Cody Smith

HERNDON – It was all Eagles from the get-go Friday night.

On a field bearing the appellation of Super Bowl champion Glenn Ressler, the Line Mountain Eagles put on a championship-worthy performance in their District 4 Class AA playoff opener against the visiting Towanda Black Knights.

The Eagles returned the game’s opening kickoff for a touchdown and never looked back enroute to a 46-23 home victory.

Nolan Baumert received the opening kick, and with great blocking out front was able to go 92 yards for the game’s opening score.

“That’s the best thing that can happen on the opening kickoff,” said Baumert on his return. “It was wide open. The team put together great execution. The hole was there, and I just hit it and took off.”

Holding a 7-0 lead early on, the Line Mountain defense went to work. The Eagles forced a Towanda three-and-out, but when the home team turned the ball over on the very first play of the ensuing drive, the defense got put in a tough spot holding a slim lead.

Coach Brandon Carson’s defense once again held strong, forcing Towanda to line up for a 35-yard field goal attempt to chip into the lead, but that kick would be blocked by the impressive special teams unit of Line Mountain to keep it a 7-0 game.

“I think sometimes when that kind of stuff happens it takes some of the focus away from the offense a little bit. It can make you have to readjust mentally,” said Carson about his team’s quick start. “I’ll take the kickoff return all day long though. I joked with Nolan (Baumert). He’s scored so many ways this season that I told him he needed a kick return. He did an awesome job, and our coverage team did an awesome job blocking.”

After swapping a few scoreless possessions, Line Mountain put another score on the board. With Towanda backed up at their own three-yard line, a bad snap gave the Eagles an opportunity to recover a fumble and start with the ball inside the Towanda 5-yard line. Two plays later it was freshman fullback Noah Ringes that plunged in for a two-yard touchdown.

That fumble recovery was far from the lone turnover forced by the Eagle defense on the night. In all, Towanda put the ball on the ground six times, four of which were recovered by Line Mountain. The Eagles defense also forced one turnover on downs and blocked a bunt to go along with its blocked field goal.

“” said Coach Carson. “

Line Mountain scored one more time in the opening half to take a 20-0 halftime lead. Sophomore quarterback Kaiden Maurer connected with junior wideout Chase Zerbe on a six-yard pass with just 53 seconds remaining in the half.

“It was a big help that we ran hurry-up on early on. I don’t think they were expecting that.” said Maurer of his team’s offense. “We just drove down the field and scored on them.”

Maurer threw two touchdown passes on the night on limited attempts. He completed five of eight passing attempts for 41 yards and the pair of scores.

“It’s nice to put up 20 in the first half,” added Baumert. “We had some missed opportunities, but we came right back out in the second half and kept scoring.”

Towanda opened the second half strong, proving to fans they should not be overlooked following a scoreless first half. It took the Black Knights just three plays to find the endzone following the halftime break.

Junior quarterback Riley Vanderpool connected with wide receiver Tahshon Garner for a 43-yard catch-and-run before finding Jace Gunther down the seam for a 28-yard score. An extra point made it a 20-7 game.

“The touchdown caught us off guard,” said Carson. “We actually should have jumped into a different coverage, but we didn’t. The field was wide open, and they made a good throw.”

Line Mountain answered right back in perhaps the turning point of the game. Following Towanda’s touchdown drive, the Eagles put together a stellar drive of their own. Line Mountain went 53 yards on eight plays – mostly on the ground with Baumert, who scored on a 16-yard run – as the home team struck back for another touchdown to go back up by 19 points.

From that point on it was all Eagles. Senior linebacker Chandon Maurer made a highlight-reel play on Towanda’s next drive, blocking a punt, scooping it up himself and taking it back for an Eagles touchdown that seemingly caused the Black Knights to implode.

Towanda struggled mightily with penalties, especially in the second half. The Black Knights were called for 13 infractions on the night that resulted in 120 penalty yards. Seven of those penalties came in the second half when the Black Knights were attempting to mount a comeback. Four of those seven were personal fouls, including a foul that resulted in an ejection.

Line Mountain scored a pair of touchdowns in a minute and a half span late in the third quarter to put the game in the mercy rule at 46-7 to ensure their trip to the District 4 Class AA Semifinals this coming Friday or Saturday night.

Towanda tacked on two late touchdowns to make the final score look a bit closer than perhaps it was. The Black Knights got touchdowns from a pair of freshmen when Curtis Maynard ran in for an eight-yard score and Jazick Brown ripped off a 92-yard touchdown run with just over two minutes remaining in the game.

Towanda closes its 2023 season with an overall record of 6-5, while Line Mountain improves to 9-2 overall. The Eagles will likely head to Troy this coming week to take on the undefeated Trojans, though their matchup will not be official until after games are completed Saturday evening.

SHAMOKIN – For a brief moment Friday night at Kemp Memorial Stadium it seemed like the streak might end. The Mount Carmel Red Tornados entered the matchup having won not one, not two… but 26 consecutive Coal Buckets.

In the end, the visiting Red Tornados extended the streak to 27 as Mount Carmel earned a convincing 46-13 victory.

Despite a lopsided-looking score, the Shamokin Indians held their own and actually took a 13-12 lead into the halftime break, but a determined Mount Carmel team came out of the locker room looking like a completely different team, as the Red Tornados posted 34 second-half points without allowing the Indians to score again in the game.

“We’ve got some good backs and we’ve got some good kids that can do multiple things,” said Mount Carmel coach John Darrah. “Some of the looks we were getting we just felt it was best to keep the ball on the ground and those guys just ran hard, finished their runs, and credit to our o-line for getting the job done too.”

The night seemed to start well for the visitors, as Mount Carmel forced a Shamokin punt on their first offensive drive of the game. The Red Tornados followed that up by piecing together an impressive 13-play drive that took nearly five minutes off the first-quarter clock to open a 6-0 lead on a 19-yard screen pass from senior quarterback Cole Spears to junior running back – and 1,000-yard rusher on the season – Luke Blessing.

Shamokin answered right back with a methodical drive of its own. The Indians took a touchback on the kickoff and then drove 80 yards on an outstanding 15-play drive. The Indians used a few chunk plays through the air to wideout Ben Delbaugh, but mostly ran the ball right down the field on a tough Mount Carmel defense.

Delbaugh caught three passes on the drive for 44 yards before freshman quarterback Logan Steele plunged into the endzone from just one yard away.

Delbaugh had an impressive night, leading all pass catchers in the game with 103 receiving yards on six catches.

A good extra point try by Chase Pensyl put Shamokin up 7-6, and just three plays later it was Steele on the defensive side of the ball making an impact. On a deep shot by Mount Carmel QB Spears, Steele ran the ball down and made an incredible over-the-shoulder interception to get Shamokin the ball back.

The Indians failed to take advantage of the ensuing possession and then let Blessing score his second touchdown – his first on the ground – on a 60-yard scamper on Mount Carmel’s next possession.

Once again Shamokin struck back and took the lead. With 1:23 remaining in the opening half, Pensyl took an end-around and found the endzone on a 21-yard run to put Shamokin up again.

Pensyl’s first-half contributions wouldn’t end there, as he also picked off Spears on a ball deflected by Delbaugh and into Pensyl’s hands.

Trailing 13-12 at half with the Coal Bucket on the line, Coach Darrah knew his team needed to settle in for the second half. “I was happy with the way our kids stayed composed,” said Darrah. “They remained confident, which was good. The main message was just settle in. We were making small mistakes. A guy here a guy there, a step here a step there. It was just little things.”

“We just got locked in and said, ‘we aren’t losing this game’,” added Blessing. “We had a terrible half, but we knew we could come out and play our football and we did that.”

Mount Carmel certainly found its groove in the second half, outscoring the Indians 34-0 to run away with a 27^th-consecutive Coal Bucket.

Blessing’s huge night ended with 155 rushing yards on 18 carries and three rushing touchdowns to go with his first half receiving score.

Xavier Diaz also had an impressive night on the ground, carrying the ball 15 times for 150 yards and a pair of scores, including a touchdown as time expired in the game.

Spears also added a 51-yard rushing score in the second half, as he ran for 91 yards himself. In all, Mount Carmel ran for an incredible 470 yards in the game, 342 of which came in the second half alone.

“We came into this game prepared. We knew they were a great team, and they were going to give us a fight. We started slow, but we were moving the ball. Our O-line was playing well.” said Blessing of his team’s ability to run the football. “When we came out in the second half we just ran it down their throat. They had no answers for us.”

The big second half and challenging win sets Mount Carmel up to head into the District 4 playoffs starting this coming Friday.

“I wouldn’t have wished to have had to fight through adversity tonight,” said Darrah. “It’s kind of a blessing in disguise now that we’ve had to fight through some adversity, it just makes us stronger as a team. Hopefully our guys that are dinged up get healthy and we make a run in the playoffs.”

The win closed out an 8-2 overall regular season for the Red Tornados.

“Coming off this big win gives us a good start toward the playoffs,” said Blessing. “We know now if we lose a game we’re done, so we have to play every game like we played the second half tonight.”

Meanwhile, Shamokin’s loss dropped them to an even 5-5 on the season. They’ll look to bounce back from this loss in the playoffs.

SELINSGROVE – A record-breaking night and over 500 yards of total offense propelled the Selinsgrove Seals to a 35-7 victory over Montoursville on Senior night Friday at Harold L Bolig Memorial Field.

Tucker Teats broke multiple records in the game and accounted for over 300 total yards of offense himself.

Teats broke the Selinsgrove school record for total touchdowns in a single season, total points in a single season, and total rushing touchdowns in a single season in his big performance. Teats ran the ball 17 times for 265 rushing yards and three rushing touchdowns while adding a 45-yard receiving touchdown in the victory as well.

“It’s amazing,” said Teats of his record-breaking season. “I remember being a little kid watching on Friday nights and it was something I always wanted to do, to go out there and be my best. I couldn’t do it without my linemen though. I love those boys and I’d do anything for them. I try to let them know that they’re the best linemen out there.”

Despite the final score, this game was a barnburner early on. After the Warriors failed to score on their opening possession, it seemed the visiting team forced Selinsgrove into a three-and-out to start their night offensively. However, a fake punt attempt earned the Seals even more than a first down when the upback Teats ran the fake punt 49 yards for the game’s opening score.

It wouldn’t take long for Montoursville to strike right back behind junior quarterback James Mussina. Just two plays into the ensuing drive, Mussina found senior running back Nate Fisher down the seam for a 36-yard catch-and-run to even the score at 7-7.

Little did anyone know this would be Montoursville’s lone point of the game.

The two teams took a tie game into the second quarter before Teats broke the tie again. Despite an illegal block in the back that erased a 98-yard Teats rushing score, the Seals drove the field and scored on a 45-yard catch-and-run by Teats.

“They were loading the box with Tucker running the football and at that point those hitches work as a long handoff,” said Coach Derek Hicks. “When he (Mark Pastore) went downfield he made some nice throws for the touchdowns.”

Senior quarterback Mark Pastore had himself a solid night in the win, completing 12 of 17 pass attempts for 146 yards and a pair of scores.

“Mid-way through the season I thought I hit a little bit of a passing game slump,” said Pastore. “That was something we’ve been focusing on. Obviously, tonight that came through for us. We made some big-time plays in big-time moments. Putting up big points for our guys.”

The Selinsgrove offense wrapped up the opening half with another passing score, this time to junior wideout Gavin Bastian. Bastian had a huge night in the receiving game, hauling in eight receptions for 83 yards and the score.

The rest of the night was all Teats, as he tacked on a pair of rushing scores in the second half to help cap off the victory.

Montoursville’s offense pieced together a few more drives in the game, but big defensive plays from the Seals turned the Warrior offense away. With just over four minutes remaining in the opening half, Montoursville possessed the ball all the way down at the Selinsgrove three-yard line. Selinsgrove forced a fumble and fell on the ball to recover the fumble on a possession where the Montoursville offense could have tied the game at 14 points apiece.

Later in the second half, Montoursville was within striking distance again. On a fourth-and-five at the Selinsgrove eight, Mussina rolled left to pass and launched a ball into the endzone that ended up being intercepted by sophomore defensive back Wyatt Teats.

In all, Selinsgrove allowed 370 total yards of offense and allowed the Warriors to pick up 20 first downs in the game, but Coach Hicks’ bend-don’t-break defense held up to allow just one score.

“They’re a lot like us,” said Hicks. “They’re physical, they’re tough up front, they have a couple running backs that run really hard. They showed up tonight and played as advertised.”

“Last week they played a great game against Jersey Shore,” added Pastore of the Seal’s tough opponent. “Their record doesn’t really speak for how well they’ve played this season. They played us tough. They made us have some mental errors. I thought this was a great win for us against a great Montoursville team.”

The Seals wrap up the regular season this coming Friday night when they travel west on Rt. 522 to take on the Midd-West Mustangs (0-9).

SUNBURY – Jayce Ginck led a potent rushing attack Friday night as the Shamokin Indians rolled into Sunbury to top the Shikellamy Braves on homecoming night.

Ginck ran for 232 yards on the ground as the Indians rolled to 391 total rushing yards and six rushing touchdowns in a 41-20 victory that was closer than the final score may make it seem.

“It was a fantastic win,” said Shamokin coach Marc Persing of his team’s victory. “The line did fantastic after we made some tweaks to the scheme. Credit to our coaching staff for making the right adjustments.”

Despite the home Braves never holding a lead in the game, Shikellamy kept things close throughout with clutch touchdown drives. The Braves almost opened the game with a score, but a lost fumble on first-and-10 at the Shamokin 27-yard line halted the drive.

It didn’t take long for Ginck and the Indians to take advantage of the early turnover. On just the second play from scrimmage, Ginck took a handoff and scampered 75 yards for the opening score of the contest.

“Good blocking,” said Ginck of his rushing performance. “My linemen gave me the best blocks I could get… I see the holes good, I’m fast and I can juke.”

That would not be Ginck’s lone impressive run on the night, as later in the fourth quarter he found pay dirt on a 76-yard run that all but ended the game. In all, he totaled a game-high 232 rushing yards.

Following the Indian’s opening score, Shikellamy battled right back. Just two drives later the home team used its strong passing attack to post a score. Sophomore quarterback Brody Rebuck connected with senior halfback Luke Snyder on a screen pass that Snyder promptly deposited into the endzone following a 43-yard run.

Rebuck posted a solid passing line on the night despite the loss. He completed 19 of his 30 pass attempts in the game – a 63 percent clip – for 179 yards with the Snyder screen pass being his lone passing touchdown.

With 5:26 remaining in the second quarter, Shamokin extended its lead again when senior quarterback Brad Latshaw plowed into the endzone from just one yard out.

Latshaw was not the lone Shamokin quarterback to score in the game. In the second half, freshman Logan Steele also found the endzone on a seven-yard run.

The duo split snaps throughout the game, with Latshaw attempting more passes and compiling more passing and rushing yards on the night. In the game, Latshaw completed three of nine passes for 62 yards and ran the ball nine times for 49 yards and a score.

Steele finished the game 2-for-3 passing for 19 yards and added 23 rushing yards and a score on three attempts.

“There is no ego or animosity between the two guys,” said Coach Persing of his quarterback situation. “I don’t believe anyone loses their spot due to injury, so when Brad (Latshaw) got the news he was coming back, we were ecstatic. He’s one of our few seniors who play and provides leadership in the huddle. Logan (Steele) is a fantastic athlete as well. You saw him out in open space and playing defense as well. It’s on us to figure out how to use both of them moving forward.”

Junior wideout Chase Pensyl also added a rushing touchdown for the Indians in the game on a 47-yard end around. The dual-threat wideout/running back toted the ball five times for 78 yards in the game and also added a pair of receptions for a total of 25 yards.

Early in the fourth quarter, the Shikellamy Braves had an opportunity to tie the game. Following a touchdown run by Rebuck, the Braves defense forced a Shamokin punt to earn possession of the football down 28-20 with just over 11 minutes remaining. Unfortunately for the Braves, the pressure of the Shamokin defense forced Rebuck into an interception that Logan Steele returned into Shikellamy territory.

“We’ve done this now a few times,” said Coach Persing. “We let teams hang around when we have the opportunity to step on their throat and put them away. We keep preaching that that’s what young and inexperienced teams do. Experienced teams don’t give up that touchdown before the half. They go up, they get the ball back and they put them away. There is some learning that needs to take place for this football team, but we’re pleased.”

That is when Ginck iced the game with a pair of fourth-quarter rushing scores.

“We have five kids on this team that we feel can do that on any given night,” said Coach Persing. “Last week it may have been Bridgeton (Delvelle) and Chase Pensyl. This week it was Jayce’s turn.”

Shamokin improved to .500 overall with the win, pushing their record to 3-3 on the season. The Indians will put that record to the test this coming Friday when the Indians host the 5-0-1 Jersey Shore Bulldogs.

Shikellamy slides to 1-5 overall on the season and will look to bounce back this Friday on the road in Mifflinburg (3-3).

ELIZABETHVILLE – A whopping 22 first-quarter points pushed Upper Dauphin ahead early, and those points would prove to be more than enough Friday night as the Trojans were able to fend off visiting Newport by a final score of 22-6 on homecoming night.

Trojan quarterback Aidan Bingaman threw for over 200 yards and three touchdowns in the contest to lead the charge.

“He’s a good football player,” said Upper Dauphin coach Kent Smeltz of his junior quarterback. “He’s getting better all the time. He was second-team all-league last year, so we expect him to be a playmaker. Last year we needed him to be more of a game-manager. This year we’ve challenged him to be a playmaker and in practice he has shown an ability to do more things that we need him to do.”

After winning the opening coin toss and electing to receive rather than defer to the second half, Smeltz and the Trojan offense marched right down the field on a six-play drive that covered 72 yards for an early score.

Sophomore running back Carter Dreibelbis broke free on a 16-yard touchdown run for the lead, while Bingaman hit Tegan Engle in the flat for a two-point conversion to put the home team up 8-0 early.

A Newport fumble on their first offensive drive of the game gave Upper Dauphin good field position for their second drive, which they would also score on. Once again it was Bingaman to Engle – this time from 29-yards out – for a catch-and-run score.

Later in the first quarter the Trojan defense forced a punt and then scored on their first offensive play of the drive. On the final play of the opening quarter, Bingaman found an open Tyler Erdley who used his speed to break away from the Newport defense and ran the whole way down the near sideline for a 78-yard touchdown reception. A missed PAT gave Upper Dauphin a 22-0 lead.

Engle went over the century mark on the night, catching three balls in the game for a total of 114 yards. He led all receivers in the game.

Unfortunately for Upper Dauphin, the momentum seemed to stop there, as the team didn’t find pay dirt again until the fourth quarter. After an interception from senior linebacker Keatin Dieffenbach, the Trojans marched down the field again, but a fumble at the Newport one-yard line that rolled into the endzone was recovered by Newport for a touchback.

“Unfortunately we had some drops in the first half and shot ourselves in the foot on some occasions” said Smeltz.

Neither offense could get anything going for the remainder of the half until Newport coach Todd Rothermel was able to make some halftime adjustments.

“Honestly at halftime my message to the kids was ‘It’s 22-0,but I think we’ve beat ourselves 22-0.’” said Rothermel “We made so many mistakes defensively and offensively. We weren’t sustaining blocks, we weren’t tackling well in space, we weren’t moving our feet; just uncharacteristic stuff that we don’t do in practice. It took us a while to settle into the speed of the game.”

Newport opened the second half with a drive of epic proportions. The Buffalo offense methodically pieced together a 16-play drive that marched 77 yards down the field and took 10 minutes and 23 seconds off of the clock to start the third quarter. On the drive, Newport converted on five third downs.

Newport quarterback Zach Bates ran for 71 yards on the drive and capped the drive off with a 7-yard touchdown run.

Bates ended up leading Newport in rushing on the night, toting the ball 13 times for a total of 77 yards.

“I challenged the guys,” said Rothermel. “We knew we were getting the ball and we needed to drive and we needed to put some plays together. That drive was probably the highlight of our season to this point. For our group of kids to do that was a big step for us. I’m not a big moral-win guy, but that was good stuff.”

