pulling away, leading 31-13 at the end of the third quarter.
To open the fourth quarter, Spring Grove drove down to the Governor Mifflin 20-yard line before being stopped on fourth down. With 8:20 left in the game, Nick Singleton got his third touchdown of the night on a 17-yard touchdown run. This made it 38-13.
Spring Grove tried to make a final push but came short at Mifflin’s six-yard line. This sealed the Mustangs 38-13 victory over Spring Grove to advance to the finals.
The District III 5A final will be an All-Berks rematch between Governor Mifflin (1) and the Exeter Eagles (7). When the two teams met in early October, Governor Mifflin won convincingly 54-21. This time, they will be fighting for a District title.