Upper Dauphin tacked on a touchdown in the fourth quarter as the final score of the game when Bingaman tossed a four-yard touchdown pass to Caleb Snyder for his third passing score of the night.

“I’m happy that we were clicking tonight,” said Bingaman of his performance. “We had some good practices this week. Now we’ve got to get ready for Halifax next week.”

“Newport is the best 0-5 team in the state,” said Smeltz of the visiting team’s performance.. “They’re well coached and they’ve played a tough schedule. This was no runaway for us.”

Upper Dauphin’s victory improved the team’s overall record to 3-2 on the season. The team faces a tough road test next week, traveling to the fellow 3-2 Halifax Wildcats.

Newport (0-5) looks for its first victory of the season next week when coach Rothermel faces a familiar foe, traveling to Glenn Ressler Field to take on Line Mountain (3-2).

SHAMOKIN – The Selinsgrove Seals certainly had a tough task in front of them Friday night when the team traveled to Shamokin for a road game just one week after a medical emergency caused their home game against Jersey Shore to end abruptly in a tie.

Coach Derek Hicks’ team never waivered, however, putting together a great all-around victory against the Shamokin Indians.

“It was definitely concerning after last Friday exactly where the kids would be mentally,” said Coach Hicks. “We’re certainly happy with the performance and the execution tonight.”

Selinsgrove dominated all facets of the game en route to a 42-7 road victory over the Indians.

The Seals forced four turnovers (three interceptions and a fumble recovery) on defense and scored on six of seven first-half possessions.

Perhaps Shamokin’s best chance came early in the game. After winning the coin toss, the Indians deferred to the second half and chose to kick off to start the game.

Perhaps taking notes from the Denver Broncos and Sean Payton this past Sunday, Shamokin coach Marc Persing called for the onside kick to begin the game, and it was executed to perfection.

Kicker Chase Pensyl squibbed the kick and recovered the ball himself to earn the Indians the first offensive possession of the game. Unfortunately for the home team, the momentum wouldn’t last, as Selinsgrove’s junior defensive back Gavin Bastian picked off a pass by Freshman quarterback Logan Steele on the opening offensive play of the game.

The interception gave the Seals good field position – an early omen for things to come for the night – and set them up for a quick score. It took Selinsgrove just three plays of its own to find pay dirt.

Fullback Ethan Miller rumbled in from seven yards away for the opening score, putting the visiting Seals up 7-0 just a minute into the contest.

From there on out it was the Tucker Teats show for the Seals offense. Teats managed to accumulate 160 rushing yards and three touchdowns on just nine rushing attempts. He also added two receptions for 35 yards in the opening half.

“Our offense wants to establish the pass and spread each other out,” said Teats. “It gave Ethan (Miller) a couple of reps there at running back and spread me out wide. We’ve got the athletes to play.”

Teats’ effort was aided by his defense as well. In the opening half, four consecutive Shamokin possessions ended in a turnover of some sort. On their last possession of the first quarter, Shamokin drove the ball deep into Selinsgrove territory, but the drive ended on a turnover-on-downs rather than Shamokin attempting to put a field goal on the board to make it a 14-3 game.

On the next three Shamokin drives, Caleb Hicks earned an interception, Bastian hauled in his second pick of the night, and a gang of Seals’ tacklers forced a fumble that was also recovered by the visiting team.

“We wanted to get the offense going. Driving the field is tough and our defense was able to set the table,” said Coach Hicks regarding his team’s defensive effort. “Tucker (Teats) had a big game again and we were able to get Mark (Pastore) going. It was a good night.”

“Turnovers helped us out a lot,” added Teats. “It helped set us up great for our high-powered offense. It set us up great in the field position battle too.”

Shamokin scored its lone touchdown of the game on the first play of the fourth quarter when Steele plunged into the endzone from two yards away to cap off an 11-play, 78-yard touchdown drive.

Steele rushed for 84 yards in the game, second-best on the team behind senior running back Bridgeton Delvalle who toted the ball eight times for 92 yards.

Teats’ 160 rushing yards were the most of anyone in the game, while Bastian led all pass-catchers in the game to go along with his two picks. Bastian hauled in three receptions in the game for a total of 43 yards and a touchdown.

“Tucker has been a workhorse through the first four games,” said Coach Hicks. “He’s gone over 100 yards in three of the four weeks. Credit to our O-line for moving guys. It makes his job a little bit easier when you’ve got the big boys up front working.”

Selinsgrove finds themselves with a record of 3-0-1 as the team heads across the Susquehanna to face Shikellamy (1-2) this coming Friday night.

Shamokin slides to 1-3 overall this season. The Indians remain at home to take on Central Mountain (2-2) this coming Friday night.

HALIFAX – The Halifax Wildcats rebounded in a big way Friday night as the team picked up a victory in its home opener against Midd-West by a final score of 40-0.

One week after opening the season with a 49-14 loss to Hamburg on the road, Coach Roy Wall was happy the team could bounce back so quickly and pick up a big win of its own.

“Our kids really picked it up after Hamburg last week,” said Wall. “The score last week wasn’t indicative of how we played. We had a couple turnovers, but our team really showed up to play. Our coaches really did a great job getting them ready.”

The Halifax offense scored early and often, taking its opening drive to the house for an early lead, something the team has accomplished in both of its games to open the season.

“That’s the second week in a row we’ve scored first,” said Wall of his team’s early-game success. “That’s been a thing for us so far and hopefully it continues to be.”

Halifax received the opening kickoff and drove the ball 70 yards on eight plays on a drive aided by Midd-West penalties, of which the Mustangs would commit nine of on the night.

Senior running back Isaac Miller capped off the drive with his first of two rushing touchdowns on the night. Miller led the Halifax ground attack, running the ball 19 times for 80 yards in the contest.

With an early 6-0 lead following a missed extra point, it was time for the Halifax defense to shine. On the second play of the drive, Curtis Conrad recovered a fumble to give the Wildcats a chance to go up by two scores early. Halifax converted, scoring on a broken play that polished off a seven-play drive.

In a 2^nd-and-goal situation at the Midd-West seven, sophomore quarterback Teegan Carroll called for the snap, but a bad snap caused the ball to roll back toward him on the ground. Without missing a beat, Carroll scooped up the ball, rolled right and found space to trot into the endzone for his first rushing score of the night.

Both he and Miller would combine for a solid 144 yards rushing on the night with a combined four rushing touchdowns.

Carroll added a pair of passing touchdowns in the game as well. On the first snap of the second quarter, Carroll rolled to his right and found senior wideout Peter Ranck who reached across the pylon for a receiving touchdown. Ranck ended up leading all receivers in the game with 85 total receiving yards to go along with his receiving touchdown.

Carroll’s second touchdown toss of the night came in the second half. With just over three minutes remaining in the third quarter facing a fourth-and-goal from the six-yard line, Carroll lobbed a pass into the back corner of the endzone where senior Mason Enders reached up and snagged the ball with one hand for the score.

Enders also added an interception in the game that would have been returned for a touchdown if not for an illegal block in the back that nullified the score.

All around it was a solid night for the Wildcats. The team looked great in all facets, something Coach Wall was proud of.

“I’m very proud of our kids,” said Wall. “We had a good scrimmage and then got pounded by Hamburg. I was hoping we wouldn’t start to see any bad habits, but we picked it up this week.”

“Everybody played to their potential tonight and we came into this game knowing we could beat them even though people didn’t think we could.” added Enders of the team’s overall performance. “We proved them wrong.”

The victory pushes Halifax’s record up to 1-1 on the season. The Wildcats are back on the road next Friday night as the team travels to Hancock (MD) (0-1) for a non-conference game across state lines.

Midd-West dropped to 0-2 overall with the loss and will host Milton (1-1) this coming Friday night.

SHAMOKIN – Lewisburg kicked off the season on the right foot Friday night in Shamokin (pun intended) as the Green Dragons used strong special teams play to earn a 16-13 overtime victory on the road.

Lewisburg kicker Cohen Hoover booted field goals from 39, 29, and 19 yards and also found the endzone on a fake punt attempt to account for all 16 of Lewisburg’s points in the contest.

“The past couple years we’ve played some pretty tight games (against Shamokin)” said Hoover. “It’s come down to a field goal being the difference between winning and losing.”

“Defense is huge,” he added of his team’s strong defensive performance. “We have a really strong defense with really strong backups that can fill in when needed.”

Early on it was evident that defense would be key in the season-opening contest, and Shamokin was the team flexing its muscles in the opening quarter. After holding the Lewisburg offense to consecutive three-and-outs to start the game, junior cornerback Rylan Price picked off a shovel pass on the second play of Lewisburg’s third drive of the game.

The interception put the Indians in a great field position to potentially score the first points of the game, but the Green Dragon defense stood strong, forcing a turnover on downs after four plays.

On the ensuing possession, Lewisburg was able to light up the scoreboard first when the team drove the field on seven plays, sparked by a 49-yard run by junior running back Jeremiah Davis. The run set up the Green Dragons in field goal position when Hoover knocked in his 39-yard attempt for a 3-0 lead.

In the second quarter, the Green Dragons used great field position to score again. Lewisburg’s Ryan Opperman ripped off a 24-yard run and a fake punt on 4^th-and-9 resulted in a 29-yard gain to get the Green Dragons in field goal range again. With the Shamokin defense standing strong yet again, the Green Dragons had to settle for another field goal and a 6-0 lead.

Shamokin had the last laugh in the first half when a shanked punt set the Indians up to start a drive in Lewisburg territory with 2:25 left on the clock in the half. A few quick strikes from Shamokin QB Brad Latsha to wide receiver Ben Delbaugh set up the Indians with a 1^st-and-10 from the Lewisburg 16-yard line. Latsha dropped back and floated a pass to Price in the endzone where he came down with the score with 25 seconds remaining in the half to give the Indians a 7-6 lead at the break.

Following a turnover-on-downs in the third quarter, Lewisburg looked to regain the lead by stringing together some nice running plays. Davis and Sean Field combined to tote the ball six times for 28 yards on the drive, but Lewisburg was forced to punt. Hoover hung a punt high and deep into Shamokin territory, but a muff on the fair catch resulted in the Green Dragons taking over in scoring position.

The Shamokin defense held serve yet again, led by a sack on 1^st-and-20 by Liam Montgomery to force the Green Dragons into a 2^nd-and-26.

Shamokin extended its lead in the third quarter, scoring as time expired on a 75-yard touchdown scamper by Chase Pensyl. A high snap on the extra point kept Lewisburg’s hopes alive, as the failed conversion kept it a 7-point game at 13-6.

On Lewisburg’s ensuing drive the offense struggled to find momentum yet again, as a snap over the quarterback’s head forced the Green Dragons into a 4^th-and-10. Hoover took the snap in punt formation, but another fake punt attempt earned Lewisburg a first down and more. Hoover tiptoed down the far sideline before cutting back into the middle of the field for a 73-yard touchdown run on the play.

“To be honest we kind of know special teams has to step up for us.” said Wicks. “The way our offense operates and how we move the ball slow and methodically. We practice special teams sometimes more than offense or defense.”

That score tied the game and eventually sent it to overtime, where strong defense continued to prevail.

Shamokin opened with the ball, and after failing to find the endzone, lined up for a go-ahead field goal. The Lewisburg special teams unit was able to get enough pressure to block the kick and set up the visiting team with possession with a chance to win the game. After a series of QB-sneaks by Lewisburg quarterback Chase Wenrich, it was Hoover again lining up for a field goal.

The junior kicker knocked it through from 19 yards away to give Lewisburg the season-opening win.

Both Hoover and Wicks believe the emotional win can help the Green Dragons get this season off to a positive start and give the team some momentum moving forward.

“Losing the way we did last year (to Shamokin) really deterred us from the beginning,” said Hoover. “Getting a win tonight gets us really excited to see what we have for the rest of the season.”

“It feels great for those guys to compete and just fight the whole way through,” added Wicks. “This team is tough. They came out and gave us every punch. We did a good job holding up the best we could and finishing the game.”

Lewisburg starts the season 1-0 and will be back on the road at Jersey Shore next week.

The Indians drop to 0-1 and will have to try to rebound next week on the road at District 4 powerhouse Southern Columbia.

SUNBURY – With a trip to the District 4 Class AA playoffs already wrapped up, the Southern Columbia Area Tigers entered their regular season finale just needing to pick up a victory and keep momentum rolling into the post season.

The visiting Tigers did just that by picking up a 42-14 road victory over the Shikellamy Braves.

Despite a few early mistakes, Southern Columbia’s speed and athleticism was no match for a short-handed Braves team that was looking for a rebound after facing undefeated Mount Carmel last week.

Shikellamy’s best chance to take control of the game came early on the first drive of the game after the Braves won the opening coin toss and elected to receive. A quick three-and-out seemed to put an end to the drive early at the Braves’ own 20-yard line, but a Southern Columbia blocked punt was muffed by a member of the receiving team and the Braves fell on top of the ball at their own 33-yard line to retain possession.

The Braves weren’t able to do anything following the fortunate bounce and punted away to the visiting Tigers. It took Southern Columbia just three plays on offense to open the game’s scoring. On a first-and-10 Southern quarterback Blake Wise dropped back and hit a wide-open Braeden Wisloski for a 45-yard catch and run.

“I was happy with my performance tonight,” said Wise following the game. “Especially following the Mount Carmel game. I feel like that wasn’t a true showing of my actual skills. A lot of mistakes were made, so it feels good to come out here tonight and go a perfect five-for-five.”

The Shikellamy offense attempted to answer but was stuffed following just one first down on an eight-yard reception from quarterback Lucas Wetzel to running back Luke Snyder.

Southern took control from there, scoring on three consecutive possessions while the Braves’ offense did not produce a first down the rest of the half.

“Southern is an outstanding football team. They’ve got a lot of speed and a lot of strength.” said Shikellamy coach Jim Keiser. “We have a great group of young men that despite being 1-9 this year never gave up in any football game they played in. They played hard all year.”

Another Wisloski touchdown – this time on the ground – as well as a pair of rushing touchdowns by junior running back Carter Madden put the Tigers up 28-0 with 8:29 remaining in the first half.

Shikellamy’s defense made a stand on the next Southern Columbia drive, forcing a Wisloski fumble and recovering in plus territory with the potential to score.

On the night, the Shikellamy defense forced five fumbles and were able to recover three. The offense did not turn the ball over at all in the game.

Despite the plus field position, the Braves turned the ball over on downs and Wisloski redeemed himself, ripping off a 51-yard run on the next play from scrimmage and plunging in from five yards out on the ensuing play for his third touchdown of the night.

With the Tigers in control and the mercy rule in play, the visitors received the second half kick and were able to extend the lead to 42-0. An extended eight-play drive was capped off by a rushing touchdown from freshman running back Brayden Andrews who showed flashes of Gavin Garcia in his number five uniform. Andrews had runs of six, 23 and 25 yards on the drive with the 25-yard carry ending up in the endzone.

Those would be the last Southern points scored on the night as the Shikellamy offense found a way to kick things into high gear.

Following the Andrews touchdown, the Braves went on a sustained drive of their own. The Braves pieced together a seven-play scoring drive that was started when Chase Morgan took the kickoff return all the way from his own four-yards line to the Tigers’ 24-yard line for a 72-yard return.

Seven plays later senior quarterback Ethan Turber-Ortiz found Luke Snyder in the corner of the endzone for a 20-yard touchdown reception on third-and-17.

Shik scored again in the fourth quarter after recovering another fumble in plus territory. This time Turber-Ortiz took care of things himself, rushing in a one-yard score to make it a 42-14 game.

Unfortunately for the Braves, it was too little too late as the Southern Columbia Area Tigers took the 42-14 victory, ending the Braves’ season with an overall record of 1-9.

“I love those kids,” said Coach Keiser of his graduating senior class. “I’ve been with them for three years now and they gave us everything they had. We’re finally starting to see a little bit of light coming around the corner with this program and it’s because of guys like those. The junior high kids that are coming up have seen the work ethic and their attitude and I think that’s what’s going to change the program around.”

Meanwhile, the victory gave Southern Columbia a regular season record of 7-3 overall as the team preps for a tip to District 4 Class AA playoffs.

“With the playoffs in front of us we wanted to come out and take care of business,” said Tigers’ coach Jim Roth. “To be honest, for a team that only has one win I was impressed when we watched the film on Shikellamy especially last week against Mount Carmel. They played hard and did some things that made it hard for Mount Carmel to move the ball against them, so we’re happy to be able to finish off strong and improve in some areas where we need to.”

The Tigers will likely host a playoff game next week.

“I thought both sides of the ball performed well tonight,” said Roth. “We also get our outstanding running back and linebacker Wes Barnes back next week. He practiced this week but did not play tonight. Getting him back for the first round of playoffs will be a big boost for us both on the field and psychologically.”

Southern Columbia 42, Shikellamy 14

SCORE BY QUARTERS

Southern Columbia             21  14  7  0 – 42

Shikellamy                             0  0  0  14 – 14

First Quarter

SC—Braeden Wisloski 45-yard reception from Blake Wise (Isaac Mikel-Carter PAT Good), 7:26.

SC—Carter Madden 37-yard run (Mikel-Carter PAT Good), 4:47.

SC—Wisloski 57-yard run (Mikel-Carter PAT Good), 1:45.

Second Quarter

SC—Madden 2-yard run (Mikel-Carter PAT Good), 8:29.

SC—Wisloski 5-yard run (Mikel-Carter PAT Good), 3:26

Third Quarter

SC—Brayden Andrews 25-yard run (Mikel-Carter PAT Good), 5:37

Fourth Quarter

S—Luke Snyder 20-yard reception from Ethan Turber-Ortiz (Nick Koontz PAT Good), 11:46.

S—Turber-Ortiz 1-yard run (Koontz PAT Good), 6:52.

TEAM STATISTICS         SC              S

First downs                             9                  5

Total yards                              347             82

Rushes-yards                         30-260        27-41

Yards passing                        87                41

Passing (comp.-att.-int.)       5-5-0           6-17-0

Fumbles-lost                           5-3              1-0

Penalties-yards                      5-50            4-38

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING—Southern Columbia: Wisloski 5-124 2TD, Andrews 5-42 TD, Madden 2-39 2TD, Jack Biermass 5-35, CJ Swank-Dworchak 5-16, Louden Murphy 3-13, Brady Arnold 3-(-1), TEAM 2-(-8). Shikellamy: Isaac Schaffer-Neitz 15-44, Turber-Ortiz 3-11 TD, Derek Turber-Ortiz 2-9, Mason Rebuck 1-0, Snyder 2-(-1), Lucas Wetzel 2-(-10), Chase Morgan 2-(-12).

PASSING—Southern Columbia: Wise 5-5 87 yards, TD. Shikellamy: E. Turder-Ortiz 2-4 24 yards, TD; Wetzel 4-13 17 yards.

RECEIVING—Southern Columbia: Wisloski 1-45 TD, Kyle Christman 2-25, Jacob Hoy 1-13, Murphy 1-4. Shikellamy: Snyder 3-31 TD, Rashawn Martin 1-5, Dominic Angelillo 1-4, Schaffer-Neitz 1-1.

MILTON – With the regular season dwindling and district playoffs on the mind of the Black Panthers, the home team entered the senior night with one goal in mind. Taking care of business.

Entering with just one loss on the season, the Milton Black Panthers hosted the winless Cowanesque Valley Indians and were able to accomplish their goal.

“Our goal was to execute and do the things we wanted to do,” said Milton coach Phil Davis. “I was happy with the way we played overall. We still have some things to clean up, but I thought we played well tonight.”

Milton scored early and often, cruising out to a 42-0 first-half lead and eventually closing the book on a 50-6 victory.

Cale Bastian looked good tossing the rock, completing four of six passes for 119 yards and three touchdowns, though the Black Panthers’ run game also looked quite solid. Milton ran for four touchdowns in the game, all by different running backs.

“It feels good, but at the end of the day none of that would happen if it wasn’t for the guys up from making their blocks and executing on every play the best they can,” said Bastian of his performance. “They gave me a lot of time on my dropbacks. That makes everything a lot easier for everyone in the backfield.”

“Our focus this week was to make sure our seniors went out on a high note on their senior night,” added Davis on his team’s flexibility. “We got some seniors some touches that haven’t gotten many touches over the course of the year and we were happy with that.”

Bastian’s strong performance started on the first drive of the game. He opened the game with completion to senior wideout Xzavier Minium, then hit Minium three plays later for a 24-yard touchdown.

After forcing Cowanesque Valley to a three-and-out on their first offensive possession, Bastian again showed off his arm on a 30-yard pass to tight end Ashton Krall for a score.

In a 13-0 game, Cowanesque Valley looked to get momentum on their side in the opening quarter. With Milton driving and threatening to score yet again, sophomore cornerback Fletcher Good was able to pick off Bastian at the goal line and return the ball to the Indians’ seven-yard line. Unfortunately for the visitors, two plays later the Black Panthers forced a fumble and got the ball right back. A scrum for the ball in the middle of the field ensued and Milton’s Nolan Loss emerged from the pile with the football. On the very next play, Milton scored its first rushing touchdown of the night when senior Dillan Ando found paydirt.

Milton went on to dominate the first half from there. Krall made a huge defensive play to go along with his touchdown scored. In the second quarter, he earned an interception that set up a short field for Trey Locke to find the endzone.

Later in the quarter, Bastian threw his third touchdown pass of the night, this time connecting on a long bomb to speedy wideout Peyton Rearick for a 64-yard score. Freshman running back Jaeden Canelo also scored a rushing touchdown in the opening half of play.

Cowanesque Valley erased the zero from the scoreboard and didn’t take long to do so in the second half. Just three plays into the half, Good broke free up the middle on a 43-yard touchdown run for what would be Cowanesque Valley’s lone score of the night.

The Black Panthers used long, methodical drives to run down the clock in the second half. Milton scored in the third quarter on a nine-play drive where they converted a pair of fourth downs as second-string quarterback Chase Lytle snuck into the endzone for the score.

Milton also strung together a 12-play drive in the fourth quarter that ran nearly all of the time off the clock. The drive took nine minutes and 43 seconds and ended when the Black Panthers failed to score on fourth-and-goal from the one-yard line. On the following play, a host of Black Panthers swarmed the Indians in the backfield to earn a safety that effectively ended the game, as Milton could line up in the victory formation from there.

“I thought we played really hard and executed pretty well,” said Davis. “I’m glad to be coming out of here injury free and ready to move on to next week.”

Milton improved its record to 8-1 on the season and close the regular season on a road trip to Warrior Run (3-6). If the Black Panther takes care of business in that game, they will host Selinsgrove in the opening round of District 4 playoffs.

“A win like this makes us feel really good,” said Bastian. “We’ve got a long way to go. A lot of things to fix and work on, but we’re feeling pretty good about it.”

Milton 48, Cowanesque Valley 6

SCORE BY QUARTERS

Cowanesque Valley            0  0  6  0 – 6

Milton                                      20  22  6  2 – 50

First Quarter

M—Xzavier Minium 24-yard reception from Cale Bastian (Trace Witter PAT Good), 9:33

M—Ashton Krall 30-yard reception from Bastian (PAT No Good), 6:03

M—Dillan Ando 4-yard run (Witter PAT Good), 1:55

Second Quarter

M—Trey Locke 5-yard run (Bastian run), 11:19

M—Peyton Rearick 64-yard reception from Bastian (Witter PAT Good), 7:29

M—Jaeden Canelo 11-yard run (Witter PAT Good), 2:31

Third Quarter

CV—Fletcher Good 43-yard run (PAT No Good), 10:07

M—Chase Lytle 6-yard run (PAT No Good), 3:17

Fourth Quarter

M—Good (-1)-yard run. Safety, 1:51.

TEAM STATISTICS         CV              M

First downs                             6                  14

Total yards                              122             397

Rushes-yards                         28-126        38-263

Yards passing                        -4                134

Passing (comp.-att.-int.)       1-6-2           5-7-1

Fumbles-lost                           3-1              1-0

Penalties-yards                      1-5              1-5

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING—Cowanesque Valley: Good 13-81 TD, Tim Freeman 12-38, Graham Hess 2-8, Carter Ackley 1-(-1). Milton: Canelo 11-101 TD, Montgomery Fisher 5-75, Mason Rowe 3-37, Jostein Minyety 6-13, Lytle 4-9 TD, Minium 1-9, Locke 2-8 TD, Brady Wolfe 2-8, Ando 2-5 TD, TEAM 2-(-2).

PASSING—Cowanesque Valley: Hess 1-5 -4 yards 2 INT, Ackley 0-1. Milton: Bastian 4-6 119 yards, 3TD, INT; Lytle 1-1 25 yards.

RECEIVING—Cowanesque Valley: Good 1-(-4). Milton: Rearick 1-64 TD, Krall 1-30 TD, Minium 2-25 TD, Cole Rhodes 1-25.

SELINSGROVE – The Selinsgrove Seals football team bounced back from last week’s road loss against Mifflinburg by routing visiting Central Mountain in their return to Harold L. Bolig Memorial Stadium on homecoming night.

Selinsgrove jumped out to an early lead and never looked back as they picked up a 42-6 victory over the Wildcats in the Selinsgrove football program’s 1,000^th game.

Tucker Teats led the way for the home Seals offensively, scoring the game’s first three touchdowns in the opening half.

“We shifted some guys around offensively to have a lot more one-way guys tonight. I thought it brought the intensity up. Our guys looked fresh and the o-line did a great job opening some holes for Tucker (Teats).” said Selinsgrove coach Derek Hicks on his junior running back’s a strong performance.

Teats scored twice in the first quarter and again in the second quarter on runs of two, 25, and 50 yards to put Selinsgrove up 21-0 early in the game’s second quarter.

“We put a new tight end in (Andrew Sassaman) and he was setting the edge really good on outside runs.” said Teats, crediting his performance to his teammates. “We switched our lineup to get a few more one-way players on offense. They got a great push all night. Credit to the line. I love ‘em”

Teat’s second rushing score came as a result of some strong play on special teams by Selinsgrove. On Central Mountain’s third punt of the night, senior defensive lineman Spencer George burst through the line and blocked the kick, resulting in a Selinsgrove recovery at the Central Mountain 11-yard line, setting up a short field.

“We’ve stressed special teams from day one,” said Hicks of his team’s ability to excel in all facets of the game. “That was Spencer George’s second block of the year. Those guys are doing a great job on execution. I’m very happy with the performance all around.”

Quarterback Gavin Bastian added a rushing score of his own late in the opening half. With just 52 seconds remaining in the half Bastian kept the ball on a QB sneak at the goal line to score on a one-yard run. Bastian produced a stellar performance passing the ball as well, going on a streak in the opening half where he completed six straight passes, finishing 7-for-10 for 72 yards in the opening half of football.

With a 28-0 lead following halftime, Selinsgrove received the second-half kickoff and didn’t take long to score again. Just two plays into the second half, senior halfback Garrett Paradis scored on a 58-yard jaunt to put the game into the mercy rule early. The score gave Selinsgrove a comfortable 35-0 cushion.

The Seals tacked on one more score in the game, as yet another senior running back found the endzone when Philip Gesumaria ripped off a 71-yard rushing score. In all, eight different ball carriers ran the ball for the Seals, who scored six rushing touchdowns in the game.

Central Mountain was able to avoid the shutout late, scoring a rushing touchdown of its own. Late in the fourth quarter, the Wildcats put together their best drive of the night, going 49 yards on 12 plays on a drive that culminated in a rushing score by backup quarterback Thomas Sprague.

Sophomore running back Jake Weaver led the Wildcats in rushing, carrying the ball just four times for a whopping 47 yards – all in the second half. Freshman back Carnell Noone didn’t trail Weaver by much, toting the ball eight times for 42 yards.

Central Mountain starting quarterback Brady Myers posted solid passing numbers in the opening half before being removed from the game with an injury just before halftime. Myers completed his first four passing attempts and finished the night 4-for-5 for 19 passing yards.

Central Mountain dropped to 0-7 on the season with the loss and looks to bounce back on the road this coming Friday against Garden Spot (5-2).

Selinsgrove looks to use this victory as momentum following a 19-0 road loss last week against Mifflinburg.

“Mifflinburg played us really well last week, but I’m happy with the way our o-line was clicking,” said Coach Hicks. “Tucker (Teats) ran well, Mark (Pastore) looked comfortable, even some of his incompletions were good balls that were just off our guys’ fingertips. I think this was the most comfortable he’s looked all year.”

Selinsgrove (5-2) heads all the way to Hollidaysburg (1-6) this Friday night to take on the Golden Tigers.

Selinsgrove 42, Central Mountain 6

SCORE BY QUARTERS

Central Mountain                 0  0  0  6 – 6

Selinsgrove                           14  14  14  0 – 42

First Quarter

S—Tucker Teats 25-yard run (Carter Young PAT Good), 4:33

S—Teats 2-yard run (Young PAT Good), 0:46

Second Quarter

S—Teats 50-yard run (Young PAT Good), 6:47

S—Mark Pastore 1-yard run (Young PAT Good), 0:52

Third Quarter

S—Garrett Paradis 58-yard run (Young PAT Good), 11:07

S—Philip Gesumaria 71-yard run (Young PAT Good), 6:13

Fourth Quarter

CM—Thomas Sprague 3-yard run (2pt conversion No Good), 1:36.

TEAM STATISTICS        CM             S

First downs                             5                  5

Total yards                              164             318

Rushes-yards                         33-131        23-246

Yards passing                        33                72

Passing (comp.-att.-int.)       8-14-1        7-10-0

Fumbles-lost                           1-0              1-0

Penalties-yards                      4-16            6-44

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING—Central Mountain: Jake Weaver 4-47, Carnell Noone 8-42, Brady Myers 4-18, Rocco Serafini 7-13, Garrison Lucas 1-9, Sprague 6-2 TD, Connor Foltz 3-0. Selinsgrove: Teats 8-84 3TD, Gesumaria 2-75 TD, Paradis 2-67 TD, Ethan Miller 2-12, Brett Rice 1-6, Jarrod Bullington 2-4, Pastore 1-1 TD, TEAM 4-(-1), Jacob Beddall 1-(-2).

PASSING—Central Mountain: Myers 4-5 19 yards, Sprague 4-9 14 yards, INT. Selinsgrove: Pastore 7-10 72 yards.

RECEIVING—Central Mountain: Kevin Grenninger 1-10, Foltz 3-9, Cru Stover 1-9, Noone 1-5, Xavier Persun 1-2, Serafini 1-(-2). Selinsgrove: Gavin Bastian 4-49, Nick Rice 3-23.

COAL TOWNSHIP – The Shamokin Indians defended their home turf well Friday night, earning a big 57-27 victory on homecoming weekend over the visiting Shikellamy Braves.

The Braves took the short jaunt out route 61 looking to pick up their second victory of the season, but a stout all-around performance put the game out of reach early on.

The visiting Indians won the toss and chose to receive, but after a quick three-and-out turned the ball right over to the home team.

On the opening offensive play of the game, Shamokin quarterback Brett Nye dropped back and found an open Wisdom Artis-Jones down the field for a 38-yard touchdown. Nye – who had returned from injury to play in the game – came back out with a bang early.

“To come out and score the first play of the game and grab that momentum is crazy.” said Nye. “We really knew that we could run up the score from then on. It was really helpful.”

“Coming out we had the mindset that we were going to score early,” added Artis-Jones on the opening-play touchdown. “We wanted to come out firing and we did that.”

Shamokin kept their foot on the gas pedal, forcing a second three-and-out on the ensuing possession before a blocking the Shikellamy punt.

Working with a short field again, Shamokin was able to find its way to the endzone. After striking quick on a pass play for the first touchdown, the Indians decided to establish the run on the second drive. After a few nice carries by Knowledge Artis-Jones, Nye connected with Wisdom again for a 23-yard gain on a fourth-and-six play to extend the drive. This big gain put the ball on the Braves two-yard line where Knowledge punched the ball in for his first of three rushing scores on the night.

Two plays later Shamokin was able to get possession back when a fumble was recovered by senior defensive lineman Chris Dinoia. Another quick strike by Nye – this one to Ryder Zulkowski – put the Indians up three scores less than 10 minutes into the game.

“We came out swinging” said Nye about his team’s fast start. “Our o-line, our running backs, our pass game has been very effective. We’ll try to keep the ball rolling and have a great rest of the season.”

The Shamokin defense held Shikellamy to -15 yards of offense through the Braves’ first eight drives of the night.

“I give a bunch of credit to our defense tonight,” said Nye. “Defense wins championships and they do a heck of a job keeping the score low and giving us momentum on offense.”

“Coach told us this week not to let anyone score and that’s what we did.” added Artis-Jones. “We made sure we were doing everything right and we executed.”

The Indians scored again later by taking advantage of another Shikellamy turnover. This time, a short pass was intercepted by Wisdom Artis-Jones when a Shikellamy wide receiver fell down on the play. The interception led to Knowledge Artis-Jones’ second rushing touchdown of the night, scoring from six yards out on just the fourth play of the drive.

Two plays later another interception thrown by Shikellamy turned into points when Chase Pensyl jumped a route and took the ball 43-yards back for another Shamokin score to put the home Braves up 36-0 in the opening half.

Shikellamy’s final drive before the half finally resulted in some positive plays. A 28-yard run by Isaac Shaffer-Neitz got the Braves their first first-down of the night. Then just three plays later it was Schaffer-Neitz again, breaking free for a 59-yard score to put the Braves on the scoreboard.

Any celebration was short-lived however, as with 1:03 remaining in the half, Shamokin put together a seven-play, 77-yard drive that resulted in points as the halftime horn sounded. Nye completed five consecutive passing attempts on the drive, the last of which went to Zulkowski for his second receiving touchdown of the night.

Shamokin opened the second half with the football as well and scored yet again on just a three-play drive. A huge kick return to open the second half happened when Pensyl got the ball and broke free down the right sideline. Fielding the ball at his own 10-yard line, Pensyl followed his blocks to take the ball all the way back to the Shikellamy 27-yard line. Three plays later Knowledge Artis-Jones scored his third rushing touchdown of the game.

Shikellamy collected a touchdown on its ensuing drive when senior running back Matt Shaffer made a house call on his first touch of the game, going 68 yards for a score.

Big plays kept happening for the Braves as the second half wore on. Quarterback Lucas Wetzel came on after an injury to the game’s starting quarterback Ethan Turber-Ortiz and threw a strike to halfback Luke Snyder down the middle of the field. Snyder made defenders miss and took the ball 40 yards for a score.

In the game’s final quarter, Chase Morgan also broke free and scored a long touchdown for the Braves. On the first play of the Braves’ final offensive drive of the game Morgan broke free on a 71-yard run to give the Braves their 27^thpoint of the night.

Despite being limited to 71 yards of offense in the first half, Shikellamy finished the game with 233 yards of offense on the ground while Wetzel added 71 through the air, including a touchdown to give the Braves a total of 304 total yards of offense.

Schaffer-Neitz led all running backs in the game with 118 rushing yards. He picked that yardage up on just 10 carries and found the endzone once.

Nye was the biggest playmaker for Shamokin, throwing for three touchdowns on nine completions for 162 yards. Knowledge Artis-Jones led the Indians in rushing attempts, carrying the ball 16 times for 71 yards and three touchdowns, but Corey Adams led all Indians in rushing yardage, toting the ball seven times for a whopping 86 yards.

The victory for the Indians pushed Shamokin back to .500 on the season at 3-3 overall. They face a tough task next week, traveling to undefeated Jersey Shore (6-0) to take on the Bulldogs.

Shikellamy dropped to 1-5 overall this season and heads home this coming Friday to take on a tough Mifflinburg team (5-1).

SELINSGROVE – Some late-game heroics helped Selinsgrove pick up a home victory Friday night as the Seals defeated cross-river rival Shikellamy by a final score of 35-7.

Things took a while to heat up, as Selinsgrove finally got things clicking late in the game – scoring 28 points in a six-minute span mid-way through the fourth quarter – to win the 2022 edition of the Rally in the Valley.

Tucker Teats picked up a game-high 189 rushing yards as he toted the ball 30 times for the home Seals. Teats also scored twice in the game.

“At halftime we talked about getting the running game going,” said Selinsgrove coach Derek Hicks. “I kind of challenged our offensive line to start getting a push. It took a little while. We were a little slow coming out of the half, but we got going and the defense did a great job all night as well.”

Defense was obviously key early on for both teams, as each team picked up just two first downs apiece on the opening quarter. Following a Shikellamy three-and-out to open the game, Selinsgrove got its first chance on offense, but was stifled by a stout Shikellamy front seven. The Braves earned two sacks on their first three defensive plays of the game. Lucas Wetzel came through with a sack on first down, while Mason Rebuck helped end the drive with a sack on third-and-long.

In all, the Braves held Selinsgrove to -15 yards of total offense through the first four offensive play of the game.

After a scoreless first quarter, the home team was able to break through and put a few points on the scoreboard. Facing a fourth-and-two from the Shikellamy 28-yard line to open the second quarter, Teats picked up a solid six yards on a run play to convert a crucial first down. Later in the drive it was Teats again, capping off a 13-play, 79-yard drive that ate nearly five minutes off the game clock.

The Seals threatened again late in the half. Sophomore fullback Jarrod Bullington ripped off a 49-yard run to set the seals up deep in enemy territory. Two plays later the Shikellamy defense reared its head again, putting a stop to the drive. With Selinsgrove quarterback Mark Pastore rolling to his right, a blindside hit by a Shikellamy linebacker jarred the ball free. Wetzel fell on the loose ball to recover the fumble and give the Braves the ball back with just over two minutes remaining in the half.

Selinsgrove took a 7-0 halftime lead, but momentum didn’t seem to favor either team. Coach Keiser decided it would be a suitable time to shake things up in the quarterback department to try to gain that momentum in favor of the Braves.

“Luke (Wetzel) hadn’t played quarterback since last year. We wanted to see it and I thought he did a good job.” Said Shikellamy coach Jim Keiser.

Wetzel entered the game and connected on his first three pass attempts, including a deep pass down the right sideline to running back Chase Morgan to pick up 29 yards on his first pass attempt. Unfortunately for the Braves, the potential scoring opportunity stalled out deep in Selinsgrove territory. A rush attempt on fourth-and-2 from the Selinsgrove 21-yard line was stuffed by the Seals’ front seven to get the ball – and potential momentum – back to the home squad.

Two drives later the Seals found the endzone again to open it up to a two-score game. Once again it was Bullington that ripped off a 41-yard run to put Selinsgrove in striking distance. Bullington finished the night with over 100 rushing yards, toting the ball just six times for 104 total yards.

After a few Bullington carries, Pastore dropped back on a pass attempt and launched a ball to the endzone’s front pylon on a corner route by Josh Domaracki. Thanks to a Shikellamy defender falling down on the play, Domaracki hauled in the throw for a 16-yard touchdown.

The touchdown broke things open for Selinsgrove, as the Seals went on to score 28 points in the final quarter.

With the Braves down two scores, Gavin Bastian picked off an errant throw on Shik’s first play of the ensuing drive. Three plays later it was Bastian himself that found the endzone for the Seals on a 34-yard catch and run.

“It feels great.” said Bastian on his two big plays. “The defensive line put me in a position to get that interception and my quarterback made a great throw.”

Shikellamy refused to go down quietly. Facing a potential shutout, the Braves knocked the goose egg off the scoreboard on the kickoff following the Bastian touchdown. Chase Morgan fielded the kick at the Shikellamy nine-yard line and showed an impressive burst of speed to fly past all 11 Selinsgrove special teams’ players on his way to the endzone for a 91-yard kickoff return.

Unfortunately for the shorthanded Braves it was too little too late. Selinsgrove continued to pound the run, grinding down the Shikellamy defense.

On the ensuing drive it took Selinsgrove just seven plays – all on the ground – to drive 66 yards and score again. Teats picked up his second score of the night on a 13-yard run to cap off the drive. Two plays later the Seals intercepted Shikellamy again, as Caleb Hicks picked off a pass at midfield and took it back to the house for a defensive touchdown.

“We’ve got a lot of guys playing both ways and we just ran out of gas.” said Keiser. “I thought we played tough, especially being without our first and second-string quarterbacks. Turnovers just killed us in the end, but I’m proud of our kids. I thought they played really hard.”

“The fourth quarter was definitely where we wanted to be,” added Coach Hicks on his team’s performance. “Shikellamy had a great game plan. Watching film coming in we knew their defense was tough. They did some good things against Jersey Shore on film, and they played us tough early.”

The 35-7 victory improves Selinsgrove’s record to 4-1 to start the season.

The Seals travel to Mifflinburg (4-1) next week for a tough matchup with the Wildcats.

Meanwhile, Shikellamy dropped to 1-4 on the season and heads back on the road this coming Friday night to take on the Shamokin Indians (2-3).

Selinsgrove 35, Shikellamy 7

SCORE BY QUARTERS

Shikellamy                             0  0  0  7 – 7

Selinsgrove                           0  7  0  28 – 35

Second Quarter

SEL—Tucker Teats 1-yard run (Carter Young PAT Good), 9:12

Fourth Quarter

SEL—Josh Domaracki 16-yard reception from Mark Pastore (Young PAT Good), 9:10.

SEL—Gavin Bastian 34-yard reception from Pastore (Young PAT Good), 7:25.

SHK—Chase Morgan 91-yard kickoff return (Nick Koontz PAT Good), 7:10

SEL—Teats 13-yard run (Young PAT Good), 3:32.

SEL—Caleb Hicks 50-yard interception return (Young PAT Good), 3:16.

TEAM STATISTICS       SHK            SEL

First downs                             6                  11

Total yards                              153             364

Rushes-yards                         30-81          43-278

Yards passing                        72                86

Passing (comp.-att.-int.)       6-11-2        6-10-0

Fumbles-lost                           1-0              1-1

Penalties-yards                      3-21            7-69

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING—Shikellamy: Isaac Schaffer-Neitz 11-49, Luke Snyder 10-41, Lucas Wetzel 3-7, Rashawn Martin 1-(-1), Matt Shaffer 4-(-6), TEAM 1-(-9). Selinsgrove: Teats 30-189 2TD, Jarrod Bullington 6-104, Corey Rumberger 2-8, Ethan Miller 1-4, Pastore 4-(-27).

PASSING—Shikellamy: Wetzel 4-8 55 yards, 2INT, Snyder 2-3 17 yards. Selinsgrove: Pastore 6-10 86 yards, 2TD.

RECEIVING—Shikellamy: Morgan 3-49, Schaffer-Neitz 1-8, Snyder 2-6. Selinsgrove: Bastian 3-47 TD, Nick Rice 1-24, Domaracki 2-15 TD.

MIDDLEBURG – Coming off a tough road loss to Mifflinburg last week, Coach Lance Adams and the Midd-West Mustangs hoped to rebound in the team’s 2022 home opener Friday night. The team did that and more, wearing down the visiting Halifax Wildcats and rolling to a 48-14 victory to bounce back to .500 on the young season.

“This win feels good,” said Adams. “This team has worked hard. They were beaten up both emotionally and physically last week by Mifflinburg, but we came to play hard tonight. Especially the offensive and defensive line. They cleaned a lot of things up from last week.”

Midd-West moved the ball well on the ground all night but failed to capitalize early in the game, allowing Halifax to stay within striking distance for much of the opening half. Midd-West ran 21 plays in their first two drives of the game, but those 21 plays culminated in zero points on the scoreboard.

An impressive 13-play drive to open the game ran over seven minutes off the clock, ending in a missed 31-yard field goal for the home team. After limiting Halifax to one first down and forcing a turnover-on-downs, Midd-West was right back on the attack. This drive stalled out at the Halifax 24-yard line when the Mustangs failed to convert on a fourth-and-five.

Despite moving the ball well, the Mustangs still needed a spark. The team got just that on the ensuing Halifax drive. On a third-and-nine at the Halifax 26-yard line, Avery Englehart picked off an errant pass, and just three plays later the Mustangs converted on the opening score of the game. A 22-yard dash from Bryce Hackenburg set up a six-yard touchdown run by quarterback Jasher Wolf.

Wolf’s big night was just getting started at that point, as just two plays later he picked off another Halifax pass. Wolf couldn’t be brought down on the return as he broke multiple tackles en route to a 46-yard scamper into the endzone.

Wolf would score once more on the night, adding a six-yard rushing touchdown early in the fourth quarter.

“The line blocked well; the running backs ran the ball well. Anytime I scrambled out the line had the edges,” said Wolf on his team’s overall performance. “Our receivers caught the ball well too. Overall, a good night everywhere.”

Despite quickly being down 14-0 due to a pair of turnovers, Halifax bounced right back and picked up a score of its own. Freshman quarterback Teegan Carroll entered the game and promptly delivered what would be an 80-yard touchdown pass on his first passing attempt. Carroll connected with junior wideout Landon Areford on the score, cutting the Midd-West lead in half an 14-7.

With enough time on the clock for one more drive, Midd-West scored a clutch touchdown in the final minutes of the opening half to take a 20-7 halftime lead. Austin Dorman scored the rushing touchdown from just five yards out, his first of three rushing scores on the night.

“Just a great job by the O-line,” said Dorman. “None of it could have been done without the O-line. We started a little slow, but we stayed with it.”

Midd-West wore down a thin Halifax defense in the second half, outscoring the Wildcats 28-7 in the second half including 21 points in the final quarter.

Halifax’s lone score of the second half came in the fourth quarter when junior running back Isaac Miller broke free for the team’s second 80-plus yard score of the night. Miller ran 88 yards on the score en route to leading the Halifax offense with 115 yards on the ground in the game.

Halifax mustered just 193 yards of offense on the night, 168 of which came on the two long touchdown plays. The Halifax offense converted just two first downs in the game.

“I take responsibility for one of those two long scores,” said Adams of his team’s defensive performance. “Honestly, I believe we only had 10 guys on the field. That’s my responsibility and we gave up a big play. The other one was something we can learn from and move on. Other than that, I thought we held them in check for most of the night.”

Midd-West forced four turnovers in the game, intercepting three passes and recovering a fumble.

Offensively, Dorman led the team on the ground with 161 rushing yards and three rushing touchdowns. Colby Brower nearly cracked the century mark himself, carrying the ball nine times for 96 yards and a score. In all, the Mustang’s offense recorded 333 rushing yards in the game.

“We have three backs right now that I’m comfortable with letting them run,” said Adams. “A couple of those guys provide a change of pace too. I was very pleased with our running game tonight.”

Moving forward Midd-West (1-1) heads to Milton on Friday for a matchup with the Black Panthers (2-0). Milton defeated Towanda last night 21-7. Halifax (0-2) returns home to face Hancock High School from Maryland this coming Friday evening.

Coach Adams hopes to gain some momentum this week to help take down a tough Milton team next week.

“Coming off of last week’s beating we had to find some confidence,” said Adams. “Milton is a quality football team with a lot of athletes on the field. Next week is a different animal, but at least this week gives us something to build off of and move forward with.”

Midd-West 48, Halifax 14 

SCORE BY QUARTERS

Halifax                                     0  7  0  7 – 14

Midd-West                         0  20  7  21 – 20

Second Quarter

MW—Jasher Wolf 2-yard run (Wolf PAT Good), 7:40.

MW—Wolf 46-yard interception return (Wolf PAT Good), 6:36

H—Landon Areford 80-yard reception from Teegan Carroll (Landon Klinger PAT Good), 5:30.

MW—Austin Dorman 5-yard run (PAT No Good), 1:09

Third Quarter

MW—Dorman 1-yard run (Wolf PAT Good), 1:02.

Fourth Quarter

MW—Wolf 6-yard run (Wolf PAT Good), 8:28.

H—Isaac Miller 88-yard run (Klinger PAT Good), 8:00.

MW—Dorman 4-yard run (Wolf PAT Good), 5:50

MW—Colby Brower 7-yard run (Wolf PAT Good), 2:33

TEAM STATISTICS         H               MW

First downs                             2                  18

Total yards                              192             396

Rushes-yards                         22-101        49-333

Yards passing                        91                63

Passing (comp.-att.-int.)       4-11-3        5-10-0

Fumbles-lost                           1-1              2-0

Penalties-yards                      3-15            6-33

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING—Midd-West: Dorman 18-161 3TD, Brower 9-96 TD, Bryce Hackenburg 9-45, Wolf 8-27 2TD, Avery Englehart 2-8, Edgar Murphy 1-3, TEAM 2-(-7). Halifax: Miller 10-115 TD, Cohen Bechtel 5-(-3), Carroll 6-(-12), TEAM 1-1.

PASSING—Midd-West: Wolf 5-10 63 yards. Halifax: Carroll 2-4 85 yards, TD, INT.

RECEIVING—Midd-West: Kaden Kullman 2-38, Englehart 2-21, Cory Weiand 1-4. Halifax: Areford 2-84 TD, Bechtel 1-5, Miller 1-2.

MILTON – In the months leading up to the inaugural game at the brand new Alumni Stadium on the campus of Milton High School, head coach Phil Davis may not have been able to dream up a better opening performance.

The Milton Black Panthers (1-0) shut out visiting South Williamsport (0-1) by a final score of 28-0. Milton’s offense hummed on all cylinders throughout the game, as the Black Panther offense rolled for 300 yards on the ground and three rushing touchdowns.

The defense stepped up too, limiting a South Williamsport offense that prides itself on strong offensive line play to just 164 total yards of offense. The Black Panther defense also forced four turnovers en route to the season-opening shutout.

“I think there was a little more pressure on the kids than they realized tonight,” said Davis on the inaugural game at the team’s revamped stadium. “They didn’t let that affect them at all. They were ultra-focused, and they executed really well on both sides of the ball. I’m really happy for these kids tonight.”

Milton forced one of its turnovers on South Williamsport’s opening offensive play of the game. With momentum on their side, Milton looked to punch in a quick score, but Mother Nature had other plans. An hour and 45-minute rain/lightning delay forced teams and fans alike to seek shelter. Coach Davis’ team had been in a similar situation before, and he knew his team would know how to perform after such a long layover.

“We experienced that last year when we went to Nativity and had an hour and 15-minute rain delay. So, most of these guys experienced that last year,” said Davis. “They’re a pretty mature team. We’ve got some great leaders and their goal was to come out here and be successful tonight.”

Sure enough just two plays after the long delay, Milton was on the board for the first time in the 2022 season. Quarterback Cale Bastian scampered in from eight yards out to give Milton an early 7-0 advantage.

Bastian would go on to lead Milton in rushing yards on the night, toting the ball 14 times for 105 yards and a score.

“All the credit goes to the o-line on that,” said Bastian. “The guys up there were creating holes that you could pretty much drive a truck through. That makes things easy for us. All the credit to those guys.”

“Coming out and getting that score right away was huge for us to get things started,” added Davis.

Milton found the endzone once again later in the opening quarter after forcing yet another fumble. With South Williamsport in a threatening position, Dylan Reiff fell on a loose ball in the Milton red zone to keep momentum with the home team.

Milton drove 90 yards on seven plays on the ensuing drive to go up 14-0.

Another clutch touchdown came with the clock nearing all zeroes in the opening half. On third-and-goal at the South Williamsport three-yard line, Bastian connected with Peyton Rearick to put Milton up 21-0 at the halftime whistle.

On four first-half drives, the Black Panther defense forced one punt and three fumbles to end Mountaineer drives prematurely.

“(South Williamsport) has a great offensive line and that’s been a concern of ours all month preparing for them,” said Coach Davis. “We preach running to the ball and that’s what causes turnovers. Those four turnovers were the difference in the game in my opinion.”

Milton found the endzone one more time late in the contest when freshman running back Monty Fisher took a 26-yard house call. The freshman got all his carries in the second half and recorded nine carries for 68 rushing yards in his varsity debut.

“I feel like we wore them down late,” said Davis “We had contributions from a lot of different runners. We started cramping up a little bit at the end and had to use other kids, but the offensive line kept making holes and making things happen. All the credit goes to the kids and our coaches. I’m just lucky to be a part of this.”

South Williamsport was led offensively by bruising running back Ryan Casella. The 6’-210lb junior toted the ball 13 times for 73 yards. Senior running back Caden Harris also added 71 yards on the ground for the visitors.

Milton takes its 1-0 record on the road to Towanda next week, while South Williamsport looks to rebound on the road against Montgomery.

Milton 28, South Williamsport 0

SCORE BY QUARTERS

South Williamsport             0  0  0  0 – 0

Milton                                      14  7  0  7 – 28

First Quarter

M—Cale Bastian 8-yard run (Trace Witter PAT Good), 8:33.

M—Xzavier Minium 18-yard run (Witter PAT Good), 2:40.

Second Quarter

M—Peyton Rearick 4-yard reception from Bastian (Witter PAT Good), 0:03.

Fourth Quarter

M—Monty Fisher 26-yard run (Witter PAT Good), 11:23.

TEAM STATISTICS              SW              M

First downs                             8                  17

Total yards                              164             344

Rushes-yards                         33-164        44-300

Yards passing                        0                  44

Passing (comp.-att.-int.)       0-0-0           5-12-0

Fumbles-lost                           5-4              2-1

Penalties-yards                      1-15            3-18

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING—Milton: Bastian 14-105 TD, Minium 11-105 TD, Fisher 9-68 TD, Mason Rowe 8-40, TEAM 2-(-18). South Williamsport: Ryan Casella 13-73, Caden Harris 9-71, Amir Kemrir 7-18, Radley Knapp 2-12, TEAM 2-(-10).

PASSING—Milton: Bastian 5-12 44 yards TD. South Williamsport: N/A.

RECEIVING—Milton: Luke Goodwin 1-28, Rearick 3-14 TD, Minium 1-2. South Williamsport: N/A

DANVILLE – After dropping a 26-21 game earlier this season to the Loyalsock Lancers, the Danville Ironmen entered Friday night with something to prove and revenge in their minds.

The home team took care of business easily. Despite falling behind early, the Danville offense – led by its rushing attack – thrived in an easy 42-21 victory in District 4 Class 3A semi-finals.

“The first time we played these guys I thought we were a little flat,” stated Danville coach Mike Brennan following the game. “We didn’t feel really confident, we weren’t healthy, we had offensive opportunities that we missed. A lot of things happened that night that despite how poorly we played it was only a one-score game. We felt that tonight would be really important to run the football. We played with a pass-first mentality back in Week 4. When we establish the run we seem to be a better football team.”

Danville advances to the District 4 Class AAA championship game next week against Montoursville (7-5). The Warriors topped Milton by a final score of 17-14 to reach the title game.

Loyalsock opened the game with early momentum and looked like it would be a tough team to beat. The Lancers won the opening coin toss and elected to receive, driving the ball nearly effortlessly down the field before back-to-back false start penalties derailed the team’s fast start. Facing 3^rd-and-3 at the Danville 10-yard line, the penalties backed the Lancers up to a 3^rd-and-13 from the Danville 20.

After failing to convert, the Loyalsock defense made a stand. The visitors forced a three-and-out on Danville’s first possession of the game and got the ball right back in its offense’s hands. Six short plays later, Loyalsock was in the endzone on a 20-yard catch and run from quarterback Tyler Gee to wide receiver Naz Smith.

Down 7-0, Danville struck right back. On a drive assisted by a pair of Loyalsock penalties, Danville got the game back to all square on a rushing touchdown by quarterback Zach Gordon.

Gordon ended up running for an impressive four touchdowns in the game, carrying the ball 12 times for 54 yards and the four scores.

“We had a bye week coming into tonight and we told our line that we weren’t going to play around. We were going to run the ball.” said Gordon. “We really challenged (the offensive line) to get out, get physical and open up holes. They did a great job.”

Danville never trailed in the game again following Gordon’s first touchdown and took its first lead on its very next drive. Following a short Loyalsock drive, Danville drove 68 yards on nine plays, scoring on Gordon’s second rushing score of the night to go up 14-7 mid-way through the second quarter.

In a crucial turning point of the game, Danville scored a touchdown in the waning seconds of the first half to take a 21-7 lead into the halftime break, while also in line to receive the opening kickoff of the second half.

With 1:42 remaining on the clock and all three timeouts, Danville marched down the field thanks to a few big running plays by Gordon and running back Ty Stauffer. On 2^nd-and-10 from the Loyalsock 27-yard line, Gordon dropped back and connected with Carson Persing on a deep slant in the endzone with just six seconds remaining before halftime.

“That was a great drive,” said Brennan of the clutch touchdown. “We used a timeout to get the ball back to hopefully have a chance to score. I was impressed by our offensive line protection there. (Gordon) was pretty much untouched that entire drive. That throw and that catch by Carson (Persing) was executed well.”

Danville also took advantage of receiving the second half kickoff, scoring yet again on a quick six-play drive. On Danville’s first play of the second half. Stauffer took a delayed handoff and bounced to the right for a 44-yard run. The scoring drive culminated with Gordon’s third rushing score of the night.

Stauffer led all ball carriers in the game, collecting 28 carries and converting them into 205 rushing yards.

Leading 28-7, the game seemed fairly out of reach for Loyalsock, but with all the momentum flowing in Danville’s direction, the Lancers were able to make a stop and score a touchdown on their own to cut the lead to just two scores.

Loyalsock quarterback Taylor Gee connected with tight end Brendan Clark for a 10-yard gain and then watched running back Davion Hill rip off his biggest run of the night – a 21-yard jaunt – to set Loyalsock up inside the Danville 10-yard line. Following an offside penalty, Hill found the endzone on a three-yard score.

Hill led the Loyalsock rushing attack on the night, managing 13 carries for 62 yards and a score before leaving late with an injury.

Danville didn’t allow Loyalsock’s third-quarter score to let the Lancers back in the game. The Ironmen bounced right back to score another touchdown of their own. On the first play of Danville’s ensuing drive, Aaron Johnson ripped off a 30-yard run that set the Ironmen up in scoring position. Four plays later Stauffer plowed into the endzone from three yards out to put Danville up 35-14.

Danville tacked on another score – Gordon’s fourth rushing touchdown – in the fourth quarter. Following a Loyalsock turnover Stauffer ran the ball down to the Loyalsock five-yard line where Stauffer finished off the drive.

A late Loyalsock game made the final score appear closer than things may have seen. Gee connected with his tight end, Clark for a two-yard score as time waned down in the final quarter.

Gee – a sophomore quarterback for Loyalsock – finished the game completing 20 of 30 pass attempts for 241 yards and a pair of passing touchdowns.

For Loyalsock, the season ends with an overall record of 7-5.

Danville improved to 7-4 overall with the victory and takes on Montoursville (7-5) for the District 4 Class AAA crown next week. Back in Week 6, Danville topped Montoursville by a score of 35-14 at Ironmen Stadium.

Danville hopes to take care of business once again in the rematch.

“I know we beat (Montoursville) pretty easily in the regular season,” said Gordon. “I don’t want us to get too high. We need to show up and win. We need to have a good week at practice and then come ready to play.”

Danville 42, Loyalsock 21

SCORE BY QUARTERS

Loyalsock                              7  0  7  7 – 21

Danville                                  7  14  14  7 – 42

First Quarter

L—Naz Smith 20-yard reception from Tyler Gee (Evan Anderson PAT Good), 4:06.

D—Zach Gordon 1-yard run (Aaron Johnson PAT Good), 0:27.

Second Quarter

D—Gordon 15-yard run (Johnson PAT Good), 6:25.

D—Carson Persing 27-yard reception from Gordon (Johnson PAT Good), 0:06.

Third Quarter

D—Gordon 1-yard run (Johnson PAT Good), 9:09.

L—Davion Hill 3-yard run (Anderson PAT Good), 3:42.

D—Ty Stauffer 3-yard run (Johnson PAT Good), 0:37.

Fourth Quarter

D—Gordon 5-yard run (Johnson PAT Good), 4:35.

L—Brendan Clark 2-yard reception from Gee (Anderson PAT Good), 2:46.

TEAM STATISTICS              L                  D

First downs                             15                16

Total yards                              315             439

Rushes-yards                         21-74          51-356

Yards passing                        241             83

Passing (comp.-att.-int.)       20-30-0      6-13-0

Fumbles-lost                           2-2              0-0

Penalties-yards                      12-93          8-48

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING—Loyalsock: Hill 13-62 TD, Gee 7-15, TEAM 1-(-3). Danville: Stauffer 28-205 TD, Johnson 7-75, Gordon 12-54 4TD, Mason Raup 1-10, Persing 1-7, Cameron Kiersch 1-6, TEAM 1-(-1).

PASSING—Loyalsock: Gee 20-30 241 yards 2 TD. Danville: Gordon 6-13 83 yards TD.

RECEIVING—Loyalsock: Rian Glunk 8-120, Smith 2-46 TD, Hill 6-45, Clark 3-24 TD, JerVal Weeks-Shuler 1-6. Danville: Johnson 1-33, Persing 3-30 TD, Hayden Winn 1-16, Raup 1-4.

MIDDLEBURG – The Midd-West Mustangs closed their season out on a high note Friday evening in a rain-soaked victory at their home venue.

In a matchup between Districts 3 and 4, Midd-West (1-9) earned a victory over the visiting Halifax Wildcats (1-7). The win ends the 2021 football season on a high note for first-year head coach Lance Adams and the rest of the Midd-West football program.

“I’m so happy for our seniors,” said Adams following his team’s 49-12 victory. “They stayed the course through this whole thing. It’s been a tough season record-wise, but we’ve really grown as a team and grown as a program as well as these guys growing as individuals.”

The Mustangs left it all on the field, scoring early and often in the win. Senior quarterback Christian Regester had an impressive game, scoring three times in three separate ways. Regester recorded a rushing touchdown, a passing touchdown and an interception return for a touchdown in the game.

“It feels great to have a game like this,” said Regester of his final game. “We played well as a whole which set me up for opportunities to have a big game.”

Regester scored the opening touchdown of the game with his legs. Following a three-and-out from the Halifax offense to open the game, Regester and the Mustangs scored on a four-play, 38-yard drive that ended with Regester’s 13-yard scramble into the endzone.

Following a second Halifax three-and-out, the Mustangs put another touchdown on the board. Once again it took the team just four plays to score. Fellow senior Ethan Schlief scored a touchdown in his final game, rumbling in from 18 yards away to put the Mustangs up 14-0 early in the opening quarter.

Midd-West continued its quick-strike attack on the team’s third possession. Following a third consecutive Halifax three-and-out, the Mustangs took a shot at the endzone. Regester dropped back and found an open James Troup in the endzone for a 27-yard score. The completion would be Regester’s lone completion of the night in the sloppy conditions, though he did only attempt three passes in the entire game.

Down 21-0 early, Halifax finally began to settle in. The team put together a few decent – though ultimately unsuccessful – drives on offense and forced a punt and a Midd-West turnover on the defensive side of the ball.

With time ticking away in the opening half, Regester recorded his third touchdown of the night. Halifax’s sophomore quarterback Carter Enders dropped back and rolled to his left before launching a pass down the left sideline. Regester stepped in front of the Halifax receiver to earn an interception that he would take back to the endzone for a 60-yard pick-6.

“He’s a leader,” said Adams when talking about Regester following the game. “I’ve had the pleasure of coaching him at his position for four years. He’s a special kid to me and I was glad to see him have a big night.”

Halifax earned its first score of the game in its opening drive of the second half. After the defense forced its second turnover of the game, the Halifax offense went on an eight-play drive that culminated in a score. Enders and junior running back Ashton Carter split the load on the drive with Enders eventually being the player that found the endzone for the Wildcats. Enders scored on a one-yard rush to put the visitors on the board.

The Mustangs responded swiftly to the Halifax score. On the ensuing drive, the Mustangs got chunk plays on the ground from Regester (29-yard run) and Schlief (30-yard run) before Austin Dorman capped the drive off with a one-yard touchdown run.

Dorman would tack on a second rushing score later in the game, scoring on a 20-yard run in the fourth quarter.

Halifax added one more touchdown in the game, scoring on the first play of the fourth quarter. On another eight-play drive, Carter found the endzone on a three-yard run for the Wildcat score.

Carter led the Wildcats in rushing on the night, racking up 78 yards on 20 carries. Schlief led all rushers in the game with a 149-yard performance on 13 attempts for the home Mustangs.

Midd-West found the endzone once again later in the game as another senior struck pay dirt. Everest Wilson took his lone carry of the game in for a nine-yard score with 3:22 remaining in the game.

Freshman defensive lineman Parker Boop sealed the 49-12 victory for Midd-West with a sack on the Halifax quarterback on the game’s final play.

“Our running backs played really well, our offensive line was great, and the defense was really good,” said Regester of his team’s overall performance. “We played really well as a whole.”

This game ends the season for both Midd-West and Halifax as neither team qualifies for the postseason.

Midd-West 49, Halifax 12

SCORE BY QUARTERS

Halifax                                     0  0  6  6 – 12

Midd-West                             21  7  7  14 – 49

First Quarter

MW—Christian Regester 13-yard run (PAT No Good), 7:29.

MW—Ethan Schlief 18-yard run (Corey Weiand reception from Regester), 3:43.

MW—James Troup 27-yard reception from Regester (Ryland Portzline PAT Good), 1:55

Second Quarter

MW—Regester 60-yard interception return (Portzline PAT Good), 4:50.

Third Quarter

H—Carter Enders 1-yard run (PAT No Good), 6:37.

MW—Austin Dorman 1-yard run (Portzline PAT Good), 4:10

Fourth Quarter

H—Ashton Carter 3-yard run (PAT No Good), 11:53.

MW—Dorman 20-yard run (Portzline PAT Good), 6:40

MW—Everest Wilson 9-yard run (Portzline PAT Good), 3:22

TEAM STATISTICS         H               MW

First downs                             9                  11

Total yards                              102             266

Rushes-yards                         46-95          32-239

Yards passing                        7                  27

Passing (comp.-att.-int.)       1-5-1           1-3-0

Fumbles-lost                           3-1              2-2

Penalties-yards                      3-11            8-60

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING—Halifax: Carter 20-78 TD, Enders 14-16 TD, Isaac Miller 4-13, Eric Stoneroad 5-10, TEAM 3-(-22). Midd-West: Schlief 13-149 TD, Dorman 8-61 2 TD, Regester 7-42 TD, Wilson 1-9 TD, TEAM 3-(-22).

PASSING—Halifax: Enders 1-4 7 yards INT, Carter 0-1. Midd-West: Regester 1-3 27 yards TD.

RECEIVING—Halifax: Miller 1-7. Midd-West: Troup 1-27 TD.

MIFFLINBURG – Wildcat sophomore quarterback Troy Dressler posted an impressive first half Friday night, as his team earned a home victory against the visiting Shikellamy Braves. Dressler completed 11 of 20 passing attempts for 172 yards in the opening half of the game and broke a school record doing so as the home Wildcats earned a 43-14 victory over the visiting Shikellamy Braves.

Dressler completed a 32-yard pass to Carter Breed in the second quarter of the game that gave the young sophomore the Mifflinburg school record for most passing yards in a single season, breaking a school record that had previously stood for over 20 years. In nine games this season, Dressler has amassed over 1700 passing yards.

Head coach and father Jason Dressler had great things to say about his son’s performance this season.

“As a coach and as a father I’m very proud of him,” he said, “When I said after last season about him switching his jersey number and coming off the line he was selfless. He said, ‘Whatever the team needs, I’ll do.’ He’s been an absolute sponge. He’s soaked up all the information the coaching staff has given him, and he’s been working a lot with his receivers. Being surrounded by a great group of young backs and receivers has helped him too. They all feed off each other.”

Troy Dressler himself was more focused on the task at hand – beating Shikellamy – than basking in the glory of breaking a school record.

“It feels great, but there’s nothing better than a team win,” he said, “When they announced that I had broken the record, I wasn’t even paying attention. I was getting the next play and focusing on scoring a touchdown right there.”

Dressler and the Wildcats did take care of business in the game, scoring early and often in a 43-14 win. Those scoring opportunities were set up by the defense, however, as the Wildcats earned a pair of first-quarter turnovers which they turned into 14 points.

“Those two turnovers just don’t give them a chance to breathe after we turn around and score,” said Coach Dressler of his team’s defense. “Starting out fast like that is fun. It’s funs to see.”

The Wildcats scored on the opening drive of the football game, piecing together a methodical 15-play drive that covered 73 yards and took nearly seven minutes off the clock to open the game. Gabe Stetler finished the drive, plunging into the endzone from two yards away on a third-and-goal rushing attempt to give the home team a 7-0 advantage.

Shikellamy took the field and immediately handed the ball back over to the Wildcats. On the Braves’ first play from scrimmage, a botched handoff attempt resulted in the football ending up on the turf where it was recovered by Mifflinburg.

On the ensuing play, Dressler took a deep shot at the endzone and found junior Andrew Diehl for an immediate 31-yard score. A bad snap resulted in Diehl running in a two-point conversion on the point after try, giving Mifflinburg a 15-0 advantage.

Once again the Wildcats’ defense forced a clutch turnover. Just five plays into a Shikellamy drive, the ball was jarred loose again, resulting in a turnover. Mifflinburg took over again in Shikellamy territory and again marched down the field for a score. Dressler tossed his second touchdown pass of the night on the drive, connecting with Jacob Bingaman for an 18-yard score.

The 23-0 hole that Shikellamy found itself in due to turnovers would turn out to be insurmountable.

“We started off with two fumbles, gave them the ball in great field position, and they get two quick scores,” said Shikellamy coach Jim Keiser. “That’s the story of our season. Mistakes killed us, we had a couple of blown coverages, but overall, our kids played well and competed. I’m proud of them.”

The Wildcats tacked on another touchdown in the opening half as Dressler connected with Diehl yet again for a 27-yard score. The touchdown pass was Dressler’s third of the night and Diehl’s second receiving.

Diehl was not done scoring, however, as the junior tacked on a rushing touchdown in the second half to put the mercy rule into effect. Diehl broke free on a 42-yard score to put the Wildcats up 36-0. Diehl led Mifflinburg in both rushing and receiving on the night, running the ball five times for 68 yards and a score, while hauling in 64 yards worth of receptions on three catches that resulted in a pair of touchdowns.

Shikellamy broke through in the closing moments of the third quarter. Aided by four defensive penalties by the Wildcats defense, the Braves drove the ball 78 yards on 11 plays to find pay dirt for the first time in the game. On a fourth-and-goal at the eight-yard line, Braves’ quarterback Brayden Wertman dropped back, rolled left, and found Gage Wolfe out of the backfield for a receiving touchdown.

Both teams scored once more in the fourth quarter with Leroy Simpson scoring a rushing touchdown for the Wildcats and Kurtis Raker scoring a rushing touchdown for the Braves.

Coltyn Sempko finished the game as the leading rusher for the Braves. Sempko handled a team-high 17 carries for 63 yards but did not find the endzone. Along with his eight-yard receiving score, Wolfe also toted the ball seven times for 38 yards on the ground.

Shikellamy (1-8) closes the season this coming Friday when the team takes on Milton (5-4) at home.

“We’ve got to fix ourselves,” said Keiser of his team’s upcoming matchup. “If we can stop making stupid mistakes I think we can be an alright football team. Right now, we’re just making too many mistakes.”

Mifflinburg (6-3) looks forward to its perennial regular-season matchup with cross-county rival Lewisburg (4-3) coming up this Friday. Both teams will enter with playoff-seeding implications on the line.

“It’s going to be exciting,” said Coach Dressler of the upcoming rivalry game. “It’s going to be a really good 48-minute battle. It’s going to be a fun one. I’m excited.”

“It’s a big rivalry, we have to be focused,” added Troy Dressler. “We need to stay disciplined, do what we need to do, and bring it to ‘em.”

The “Little Brown Jug” game kicks off at 7:30 p.m. Friday in Lewisburg.

Mifflinburg 43, Shikellamy 14

SCORE BY QUARTERS

Shikellamy                             0  0  7  7 – 14

Mifflinburg                             15  15  6  7  — 43

First Quarter

M—Gabriel Stetler 2-yard run (Stetler PAT Good), 5:02.

M—Andrew Diehl 31-yard reception from Troy Dressler (Diehl run), 4:38

Second Quarter

M—Jacob Bingaman 18-yard reception from Dressler (Mason Smith from Diehl), 11:52.

M—Diehl 27-yard reception from Dressler (Stetler PAT Good), 4:11

Third Quarter

M—Diehl 42-yard run (PAT No Good), 8:09.

S—Gage Wolfe 8-yard reception from Braydon Wertman (Nicholas Koontz PAT Good), 0:32

Fourth Quarter

M—Leroy Simpson 2-yard run (Stetler PAT Good), 5:24.

S—Kurtis Raker 4-yard run (Koontz PAT Good), 0:45

TEAM STATISTICS            S                 M

First downs                             13                13

Total yards                              193             339

Rushes-yards                         37-130        27-141

Yards passing                        63                198

Passing (comp.-att.-int.)       5-6-0           12-21-1

Fumbles-lost                           3-2              1-0

Penalties-yards                      3-22            5-45

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING—Shikellamy: Coltyn Sempko 17-63, Wolfe 7-38, Isaac Shaffer-Neitz 7-26, Wertman 2-3, Raker 2-1 TD, TEAM 2-(-1). Mifflinburg: Diehl 5-68 TD, Aaron Hackenburg 4-28, Carter Breed 4-26, Simpson 6-16 TD, Stetler 3-8 TD, Dressler 2-6, Ben Reitz 1-0, TEAM 2-(-1).

PASSING—Shikellamy: Wertman 5-6 63 yards TD. Mifflinburg: Dressler 11-20 172 yards 3TD, Reitz 1-1 26 yards.

RECEIVING—Shikellamy: John Peiffer 2-28, Kaden Hoffman 2-27, Wolfe 1-8 TD. Mifflinburg: Diehl 3-64 2TD, Breed 3-62, Bingaman 4-41 TD, Stetler 2-31.

MIDDLEBURG – The Montoursville Warriors lived up to their moniker during Friday night’s trip to Middleburg to take on the winless Midd-West Mustangs. Montoursville scored on its first five possessions of the game en route to a dominant 42-6 road victory to climb back to .500 on the season at 4-4 overall.

“It’s nice to bounce back and get a win,” said Montoursville coach Mike Boughton, whose team dropped a close game against Mifflinburg last week. “The kids had a really good week of practice, and we were excited to get our season going in the right direction again. This was a game where we looked to get back on track, now we just have to build from here.”

Montoursville’s high-powered offense led by quarterback Maddix Dalena pumped out touchdowns both on the ground and through the air, thanks to an incredibly efficient night by the senior quarterback.

Dalena failed to throw an incomplete pass, going a perfect 9-for-9 through the air with three touchdown passes that came on three consecutive passing attempts.

“Maddix is stepping up and being a leader for us,” said Boughton of his quarterback’s play. “Tonight, he hit what was there for him. Some nights he gets a little greedy and wants to go for the long ball because he has a big arm. That’s great sometimes, but sometimes we just have to hit what’s there. He did a great job of that tonight and put us in a great position.”

The Montoursville defense got things started on the night, holding the host Mustangs to a three-and-out on the game’s opening drive. A few powerful runs by Midd-West senior back Ethan Schlief could not net the Mustangs a first down, as they went on to punt the ball into Montoursville territory.

The Warriors used a handful of big plays to drive the field quickly. Senior running back Dylan Blackwell opened the game with a 15-yard run, while Dalena completed passes of 13 and 23 yards to Isaiah Fenner and James Batkowski on the drive that eventually culminated in a 2-yard touchdown pass from Dalena to Kayden Frame.

Frame would score a second receiving touchdown later in the game and found pay dirt via the ground game early in the second quarter.

Down 7-0 in the early going, Midd-West attempted some trickery to try to pick up the first down. The Mustangs ran a fake punt on fourth-and-three from the fifty-yard line but were denied a first down when the Montoursville special teams unit swarmed the Midd-West punter Schlief.

Following the turnover, Dalena took a deep shot and connected with junior wideout Marco Pulizzi for a 33-yard score to go up 14-0.

Montoursville continued to pick up quick scores throughout the second half. The Warriors finished off a four-play drive with Frame’s second receiving touchdown of the night, and a two-play drive where Frame carried the ball on both plays for a combined 34 yards and a score.

Montoursville put the game into mercy-rule territory in the second quarter when Rocco Pulizzi took his lone carry of the night in for a nine-yard score.

Midd-West stepped up to supply a defensive stop to close the opening half. Montoursville possessed the ball with a first-and-goal at the Midd-West nine-yard line. The Midd-West defense stuffed four consecutive plays to end the half on a high note, keeping the Warriors out of the endzone.

“We were expecting a tough game tonight and we got it,” said Mustangs’ coach Lance Adams, “I’m not making excuses, hats off to Montoursville, but they trotted out 50 dressed guys tonight and we trotted out 24. That makes a difference. We just have to clean up some things and improve. We’ve got two more weeks for these seniors, and we want to get them a win before they head out of here.”

Down 42-0 in the third quarter, Adams’ Mustangs stepped up and made a big play to get the team on the scoreboard. Schleif picked off Montoursville second-string quarterback Bryce Eberhart, taking the ball back to the Montoursville 15-yard line. Two plays later Schleif plunged into the endzone to help the Mustangs avoid the home shutout.

“All year long we’ve been getting ourselves down in the first half,” said Adams. “Teams have kind of whooped up on us for a bit and then we come to play. We play hard and see the game through no matter what the score is. Credit to our kids for having that kind of personality.”

Despite picking up the touchdown on the ground, Schleif did not finish as the Mustangs leading rusher. Junior fullback Austin Dorman led the team in terms of yardage, picking up 37 yards on the ground on just four carries.

Blackwell just missed a 100-yard game as he led all rushers in the game with 98 yards coming on 12 carries. Fenner and Batkowski tied for the game’s leading receiver. Fenner caught a pair of passes for 42 yards, while Batkowski also recorded 42 receiving yards on three receptions.

Midd-West fell to 0-8 overall this season and will look to earn its first victory of the season this coming Friday at Central Mountain (5-2).

Montoursville edges back to .500 on the season with the victory, leaving week 8 with a 4-4 overall record. The Warriors look to crack the .500 mark this coming Friday on the road against Central Columbia (2-5).

“We had a lot of guys that had to step up into roles tonight,” said Boughton. “Dylan Blackwell playing running back for us, we had a freshman (David Kennedy) playing some running back for us, Rocco Pulizzi scored on his one run tonight. We need to continue to see these guys step up if we want to make a run here late in the season.”

Montoursville 42, Midd-West 6

SCORE BY QUARTERS

Montoursville                        21  14  7  0 – 42

Midd-West                             0  0  6  0  — 6

First Quarter

M—Kayden Frame 2-yard reception from Maddix Dalena (Mason Winslow PAT Good), 8:26.

M—Marco Pulizzi 33-yard reception from Dalena (Winslow PAT Good), 3:50

M—Frame 18-yard reception from Dalena (Winslow PAT Good), 1:07

Second Quarter

M—Frame 31-yard run (Winslow PAT Good), 11:10.

M—Rocco Pulizzi 9-yard run (Winslow PAT Good), 4:51

Third Quarter

M—Dylan Blackwell 28-yard run (Winslow PAT Good), 8:43.

MW—Ethan Schlief 1-yard run (PAT No Good), 2:38

TEAM STATISTICS              M                 MW

First downs                             12                5

Total yards                              386             82

Rushes-yards                         37-220        24-56

Yards passing                        166             26

Passing (comp.-att.-int.)       10-11-1      2-12-1

Fumbles-lost                           1-0              4-2

Penalties-yards                      3-14            2-15

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING—Montoursville: Blackwell 12-98 TD, Tristen Stelene 3-46, Frame 3-34 TD, David Kennedy 12-24, Dalena 2-14, R. Pulizzi 1-9 TD, Owen Kleinman 1-8, Bryce Eberhart 1-(-3), James Batkowski 1-(-9), TEAM 1-(-1). Midd-West: Austin Dorman 4-37, Schlief 10-32 TD, Everest Wilson 3-8, Colby Brower 1-0, Christian Regester 4-(-10), TEAM 2-(-11).

PASSING—Montoursville: Dalena 9-9 152 yards 3 TD, Eberhart 1-2 14 yards INT. Midd-West: Regester 1-8 11 yards, Brower 1-2 15 yards INT.

RECEIVING—Montoursville: Isaiah Fenner 2-42, Batkowski 3-42, M. Pulizzi 1-33 TD, Frame 2-20 2TD, Cole Remsnyder 1-15, Alex Fogleman 1-14. Midd-West: Kaden Kullman 1-15, Corey Weiand 1-11.

SUNBURY – Entering Friday night’s tilt with Shikellamy, the Shamokin Indians knew a strong defensive performance would be needed. Sitting at .500 coming off a shutout loss to Jersey Shore, the Indians needed a bounce-back game in a big way.

The team got just that, allowing just one late fourth-quarter touchdown in a 21-7 road victory over Shikellamy.

Not only did the defense hold a home Braves squad to seven points, but they also won the turnover battle in a big way, earning a pair of turnovers that set the team up in plus field position on two of the team’s three touchdown drives.

“We played complementary football in all phases tonight,” said Hynoski of his team’s victory, “Our special team’s play led to a touchdown; good kick coverage led to a good defensive stand. The game just kind of went from there.”

The Shamokin defense showed up early, holding Shikellamy to a three-and-out on the opening drive of the football game. On Fourth-and-four at their own 24-yard line, a bad snap on a punt attempt forced Shikellamy to turn the ball over at their own eight-yard line. It took Shamokin just three plays to find pay dirt and open a 7-0 victory.

Max Madden plunged in from seven yards away for the score; the first of three rushing touchdowns on the night for the senior back. In all, Madden toted the ball 22 times for 113 rushing yards and three scores on the night for the Indians. He was the game’s leading rusher in both attempts and yards gained.

“You can always rely on Max (Madden),” said Hynoski of Madden’s performance. “I don’t know if Max has ever played a bad game, honestly. He’s a hungry, determined kid that has all the tools of a great running back. I tell him every week that when you go, we go.”

Early in the second quarter, Shikellamy put a solid drive together but stalled out in Shamokin territory. Coltyn Sempko and Isaac Schaffer-Neitz combined for six carries for 34 yards on the drive, but a fourth-and-two incomplete pass forced a turnover on downs at the Shamokin 46-yard line.

Once again Shamokin used the momentum from a turnover to produce a score of its own. Quarterback Brett Nye completed three of four pass attempts on the drive to set up a Shamokin score. Madden opened the drive with a 21-yard gain on a screen pass, while Tyler Whary caught an impressive pass of his own. Facing a fourth-and-eight at the Shikellamy 31-yard line, Nye launched a ball deep downfield that was tipped by defender Nyzir Brown but caromed right into the arms of Whary for a 27-yard gain. On the very next play, Madden plunged in from four yards away for his second score of the game.

Shamokin’s next big defensive play came in the second half. On Shikellamy’s first drive of the second half, the Braves faced a third-and-nine at their own 12-yard line. Quarterback Brayden Wertman looked right and threw a pass that sailed over his receiver’s head and right into the arms of middle linebacker Aaron Frasch. The interception gave Shamokin the ball at the Shikellamy 15-yard line and two plays later it was Madden yet again diving in from four yards away.

“I just followed my blockers,” said Madden, who accounted for 113 of the Indians’ 139 rushing yards in the game, “They were opening up good holes for me. I just followed them, and they led me to the endzone a few times.”

“We were actually down a starter on the o-line tonight. We had a tackle come in and fill in and did a really good job.” added Hynoski of his team’s offensive line play that helped lead Madden and the team to victory, “We did a good job firing off the ball. If you can fire off the ball and knock them back, that’s a good start.”

The lone Shikellamy touchdown came late in the game’s fourth quarter. Facing a 21-0 deficit, Shikellamy started a drive on its own 27-yard line with 10:21 remaining in the game. The Braves proceeded to go on a 16-play drive that took over six minutes off the clock before Gage Wolfe plunged into the endzone from 10 yards away to break up the Shamokin shutout.

Despite scoring the lone Braves touchdown, Wolfe finished the game with just 16 rush yards in four carries. Sempko led the Braves rushing attack on the night, racking up a team-high 72 rushing yards on a team-high 15 rushing attempts.

Shamokin’s Colin Seedor led all pass catchers in the game with 44 receiving yards which all came on one reception in the game’s opening quarter. John Peifer led Shikellamy in receiving, hauling in three receptions for 19 yards.

“Everyone played well tonight,” said Madden. “Our defense held up nicely, only allowing one touchdown tonight. They set us up inside the 10-yard line a few times I think. It makes it a lot easier to score from there.”

Shamokin improved to 4-3 overall this season with the win and hosts Milton (5-2) this coming Friday night. Shikellamy dropped to 1-6 overall with the loss and is scheduled to travel to Lewisburg (2-3) this coming Friday.

Shamokin 21, Shikellamy 7

SCORE BY QUARTERS

Shamokin                               7  7  7  0 – 21

Shikellamy                             0  0  0  7  — 7

First Quarter

SHAM—Max Madden 7-yard run (Carson Ososkie PAT Good), 9:00.

Second Quarter

SHAM—Madden 4-yard run (Ososkie PAT Good), 7:21.

Third Quarter

SHAM—Madden 4-yard run (Ososkie PAT Good), 7:25.

Fourth Quarter

SHIK—Gage Wolfe 10-yard run (Nicholas Koontz PAT Good), 4:13.

TEAM STATISTICS      SHAM        SHIK

First downs                             12                9

Total yards                              240             123

Rushes-yards                         36-139        38-105

Yards passing                        101             18

Passing (comp.-att.-int.)       6-10-0        5-14-1

Fumbles-lost                           2-0              3-0

Penalties-yards                      7-90            5-38

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING—Shamokin: Madden 22-113 3TD, Aaron Frasch 4-30, Corey Adams 1-11, Tyler Whary 1-(-1), Brett Nye 6-(-9), TEAM 3-(-5). Shikellamy: Coltyn Sempko 15-72, Isaac Schaffer-Neitz 9-42, Chase Morgan 2-23, Wolfe 4-16 TD, John Peifer 1-1, Caleb Yoder 1-0, Braydon Wertman 1-(-11), TEAM 5-(-38).

PASSING—Shamokin: Nye 6-10 101 yards. Shikellamy: Wertman 4-12 19 yards, INT; Yoder 0-1; Lucas Wetzel 1-1 (-1) yards.

RECEIVING—Shamokin: Colin Seedor 1-44, Whary 2-30, Madden 3-27. Shikellamy: Peifer 3-19, Schaffer-Neitz 2-(-1).

CATAWISSA – Entering Friday night, Wyomissing coach Bob Wolfrum knew his team could potentially have its hands full with a Southern Columbia team that was looking to become a part of history. Not only did the two teams enter the night with a combined record of 10-0, but Southern Columbia was also looking to tie the Pennsylvania state record for longest win streak at 66 consecutive games. It was also the longest active high school football winning streak in the entire nation.

The pressure to snap the streak didn’t get to the Spartans, as the Class 3A school out of District 3 was able to travel to Catawissa and knock off the Tigers by a final score of 41-21. Coach Wolfrum’s team used turnovers and explosive plays to put the Tigers behind early and grab the metaphorical bull by the horns.

“They always say ‘if you want to be a bullfighter, you’ve gotta fight the bull.’”, said Wolfrum. “We found one that was willing to play and I’m glad they gave us the shot.”

Wolfrum’s Spartans jumped out to the early lead just five plays into the game and never looked back. Following a decent kickoff return to open the game, the Spartans worked their way into Southern Columbia territory. On the team’s first play on the plus side of the field, Amory Thompson took a pitch to the left side of the field and beat the Southern defense for a 41-yard rushing score.

Southern had a chance to strike back and the home team did just that. On the ensuing drive, running backs Gavin Garcia and Wes Barnes split the work moving the ball down the field. It was Barnes that eventually broke free and scored a 24-yard rushing score on a run play right up the gut.

A bad snap on the extra point attempt kept the Spartans out front 7-6, but that score didn’t hold long. On the ensuing kickoff, Thompson attempted to field the ball inside his own five-yard line but muffed the catch. As the ball sat near his feet at his own two-yard line, he scooped up the ball and took it 98-yards for a big touchdown to go up 14-6.

Southern’s first three-and-out of the game followed Thompson’s second touchdown, and a blocked punt gave the Spartans all the momentum not even halfway into the opening quarter. Fortunately for the Tigers, the defense held strong and forced Wyomissing to kick a 20-yard field goal for a 17-6 lead in the game. Ian Levering knocked the field goal through. He was perfect on the night with a pair of field goals from 20 and 22 yards as well as five extra points.

Southern Columbia really found itself in a hole in the early second quarter. Following an interception by Wyomissing’s Drew Eisenhower, the Spartans went on a drive that took four minutes off the clock and covered 70 yards for another touchdown. Eisenhower started and finished the drive, earning the interception and then finding pay dirt on a nine-yard run.

Just as Wyomissing went up 24-6 and seemed to be in complete control of the game, Southern struck with a kickoff return of their own. Garcia fielded a short kick and used a few slick cuts to break free and take the kickoff 82-yards for a house call.

Opting to go for two, Barnes took a handoff around the right side and bowled his way into the endzone to cut the deficit to 24-14.

Following a drive where the Spartans turned it over on downs at the Southern 32-yard line came the game’s turning point. With the Tigers driving and within striking distance to score before the half, Matthew Kramer came through with a huge strip-sack of Southern quarterback Blake Wise. The ball rolled around in the backfield before being scooped up by Eisenhower yet again, as he motored 70 yards for another Wyomissing touchdown with just 13 seconds remaining in the first half.

At a crucial point in the game where the Tigers could have scored, Wyomissing came through and scored themselves for the 31-14 halftime lead.

“That play broke their back,” said Wolfrum, “They had just scored their second touchdown and were close to another, but all of a sudden its out the window. We made a big play and got a score.”

Southern Columbia made things interesting one more time in the second half. After deferring to the second half on the opening coin toss, the Tigers started the second half with the ball and scored on a 61-yard run by Garcia on the team’s first play from scrimmage to cut the Wyomissing lead down to 31-21.

As they did all night, the Spartans answered yet again on the ensuing drive. Just two plays after the Garcia touchdown, Charles McIntyre took a pitch to the right 82-yards for yet another long score by Wyomissing.

The Spartans tacked on one more field goal late in the third quarter before heading into clock-burning mode and coming away with a 41-21 win.

Garcia led all backs in the game with 110 rushing yards, the only player to crack the century mark all night. McIntyre led the way for Wyomissing, racking up 97 rushing yards on just four carries, one of which went for the 82-yard touchdown in the third quarter.

In all, the Wyomissing defense forced five turnovers on the night. Eisenhower picked up the fumble on the scoop and score while he also notched an interception. Defensive back Nevin Carter earned a pair of interceptions while linebacker Aiden Mack also picked off a pass.

“It’s a huge win for us, especially in the middle of the season,” said Thompkins. “It was like a playoff atmosphere here tonight. The place was packed. To be able to come in and win is great.”

“I gotta tell you I thought there was a good chance we were going to come in here tonight and get our doors blown in,” added Wolfrum, “I was hoping we could play a competitive game and let the chips fall where they may. I always say, ‘you can’t be afraid to lose,’ so when we scheduled this game we didn’t know what would happen, but we were willing to take it no matter what the outcome. To come out with a win is really special.”

Southern Columbia’s regular-season win streak was also snapped in the loss. Prior to Friday night’s loss, the Tigers had won 93-consecutive regular-season games. A streak that went back to October 28, 2011, when Southern Columbia was topped 22-21 by Mount Carmel in Week 9.

“We were never in the game,” said Southern Columbia Coach Jim Roth. “We just didn’t play well. We had a lot of issues. We didn’t play aggressive football. We knew we couldn’t come out not playing at a high level against a team like this. I’m not sure why we didn’t.”

Wyomissing improves to 6-0 on the season and will take on Twin Valley (4-1) this coming Friday night. Southern Columbia slips to 5-1 overall and takes on Central Columbia (2-3) next week with hopes of bouncing back to their winning ways.

Wyomissing 41, Southern Columbia 21

SCORE BY QUARTERS

Wyomissing                          17  14  10  0 – 41

Southern Columbia             6  8  7  0  — 21

First Quarter

W—Amory Thompson 41-yard run (Ian Levering PAT Good), 9:56.

SC—Wes Barnes 24-yard run (PAT No Good), 6:26.

W—Thompson 98-yard kickoff return (Levering PAT Good), 6:07.

W—Levering 20-yard field goal, 3:08.

Second Quarter

W—Drew Eisenhower 9-yard run (Levering PAT Good), 7:36.

SC—Gavin Garcia 82-yard kickoff return (Barnes run), 7:19.

W—Eisenhower 70-yard fumble return (Levering PAT Good), 0:13.

Third Quarter

SC—Garcia 61-yard run (Isaac Carter PAT Good), 11:39.

W—Charles McIntyre 82-yard run (Levering PAT Good), 10:17.

W—Levering 22-yard field goal, 2:33.

TEAM STATISTICS         W              SC

First downs                             12                8

Total yards                              316             212

Rushes-yards                         45-283        31-165

Yards passing                        33                47

Passing (comp.-att.-int.)       4-7-0           8-16-4

Fumbles-lost                           3-0              1-1

Penalties-yards                      4-30            4-38

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING—Wyomissing: McIntyre 4-97 TD, Eisenhower 15-87 TD, Thomas Grabowski 15-55, Thompson 8-35 TD, J’ven Williams 1-13, TEAM 2-(-4). Southern Columbia: Garcia 15-110 TD, Barnes 7-60 TD, Matt Masala 1-3, Braeden Wisloski 6-1, Blake Wise 1-(-4), TEAM 1-(-5).

PASSING—Wyomissing: Ben Zechman 4-7 33 yards. Southern Columbia: Wise 8-16 47 yards, 4 INT.

RECEIVING—Wyomissing: Aiden Mack 1-11, Eisenhower 1-11, Grabowski 1-6, Williams 1-5. Southern Columbia: Jake Rose 4-26, Garcia 3-17, Barnes 1-4.

SUNBURY – If you had asked Shikellamy coach Jim Keiser last Friday about his team’s upcoming football game, he probably would have told you the team needed to bring its a-game against a tough Wellsboro team, but midway through the week plans changed. COVID shut down Wellsboro’s opportunity to come take on the Braves and the team was scuffling to find a new opponent on a short week.

In steps the Executive Education Academy out of Allentown. If you had never heard of them prior to this week, you probably aren’t alone. The school itself has only been around for eight years and 2021 is the school’s first year with a football program. With nothing on the schedule, coach Larry Ford and the Raptors hopped on a bus with one thought on their mind. To play football.

“We took this game because we needed to play football,” said Ford, a former Division-I football player himself at the University of West Virginia. “We want to keep playing. We want to get better each and every week. There is a lot of stuff we’ve got to work on.”

And play football is exactly what the inexperienced team did. The Raptors hung in with Shikellamy all night, but in the end, it was the home Braves that picked up a 28-14 victory.

“It feels good to get the first win of the season, I’m happy for the kids,” said Coach Keiser of his team’s victory. “They worked so hard all summer long. It’s nice to get a little success for all the work they’ve put in.”

The win was Shikellamy’s first of the young season, and the home team had controlled the whole way.

Eastern Education Academy (EEA) won the opening coin toss and deferred to the second half, giving Shikellamy the ball first with a chance to take the early lead. The Braves did just that, marching down the field on a six-play, 63-yard drive that culminated in a four-yard touchdown run by Isaac Schaffer-Neitz.

Shik extended the lead on its second offensive possession of the game. Shikellamy forced the Raptors to punt and may have gotten a piece of the ball as it did not sail far, going out of bounds at the Raptors’ 38-yard line.

Once again the Braves put on a nice drive, mainly by running the football. Shikellamy turned in a nine-play drive that ended with an 11-yard touchdown run by Coltyn Sempko, putting the Braves up 14-0 not even 10 minutes into the game.

Just as things were looking a bit bleak for the visitors, a squib kick on the ensuing kickoff took just the right bounce for junior kick returner Jyhmeik Roman. Roman took a nice hop in stride and blazed past the Shikellamy coverage team to take the kickoff back for a 75-yard return. Without a true kicker on the team, EEA lined up for a two-point conversion but could not find the endzone, putting the Raptors down 14-6, but still within striking distance.

The Braves following two drives took time off the clock, but both ended in interceptions in the endzone. Fortunately for the home team, EEA did not turn either of these turnovers into a score.

“We need to clean up the mistakes. We can’t lollipop the football and have it get picked,” said Coach Keiser. “We have to make throws when we have the opportunity, and we can’t make as many penalties. If we don’t clean that up, Jersey Shore is going to smack us bad next week.”

With a 14-6 halftime lead, the Braves kicked to the Raptors to open the second half. EEA put a nice drive together, led by a few nice runs by Roman and a 10-yard catch and run from quarterback Darmel Lopez to wide receiver Emery Plummer. Deep in Shikellamy territory with a chance to potentially tie the game, Lopez launched a ball toward the endzone that found the hands of Shikellamy cornerback John Peifer. Peifer returned the ball out of the endzone to the Shikellamy six-yard line where the home team took over with its one-score lead still intact.

From there the Braves went to work. Grinding away with some nice runs by the trio of Schaffer-Neitz, Sempko, and Gage Wolfe. All three Shikellamy runners finished the game with over 80 rushing yards apiece and played a crucial role in the game. Wolfe cracked the century mark, running the ball 11 times for 106 yards and a score. Sempko racked up the most carries in the game, toting the ball 20 times for 87 yards and a score. Schaffer-Neitz played a role in short-yardage and the red zone, picking up 82 yards and a pair of touchdowns on 11 carries.

“” I liked what I saw in the run game tonight. We were missing a couple of guys up front tonight, so I’m really pleased with what we were able to do on the ground.” said Keiser.

Shikellamy ran the ball a total of 50 times in the game for 281 rushing yards.

Shikellamy’s drive stalled out, but a muffed punt got the ball right back to the Braves where they extended the lead on Wolfe’s nine-yard score.

On the ensuing kickoff in an attempt to keep the ball away from Roman – the dangerous Raptors return man – Shik squibbed the ball upfield where it was fumbled and recovered by the Braves again. These back-to-back possessions resulted in 14 more points and the team pushing ahead to a 28-6 lead in the final quarter.

EEA did not call it quits yet. Backed up deep in its own territory, Lopez fired the ball to Dontae Oquendo who picked up 78 yards on a long catch and run. Later in the drive, Roman found the endzone yet again on a nine-yard run. This time the two-point conversion was good, and the Raptors cut the Shik lead to 28-14.

Needing an onside kick, Matthew Martinez kicked a knuckleball toward the Shikellamy hands team that squirted free and was recovered by the Raptors. Driving deep in Braves’ territory again, the Raptors failed to pick up a fourth-and-20, turning the ball over to Shikellamy with 1:08 remaining.

Coach Ford was happy with the fight his team showed in a tough football game on a short week.

“We’re still babies. We’re still a young team. We just started football in April.” said Ford. “Every other team we play has been playing football longer than us. Some schools have been playing for 100 years. This is a learning year for us. We expect to win some games, but at the end of the day, it’s a learning experience. We played better tonight than we normally play.”

Coach Keiser also applauded his team’s approach to the short week.

“Coach Ford is an outstanding guy. He was all in on switching film. We didn’t have a lot of time and neither did they, but we at least got to see a little bit of what they ran.” said Keiser. “They have great athletes on that team, and I think our guys did a good job.”

Shikellamy improved to 1-3 overall on the season and will take on Jersey Shore (3-0) next week.

EEA also exits Friday night’s game with a 1-3 overall record. The team will play Bristol (2-0) this coming Friday at 6 p.m.

Shikellamy 28, Executive Education Academy 14

SCORE BY QUARTERS

Executive Education Academy            6  0  0  8  14

Shikellamy                                            14  0  7  7  28

First Quarter

S—Isaac Schaffer-Neitz 4-yard run (Nicholas Koontz PAT Good), 9:04.

S—Coltyn Sempko 11-yard run (Koontz PAT Good), 2:54

EEA—Jhymeik Roman 75-yard kickoff return (2-pt. Conversion No Good), 2:44

Third Quarter

S—Gage Wolfe 9-yard run (Koontz PAT Good), 1:55.

Fourth Quarter

S—Schaffer-Neitz 10-yard run (Koontz PAT Good), 10:37.

EEA—Roman 9-yard run (Roman run), 3:45

TEAM STATISTICS              EEA            S

First downs                             10                19

Total yards                              212             338

Rushes-yards                         25-51          50-281

Yards passing                        161             57

Passing (comp.-att.-int.)       11-20-1      4-8-2

Fumbles-lost                           2-2              1-1

Penalties-yards                      10-90          7-75

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING—Executive Education Academy: Roman 10-41 TD, Darmel Lopez 11-21, Emery Plummer 1-1, Anthony Roman 2-(-2), Damon Young 1-(-10). Shikellamy: Wolfe 11-106 TD, Sempko 20-87 TD, Schaffer-Neitz 11-82 2TD, Rashawn Martin 1-5, John Peifer 1-5, Chase Morgan 2-1, Braydon Wertman 1-(-5), TEAM 3-(-4).

PASSING—Executive Education Academy: Lopez 11-19 161 yards INT, Young 0-1. Shikellamy: Wertman 4-8 57 yards, 2 INT.

RECEIVING—Executive Education Academy: Dontae Oquendo 3-115, Plummer 4-20, J. Roman 3-16, Mayson Terrell 1-10. Shikellamy: Morgan 2-31, Kaden Hoffman 1-19, Peifer 1-7.

SELINSGROVE – Just last Friday night the Jersey Shore Bulldogs opened their 2021 football season coming off the heels of a PIAA state championship appearance. In that very opening game, the Bulldogs posted 55 points and shut out the Bellefonte Red Raiders. But last week was last week, and coach Tom Gravish and the Bulldogs entered last night’s road matchup with Selinsgrove looking nothing like the team that posted 55 points the week prior.

“I don’t know if we were reading a little too many papers or whatever,” said Gravish. “It was a hard-fought game and we know we didn’t play our best game. Give Selinsgrove credit. We told our kids that coming down here to play, you better be ready.”

The Selinsgrove defense stifled a potent Jersey Shore offense, holding the visiting team to single-digit points. Unfortunately for the home team, single digits weren’t quite enough as the Seals dropped a tough 9-7 game to drop to 0-2 to open the season.

“In the first half I thought we played extremely well on both sides of the ball, but the offense fizzled in a little bit in the second half,” said Selinsgrove coach Derek Hicks. “We shot ourselves in the foot with a couple of mistakes that killed a couple of drives. We were playing the number three team in the state and it was right there for the taking, we just couldn’t quite make a play when we had to.”

Things were looking up for the majority of the game for the Seals, but a fourth-quarter field goal by junior kicker Breck Miller wound up winning the game for the Bulldogs.

“We have so much faith in (Breck Miller),” said Coach Gravish, “When we saw him kicking in the summertime, we thought we’ve got a nice weapon.”

Selinsgrove won the game’s opening coin toss and deferred to the second half to get its potent defense on the field.

The result was back-to-back three and outs by Jersey Shore’s stout offense in which the team gained just 10 yards of offense.

It took a while for Selinsgrove to find its way on offense, but as the first quarter came to a close, the Seals found themselves in the midst of their longest drive of the night.

The time-consuming Selinsgrove offense ground out a nine-play drive where the running back duo of Brandon Hiles and Tucker Teats combined for 25 rushing yards. Hiles ended up leading all rushers in the game with 57 yards on 16 carries.

Unfortunately for the Seals, the drive ended early when a bad snap caused the Seals to lose five yards to bring up a fourth-and-eight at the Jersey Shore 33-yard line. It was the second consecutive drive that the Seals decided to punt from inside the Jersey Shore 40-yard line.

Once again the defense stood strong, forcing the Bulldogs to punt from deep in their own territory. Just five plays later, Selinsgrove posted its lone score of the night to take a 7-0 lead.

On a second-and-six, Teats took a handoff and bounced outside. Breaking a tackle, Teats used his speed to dash down the right sideline for a 23-yard rushing score.

Following the touchdown drive, the Selinsgrove defense continued to step up time after time. Selinsgrove forced Jersey Shore to turn the ball over on four consecutive possessions including a fumble recovery, an interception, and a pair of turnover on downs.

Perhaps the most impressive stop came with two minutes remaining in the opening half. Selinsgrove was forced to punt from deep in its own territory. Punter Carter Young boomed a kick across the 50-yard line, but the long kick left room for Kooper Peacock to pick up a few blocks and spring into the open field. Peacock was caught from behind just a few strides from the endzone, setting up a drive from inside the Seals’ 10.

Following an incomplete pass, the Seals defense pounced on first-year starter Brady Jordan, forcing and recovering a fumble to end the Bulldogs’ threat of tying up the game.

“You can’t do that,” said Gravish of his team’s somewhat sloppy play to close the first half. “Usually teams will convert those turnovers into points, but we stopped them for the most part and only allowed them to score once.”

Following the halftime break, the Bulldogs finally got on the board. It their opening drive of the second half, the Bulldogs faced a fourth-and-six at the Selinsgrove 14 yard-line. Gravish kept the offense on the field despite its lack of success on the night, and Jordan scrambled just long enough for Peacock to get open and haul in a 13-yard reception to give Jersey Shore first-and-goal at the one yard-line. Hadyn Packer powered into the endzone on the following play, but a bad snap on the point-after-try allowed Selinsgrove to cling to a slim 7-6 lead.

Despite the solid effort from the Selinsgrove defense, the Bulldogs did just enough to edge ahead in the fourth quarter.

The team once again needed a fourth-down conversion to keep the drive alive, but it once again stalled out inside the Selinsgrove red zone. Luckily for the Bulldogs, they had a solid kicker to lean on.

“He’s a confident young man,” said Gravish. “We’ve had good kickers in the past, but he can give us some good kickoffs and he proved to be the difference tonight.”

Miller split the uprights on a 22-yard field goal with just under eight minutes remaining in the game to put Jersey Shore up 9-7.

Selinsgrove’s last-ditch effort to pull out a late victory came up just short. With the ball in its own territory and just 44 seconds on the clock, Jersey Shore committed a pair of personal foul penalties on back-to-back plays to put Selinsgrove in a good spot. However, on a desperation heave with time expiring, Connor Griffin came down with a game-clinching interception for the Bulldogs.

“Any time you’re not playing your best and can still come away with a win, we’ll take it,” said Gravish. “We’ll learn from our mistakes tonight and move forward.”

In eight quarters this season, the Seals’ defense has allowed just 21 total points and has forced three turnovers (an interception and two fumble recoveries).

Despite picking up less total offensive yardage in the game, Selinsgrove accounted for the game’s leading passer (Mark Pastore, 76 yards), rusher (Brandon Hile, 57 yards), and receiver (Nate Aument, 56 yards).

“I told the guys afterward that I could not in a million years fault their effort tonight.” said Coach Hicks, “They were flying to the football, they were hitting when they got there, but credit to Jersey Shore. They kept grinding and we kept battling back. We’ve just got to get more consistent on offense.”

Jersey Shore failed to score double-digit points in a game for the first time since a 62-7 loss to Southern Columbia in 2018.

Selinsgrove (0-2) travels to Shamokin (1-1) next week in an attempt to pick up its first victory of the season.

Jersey Shore (2-0) attempts to remain undefeated in a tough matchup with Montoursville (2-0). The Montoursville offense has already scored 83 points in just two games this season. That game will take place in Jersey Shore.

Jersey Shore 9, Selinsgrove 7

SCORE BY QUARTERS

Jersey Shore                         0  0  6  3  — 9

Selinsgrove                           0  7  0  0  — 7

Second Quarter

S—Tucker Teats 23-yard run (PAT Good), 5:26.

Third Quarter

JS—Hadyn Packer 1-yard run (PAT No Good), 8:46.

Fourth Quarter

JS—Breck Miller 22-yard field goal, 7:27.

TEAM STATISTICS         JS               S

First downs                             8                  9

Total yards                              121             108

Rushes-yards                         41-49          37-32

Yards passing                        72                76

Passing (comp.-att.-int.)       9-17-1        9-15-1

Fumbles-lost                           2-1              4-1

Penalties-yards                      5-55            7-56

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING—Jersey Shore: Packer 16-39, Karter Peacock 7-18, Elijah Jordan 1-2, Kooper Peacock 1-1, Cayden Hess 1-(-2), Brady Jordan 14-(-8), TEAM 1-(-1). Selinsgrove: Brandon Hile 16-57, Teats 8-13 TD, Corey Rumberger 1-2, Ethan Miller 1-0, Mark Pastore 5-(-12), TEAM 6-(-28).

PASSING—Jersey Shore: B. Jordan 9-17 72 yards, INT. Selinsgrove: Pastore 9-15 76 yards, INT.

RECEIVING—Jersey Shore: Hess 5-36, Connor Griffin 2-19, Ko. Peacock 1-13, E. Jordan 1-4. Selinsgrove: Nate Aument 6-56, Gavin Bastian 2-10, Steven Miller 1-10.

HERNDON – The Line Mountain Eagles were unstoppable on the ground Friday night as the senior duo of quarterback Jacob Feese and running back Garrett Laudenslager ran for over 220 yards apiece in a 42-34 Line Mountain win over Mifflinburg to close both team’s seasons.

Laudenslager ended up toting the ball 16 times for 225 yards and three touchdowns in the game, while Feese added 222 yards on one less attempt and finding the endzone on a pair of occasions.

The Feese/Laudenslager duo also accomplished each becoming a 1,000-yard rusher for the team in a short eight-game season.

“The line was blocking amazing. Garrett and I were able to do what we do.” said Feese. “I was worried about not getting to 1,000 yards because of the eight-game season. I couldn’t have done it without our line and my fullback Beau Keim.”

The win closed out a 5-3 season for the Eagles, while Mifflinburg ends its 2020 campaign with a 5-5 record.

Mifflinburg quarterback Jacob Reitz gave his best effort to keep up with the Line Mountain rushing attack as he threw for 324 yards and a score, while rushing for four touchdowns of his own in a 50-yard rushing performance.

“We watched a lot of film on these guys last week against Penns Valley.” said coach Jason Dressler. “We wanted to go back and do what they did. We exploited a few areas passing the ball. It was nice to see.”

Scoring happened early and often in this one, and it was started by the home Eagles. Line Mountain forced a three-and-out on defense to begin the game and promptly scored on its next possession on a five-play drive that ended with a 29-yard rushing score by Feese.

A botched snap would take away an opportunity at the extra point, and the Eagles took an early 6-0 lead.

Mifflinburg fought right back, putting together a methodical 10-play drive that covered 68 yards for a score. The drive ended with Reitz’s lone passing touchdown on the night, as sophomore tight end Lucas Whittaker caught a seven-yard dart for the score. The Wildcats knocked the extra point through and took a 7-6 lead in the first quarter.

Line Mountain took the lead back just two plays later when Laudenslager notched his first of three rushing scores on the night. Laudenslager took the ball 56-yards on a second-and-10 with 1:48 remaining in the opening quarter. The run put him over the 1,000-yard rushing mark on the season and gave the Eagles a 13-7 advantage.

The Line Mountain lead stood for some time before Mifflinburg scored shortly before the close of the opening half. Reitz scored his first of four rushing touchdowns to put the Wildcats up 14-13, which would wind up being the halftime score.

Line Mountain was making plays in the opening half, but head coach Brandon Carson was not quite satisfied entering the break with a one-point deficit.

“In the first half we did some good things, but we just didn’t put the ball in the endzone as much as I thought we needed to.” said the coach. “We told them at half time that we needed to come out in the second half and assert ourselves. On the line we needed to stop playing straight up and down and start running downhill. Get on blocks and keep moving our feet. Everyone stepped up and delivered on that in the second half.”

What Carson said in the locker room sparked the Eagles offense into another gear as the team scored touchdowns on four of five possessions in the second half.

Opening the second half, Feese still needed over 100 rushing yards to break the 1,000-yard mark on the season. On the second play from scrimmage in the half, he carried the ball 78 yards for a score to make the feat much easier.

Feese would break the 1,000-yard mark on the ensuing drive on a 37-yard run. The very next play Laudenslager would score from 29 yards out to give the Eagles a 27-14 lead less than five minutes into the second half.

Mifflinburg continued to keep things close, never letting the Eagles get too comfortable. On the drive following the Eagles going up 27-14, Reitz led the team right back down the field on a 13-play drive that took six and a half minutes off the clock. He eventually scored the rushing touchdown with 32 seconds remaining in the third quarter to make it a 27-21 game.

On Line Mountain’s next drive it was Feese and Laudenslager again fueling the offense. This time Laudenslager ripped off another long run for a score, this one from 76 yards away. The Eagles faked the point after attempt, as holder Nolan Baumert popped up from his crouching position and lobbed the ball to a wide open Laudenslager in the back of the endzone. This game Line Mountain a much more comfortable 14-point advantage.

“We’ve been preached to the last two weeks that we had to execute.” said Feese. “We hadn’t been fast and physical like we had been the whole year. Tonight, we did what we needed to.”

Line Mountain would end up going up 21 points, but Mifflinburg scored twice in the final five minutes of the game. Unfortunately for the Wildcats, it was too little too late.

“Defending the option is tough,” said Dressler. “Especially when you don’t see it very often. It wasn’t a lack of effort tonight, that’s for sure. I’m very proud of the team. They all battled hard.”

Reitz scored his fourth and final rushing touchdown of the night as time expired in the game. A point after opportunity was not attempted, and the Eagles locked up a season-ending 42-34 victory.

“5-3 is a much better feeling than 4-4.” said Coach Carson of his team’s season. “I thought we deserved a winning season for our seniors and for ourselves to come out and give the kind of effort we needed to tonight to finish the year on a positive note was really big.”

The winning season was Line Mountain’s first since going 7-5 back in 2017.

Coach Dressler was also proud of the 5-5 record his Wildcats were able to put together on the season.

“This has been one of my most memorable seasons.” he said. “At the beginning of the season a lot of people didn’t expect much out of us. Everybody looks at names and returning starters, but our kids just showed up every week. The effort they gave made this team awesome. They gave everything they had. It was a good season.”

The Wildcats’ .500 season is the team’s first full season (regular season and playoffs combined) at or above .500 since 2011 when the team went 8-3.

Line Mountain 42, Mifflinburg 34

SCORE BY QUARTERS

Mifflinburg                             7  7  7  13  — 34

Line Mountain                       13  0  14  15  — 42

First Quarter

LM—Jacob Feese 29-yard run (PAT No Good), 7:42.

M—Lucas Whittaker 7-yard reception from Jacob Reitz (Gabe Stetler PAT Good), 2:44

LM—Garrett Laudenslager 56-yard run (Cameron Smeltz PAT Good), 1:48

Second Quarter

M—Reitz 9-yard run (Stetler PAT Good), 4:45.

Third Quarter

LM—Feese 78-yard run (Smeltz PAT Good), 11:17.

LM—Laudenslager 29-yard run (Smeltz PAT Good), 7:01

M—Reitz 2-yard run (Stetler PAT Good), 0:32

Fourth Quarter

LM—Laudenslager 76-yard run (2 pt. conversion good Laudenslager reception from Nolan Baumert), 10:57.

LM—Smeltz 12-yard reception from Feese (Smeltz PAT Good), 7:41

M—Reitz 1-yard run (Stetler PAT Good), 5:12

M—Reitz 6-yard run (No PAT Attempt), 0:00

TEAM STATISTICS              M                 LM

First downs                             24                13

Total yards                              496             497

Rushes-yards                         36-172        43-486

Yards passing                        324             11

Passing (comp.-att.-int.)       22-33-1      2-2-0

Fumbles-lost                           0-0              3-1

Penalties-yards                      4-42            8-69

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING—Mifflinburg: Andrew Diehl 13-78, Reitz 14-50 4TD, Cade Dressler 5-26, John Darrup 2-10, Tyler Foltz 1-5, Aaron Hackenburg 1-3. Line Mountain: Laudenslager 16-225 3TD, Feese 15-222 2TD, Beau Keim 10-38, Chandon Maurer 1-1, Dominick Bridi 1-0.

PASSING—Mifflinburg: Reitz 22-33 324 yards, TD, INT. Line Mountain: Feese 2-2 11 yards, TD.

RECEIVING—Mifflinburg: Hackenburg 5-104, Jacob Bingaman 6-96, Diehl 6-56, Cannon Griffith 3-51, Whittaker 2-17 TD. Line Mountain: Smeltz 1-12 TD, Laudenslager 1-(-1).

MIDDLEBURG – The Shikellamy Braves used time of possession to their advantage Friday night to pick up their second consecutive victory to improve to 3-5 on the season.

The Braves topped the Midd-West Mustangs on the road in a 27-6 game.

The Shikellamy Braves possessed the ball for nearly 34 minutes in the 48-minute contest to get the win.

“Credit to our kids, especially our offensive linemen,” said Braves coach Jim Keiser “The line is starting to play really well together. They’re starting to get our system and they’re starting to have a little fun.”

Despite the big time of possession advantage, the Braves found themselves starting from behind just less than a minute and a half into the game. After going three-and-out on its first drive of the game Shikellamy punted to Midd-West’s top weapon, Hunter Wolfley. Wolfley caught the punt at his own 44-yard line and took it all the way back for the game’s opening score.

The 56-yard return with 10:41 remaining in the opening quarter wound up being the lone Midd-West score on the night as Shikellamy rattled off slow, methodical drive after drive to score 27-unanswered points.

Shikellamy got on the scoreboard with just three seconds remaining in the opening quarter. A nine-play drive that took 4:48 off the clock ended with a five-yard run by quarterback Cade Balestrini.

Balestrini scored again later in the night, tacking a pair of touchdowns onto his season total.

In the second quarter the Braves put together another long drive. This drive consumed over half of the entire quarter, and surprisingly wasn’t even the team’s longest drive of the night. Shik drove the ball 71 yards on a 12-play drive that ate six minutes and seven seconds off the clock.

On the final play of the drive, sophomore running back Isaac Shaffer-Neitz scored his first touchdown of the season on a four-yard carry that gave the Braves an eight-point lead headed into the halftime break.

Shikellamy’s first drive of the second half wound up being their longest drive of the night, and it included everything including multiple penalties on both teams and multiple called back scores.

In a penalty-laden sequence in the middle of the drive on a third-down and 12 for the Braves, a Shikellamy holding penalty called back what would have been a 60-yard touchdown pass to John Peiffer. On the following third-and-28, another play that would have been a 48-yard gain for the Braves was called back due to offsetting penalties. On the next third-and-28, Midd-West was hit with a personal foul that gave the Braves new life in the drive which they ended up converting into seven points.

In the end, the drive only covered 61 yards, but took seven minutes and nine seconds off the clock. The drive ended on the 14^thplay when Balestrini ran in from a yard away for his second score of the night.

Shik’s final score of the night came on a drive that lasted 5:39 and spanned the end of the third quarter into the beginning of the fourth quarter. Shaffer-Neitz scored to end the drive from 18 yards away for his second score of the night, and the season.

“Overall, we played ok,” said Mustangs’ coach Brad Hatter. “We just didn’t make enough plays to get off the field. Shik had a good game plan but we gave up too many third and longs and fourth and longs.”

Shikellamy was 6-for-11 on third down conversions and were 4-for-5 when going for it on fourth down.

The game ended in a bit of a chippy fashion as both teams ended up needing to be escorted from the field after the teams got into it near mid-field following the final whistle.

Frustration from the Mustangs seemed to boil over on a night where the team was penalized eight times for a total of 106 yards including six personal fouls. Shikellamy also saw their fair share of yellow penalty markers on the night, as the visitors racked up seven penalties for 83 yards that included four personal fouls.

Shikellamy was able to limit Midd-West’s Hunter Wolfley to just 10 rushing attempts on the night, though he did run for a game-high 96 yards. Wolfley did a bit of everything as he accounted for over 190 all purpose yards including the 96 rushing, 28 receiving yards, 10 passing yards and the 56-yard punt return for a touchdown.

Midd-West fell to 1-7 in their third season with a football program. The team currently has a matchup schedules against Newport (2-1) next week.

The Shikellamy offense was led by Drew Balestrini who threw for 204 yards and ran for a pair of touchdowns. The leading rusher for the Braves was Coltyn Sempko who ran for 54 yards on 12 carries.

“This was a big win for our program,” said Coach Keiser. “We’re trying to get things to where Shikellamy should be, back when teams used to fear having to play Shikellamy. The kids are doing a great job. They’ve been working hard, and our defense is playing great.”

Shikellamy (3-5) currently has a matchup with Mifflinburg (4-3) on the schedule for next week.

Shikellamy 27, Midd-West 6

SCORE BY QUARTERS

Shikellamy                             7  7  7  6  — 27

Midd-West                             6  0  0  0  — 6

First Quarter

MW—Hunter Wolfley 56-yard punt return (PAT No Good), 10:41.

S—Drew Balestrini 5-yard run (Nicholas Koontz PAT Good), 00:03

Second Quarter

S—Isaac Shaffer-Neitz 4-yard run (Koontz PAT Good), 3:34.

Third Quarter

S—Balestrini 1-yard run (Koontz PAT Good), 2:11.

Fourth Quarter

S—Shaffer-Neitz 18-yard run (PAT No Good), 6:42.

TEAM STATISTICS          S              MW

First downs                             17                5

Total yards                              334             141

Rushes-yards                         49-130        16-63

Yards passing                        204             78

Passing (comp.-att.-int.)       7-13-0        9-13-0

Fumbles-lost                           1-0              3-0

Penalties-yards                      7-83            8-106

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING—Shikellamy: Coltyn Sempko 12-54, Shaffer-Neitz 7-36 2TD, Gage Wolfe 12-23, Duncan Weir 3-11, Balestrini 14-6 2TD, TEAM 1-0. Midd-West: Wolfley 10-96, Trey Lauver 3-(-6), TEAM 1-(-12), Christian Regester 2-(-15).

PASSING—Shikellamy: Balestrini 7-13 204 yards. Midd-West: Regester 8-12 68 yards, Wolfley 1-1 10 yards.

RECEIVING—Shikellamy: John Peiffer 2-64, Weir 1-50, Connor Fitzgerald 1-41, Davis Marshall 2-34, Sempko 2-15. Midd-West: Eli Swan 3-38, Wolfley 3-28, Everest Wilson 3-13, Lauver 1-(-1).

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MIFFLINBURG – A strong defensive performance and the ability to run the ball for big chunk plays led the Mifflinburg Wildcats to a 28-0 home shutout against visiting Hughesville Friday night.

The Mifflinburg defense forced four turnovers in the game – three interceptions and a fumble recovery – and ran the ball for over eight yards per carry in the victory.

The win was the third in a row for the Wildcats and their fourth of the season, improving the team to 4-3 on the year.

“Having momentum going into playoffs is great.” said coach Jason Dressler. “Just the wins for us is great for the boys. The season started off rough but finishing so far at 4-3 is really good for the players, the team, the school and the program.”

The game began with Mifflinburg turning the ball over themselves. After forcing a three-and-out and a punting situation for the Spartans, Mifflinburg muffed the punt and gave the ball right back to the Spartans in plus territory. The Mifflinburg defense stepped up and delivered again, halting a five-play drive, and forcing another Hughesville punt.

The two drives to open the game by Hughesville resulted in -5 yards of total offense, as the Mifflinburg defense sacked Hughesville quarterback Joseph Swink three times in the first eight plays of the game. Emmanuel Ulrich, Quintin Doane and Josh Antonyuk were responsible for the three sacks.

A coffin corner punt set Mifflinburg up deep in its own territory for its first offensive drive of the game. The Wildcats started at their own five-yard line, and in an attempt to get some breathing room from their own endzone, Colin Miller broke a 95-yard run up the right sideline for the opening score of the game.

“They had a good punt. They pinned us all the way back at the five-yard line.” said Miller. “Our line stepped up and opened the hole for me. It got us all pumped up and ready to go for the rest of the game.”

On the ensuing Mifflinburg drive the Wildcats struck again. This time the team pieced together an eight-play drive, mixing run and pass plays equally before John Darrup broke away on a 35-yard touchdown run on the opening play of the second quarter. A missed extra point put Mifflinburg up 13-0.

It was the defense stepping up yet again on the following drive. After forcing a third three-and-out in four drives for the Spartans, a bad snap on fourth-and-eight sailed way over the punter’s head and into the Hughesville endzone. The Hughesville punter picked the ball up and threw it out of bound, but with no receiver in the area and the ball not making it back to the line of scrimmage, intentional grounding was called in the endzone, earning a safety and two points for the home team.

The result of the safety put Mifflinburg up 15-0 and gave the home team the ball back with 9:51 remaining in the opening half. Once again the offense made it look easy, driving the field in just under four minutes to pick up a third touchdown in the game.

With 6:04 on the clock, and facing a second-and-eight, Mifflinburg quarterback Jacob Reitz dropped back and sailed a long pass into the endzone for Cannon Griffith. Griffith came down in the endzone for the score to put Mifflinburg up 22-0 which would be the halftime score.

At the half Mifflinburg was firing on all cylinders, outgaining the Hughesville offense 273-23 in total yardage.

The Spartans’ best chance to score came on the team’s opening drive of the second half. The visitors recovered a Mifflinburg fumble near midfield and was able to drive all the way down to the Mifflinburg nine-yard line. The nine-play drive ended on third-and-goal when a trick play went awry for the Spartans, ending in the team’s second interception thrown of the night.

Mifflinburg took back over at their own nine-yard line and drove the length of the field for their final score of the game. An eight-play drive culminated in a two-yard touchdown run by fullback Cade Dressler.

The next two Hughesville drives also ended in turnovers, with the Mifflinburg defense forcing a third interception and a fumble recovery. Carter Breed picked off a pair of the three interceptions with Emmanuel Ulrich adding one himself.

All the turnovers kept Hughesville off the scoreboard and preserved the shutout win for Mifflinburg.

“This is what I wanted to see out of the defense tonight,” said Dressler of the shutout performance. “More aggressive ball playing. Much better than we’ve seen the last two weeks. Stepping up with good sound defense. I’m proud of the stuff the defense did for us tonight.”

“I’m proud of the defense,” added Miller. “They all stepped up tonight. We wanted the goose egg and we got it because everyone put their hearts out on the line.”

Miller finished the game as the leading rusher and receiver for the Mifflinburg offense. He ran the ball 10 times for 172 yards and caught three passes in the game for 34 yards.

“All week coach said, ‘run game, run game, run game’ and he was right. If you dominate the run game, you dominate the game.” said Miller of the team’s performance. “Our line stepped up. They opened up some beautiful holes for us.”

The win puts Mifflinburg at 4-3 on the season as they prep for a playoff run.

“Oh yeah. Love the momentum,” said Miller. “Everyone is very excited. We’re all pumped up and ready to go in the playoffs.”

Hughesville’s leading offensive producer in the game was fullback Colton Yocum. Yocum ran the ball 14 times and accounted for 68 of the Spartans’ 81 rushing yards in the game.

Hughesville dropped to 1-6 on the season with the loss.

Mifflinburg 28, Hughesville 0

SCORE BY QUARTERS

Hughesville                           0  0  0  0  — 0

Mifflinburg                             7  15  6  0  — 0

First Quarter

M—Colin Miller 95-yard run (Gabe Stetler PAT Good), 5:49.

Second Quarter

M—John Darrup 35-yard run (PAT No Good), 11:51.

M—TEAM run -26 yards, SAFETY, 9:51

M—Cannon Griffith 18-yard reception from Jacob Reitz (Stetler PAT Good), 6:04

Third Quarter

M—Cade Dressler 2-yard run (PAT No Good), 3:32.

TEAM STATISTICS              H                 M

First downs                             10                21

Total yards                              120             475

Rushes-yards                         36-81          44-368

Yards passing                        39                107

Passing (comp.-att.-int.)       4-12-3        9-12-3

Fumbles-lost                           1-1              3-2

Penalties-yards                      4-30            3-8

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING—Hughesville: Colton Yocum 14-68, Brenden Knight 4-25, Michael Dylina 3-9, Devin Swank 5-7, Joseph Swink 6-2, Aiden Barlett 2-(-3), TEAM 2-(27). Mifflinburg: Miller 10-172 TD, Tyler Foltz 15-88, Darrup 5-62 TD, Camden Smith 4-20, Reitz 7-14, Quintin Doane 2-10, Cade Dressler 1-2 TD.

PASSING—Hughesville: Swink 4-11 39 yards, 2 INT, Swank 0-1, INT. Mifflinburg: Reitz 9-12 107 yards, TD, INT.

RECEIVING—Hughesville: Justin Fowler 2-27, Dylina 2-12. Mifflinburg: Miller 3-34, Barlett 1-20, Griffith 1-18 TD, Jacob Bingaman 2-15, Lucas Whittaker 1-11, Carter Breed 1-9.

Halfback Hunter Wolfley becomes the first player in Midd-West history to rush for 1,000 yards in a single season.

MIDDLEBURG – Coming into Friday night’s matchup with the visiting Hughesville Spartans, Midd-West running back Hunter Wolfley needed roughly 100 yards to crack 1,000 rushing yards on the season.

Coming off a 452-yard performance the previous week those 100 yards seemed like child’s play, and they were. Wolfley eclipsed the 100-yard mark in the early second quarter and finished the game with 32 carries for 243 yards and two scores as the Midd-West Mustangs earned their first win of the season in a 31-20 victory over Hughesville.

“It feels pretty good,” said Midd-West coach Brad Hatter about the team’s first victory of the season. “The kids have never given up. We’ve asked them not to do that and they’ve kept persevering.”

The 1,000-yard feat was extra significant for Wolfley, as he becomes the first player in Midd-West school history to rush for over 1,000 yards in a single season.

“It’s something not many people get to accomplish,” said Wolfley on becoming the first player in school history with a 1,000-yard rushing season. “We’ve only had our football team for three years, but somebody has to be the first one and I’m glad it was me.”

The night began being dominated by the Mustangs in time of possession, but the scoreboard told a different story. Through one-quarter of play, Hughesville had possessed the ball for less than three minutes, but the game remained scoreless.

Midd-West started with the ball and put together a 10-play drive that eventually stalled out in Hughesville territory at the Spartans’ 36-yard line.

Hughesville took over from there but lost a fumble on the sixth play from scrimmage while driving deep in Midd-West territory.

Midd-West got the ball back, but a turnover of its own – an interception on the fifth play of the drive – halted the home team’s momentum yet again.

Midd-West would get the ball right back, as on the opening play for Hughesville, a botched snap ended up rolling around on the ground and was recovered by the defense, putting Midd-West in Hughesville territory with possession.

Things started opening up for both offenses after that. On the opening play of the second quarter, fullback Trey Lauver rumbled in from two yards out for the opening score of the game. Hughesville was able to respond quickly. On a third-and-20 from the Spartans’ own 16-yard line, quarterback Joseph Swink rolled left and dropped a dime to a wide-open Brenden Knight deep down the middle for a pickup of 54 yards.

Knight ended up getting his number called to cap off the drive four plays later, diving into the endzone on a three-yard rush. The PAT was no good and Midd-West clung to a 7-6 lead.

On the Mustangs’ ensuing drive, Wolfley eclipsed the 100-yard mark on the game and the 1,000-yard mark on the season when he broke a 49-yard touchdown run for his first of two scores in the game. The score put Midd-West up by eight with just over five minutes remaining in the opening half.

Hughesville wasn’t finished scoring in the opening half, as the team used another pair of big plays to push the ball down field quickly. Devin Swank opened the drive with a 36-yard run and then three plays later was on the receiving end of a 43-yard catch and run.

Swank capped off the drive with a three-yard touchdown run, putting Hughesville down 14-12. The Spartans decided to go for the game-tying two-point conversion despite the game still being in the first half. Hughesville quarterback Swink dropped back and delivered a dart to Justin Fowler in the endzone to knot things up at 14-apiece, which would be the halftime score.

Midd-West didn’t mess around reacquiring the lead in the third quarter. After forcing a three-and-out to begin the frame, the team drive right down the field covering 55 yards on five plays. Wolfley capped off the drive with a 14-yard run and the Mustangs went up 21-14.

The Mustangs scored again on the ensuing possession, this time on a time-consuming drive that put the team up two scores.

The Mustangs drove 77 yards on a 12-play drive that took 5:54 off the clock as the third quarter became the fourth. Eli Swan found the endzone on the drive, scoring on a 16-yard reception.

Swan was the only player to catch a pass for the Mustangs in the game as he hauled in six receptions for 70 yards and a score.

Needing a score, the Hughesville offense never got a chance to take the field. A fumble on the ensuing kickoff gave the Mustangs the ball in field goal range to essentially put the game away. The fumble was the fourth of the game lost by the Spartans.

“I don’t know what the statistics are about turnover ratio and winning games, but I know it’s not good when you have four,” said Hughesville coach Adam Gehr. “That was our Achilles heel tonight. We were in a position to score early and we fumbled inside the 20. It’s things like that we just can’t do.”

The Mustangs ended up settling for a field goal, as freshman kicker Ryland Portzline knocked a 26-yard field goal through the uprights to give the Mustangs a three-score advantage at 31-14.

Hughesville scored with five minutes left on a four-yard run by Swink but never came close to scoring again as the Mustangs earned their first win on the season in a 31-20 game.

“We needed this,” said Hatter, “I don’t think we turned the ball over at all on offense. We’ve preached to take care of the football and tonight we were able to do that and take advantage of some stuff.”

Midd-West won the turnover battle in the game, taking the ball away four times and not giving it away at all.

Hatter also praised his talented running back following his record-breaking performance.

“(Wolfley) deserves it,” he said, “He comes to work every day. He battles through injuries, he leads by example and we’re just thankful every day that he’s on our team because of what he brings to our program, because of what he brings to our team, and how he can change a game.”

Wolfley’s 243 yards led all players by far in the game.

Midd-West (1-5) travels to Bloomsburg (3-3) next week to take on the Black Panthers. Hughesville (1-5) hits the road to take on Mifflinburg (3-3) who is looking for a third consecutive win.

Midd-West 31, Hughesville 20

SCORE BY QUARTERS

Hughesville                           0  14  0  6  — 20

Midd-West                             0  14  7  10  — 31

Second Quarter

MW—Trey Lauver 2-yard run (Ryland Portzline PAT Good), 11:56.

H—Brenden Knight 3-yard run (PAT No Good), 8:13

MW—Hunter Wolfley 49-yard run (Portzline PAT Good), 5:34

H—Devin Swank 3-yard run (2 pt. conversion good. Justin Fowler reception from Joseph Swink), 2:55

Third Quarter

MW—Wolfley 14-yard run (Portzline PAT Good), 8:11.

Fourth Quarter

MW—Eli Swan 16-yard reception from Christian Regester (Portzline PAT Good), 10:42.

MW—Portzline 25-yard field goal, 8:01

H—Joseph Swink 4-yard run (PAT No Good), 5:09

TEAM STATISTICS         H                 MW

First downs                             12                18

Total yards                              302             327

Rushes-yards                         27-83          47-257

Yards passing                        219             70

Passing (comp.-att.-int.)       10-18-0      6-12-1

Fumbles-lost                           4-4              0-0

Penalties-yards                      3-26            4-48

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING—Hughesville: Swank 5-76 TD, Colton Yocum 9-25, Michael Dylina 2-6, Knight 1-3 TD, Swink 8-(-10) TD, TEAM 2-(-17). Midd-West: Wolfley 32-243 2TD, Lauver 9-33 TD, Christian Regester 4-(-14), TEAM 2-(-5).

PASSING—Hughesville: Swink 10-18 219 yards. Midd-West: Regester 6-12 70 yards, TD, INT.

RECEIVING—Hughesville: Swank 5-119, Knight 1-54, Justin Fowler 3-40, Angelo Ferrigno 1-6. Midd-West: Swan 6-70 TD.

MIDDLEBURG – Midd-West’s Hunter Wolfley ran wild Friday night on his home turf in Middleburg, but it wasn’t quite enough to hold off the visiting Mifflinburg Wildcats who held tight to a 35-33 victory.

Wolfley finished the night with 30 total touches that included 452 rushing yards, 44 receiving yards and five total touchdowns.

Wolfley recorded touchdown runs of 67, 80, 40, 58 and 57 yards on the night.

“We ran a lot of the same plays all game,” said Wolfley following the game. “The the beginning they played a 3-5 (defense) so we were able to take it to the outside and get up field. Then in the second half they brought their outside linebackers up so we tried to squeeze it in under them and it worked all night.”

Mifflinburg used a fast start to get the Wildcats out early, though Wolfley and the Mustangs would fight their way back and eventually take the lead in the game’s third quarter.

Mifflinburg started with the ball and used a strong running attack led early by Andrew Diehl. Diehl carried the ball on five plays in the opening drive, including the first four plays of the game. Diehl got the ball all the way down to the Mustangs’ two-yard line, where fullback Quintin Doane finished off the drive on a fullback dive up the middle for the game’s first score.

Diehl, Doane and Colin Miller would all record rushing touchdowns in the first quarter of the game. Diehl and Miller led the team in rushing yards, each recording 108 yards on the ground in the Wildcats win.

Following the opening touchdown, the ensuing kick return was fumbled by the Mustangs, giving Mifflinburg possession again before the Mustangs offense could even see the field. On the first play from scrimmage following the fumble, it was Diehl finding paydirt to put the visitors up 14-0.

“It was big coming out strong like that,” said Mifflinburg coach Jason Dressler. “We told the team we were going to challenge the run game. We saw a lot of positive things last week from it, so we built on that. That’s what we looked to and it obviously benefited us tonight.”

Midd-West finally got an opportunity with the ball, and it didn’t take long for Wolfley to get his night started. His first carry of the game went for a 67-yard touchdown.

Mifflinburg got the ball right back and drive down again for their third touchdown in as many drives. This 10-play drive culminated in a Miller touchdown run from just eight yards away. The score gave Mifflinburg a 21-7 lead with 2:22 remaining in the opening quarter, and Midd-West having only ran one offensive play in the entire game to that point.

When the Mustangs got the ball back, their ensuing drive took twice as long as their first. On the second play of the drive. Wolfley broke free down the right sideline again, taking the ball to the endzone on an 80-yard run.

Early in the second quarter the Midd-West defense finally stepped up with a stop and gave the offense a chance to tie the game. Once again Wolfley broke off a long touchdown run of 40 yards to bring the game even at 21-all.

When the halftime horn sounded, Wolfley had recorded nine carries for 250 yards and three scores.

“That’s just him,” said Midd-West coach Brad Hatter of his running back’s phenomenal performance. “That’s the stuff we see every day in practice. He’s just a special player and he probably deserves a little better than what the results have been the last two weeks.”

On Midd-West’s second drive of the second half, Wolfley struck from 58 yards away to give the Mustangs their first lead of the game at 27-21 following a missed extra point.

Throughout the second and third quarters the Mifflinburg offense went silent, but when push came to shove, the team finally stepped up and started making things hard on the Mustangs. With 8:23 remaining in the game the Wildcats took the lead back. On a third-and-nine from their own 29-yard line, quarterback Jacob Reitz dropped back and delivered a long pass down field intended for Colin Miller. Miller and a Midd-West defender battled each other to high point the ball, but it was eventually Miller who came down with the ball in hand on what culminated in 71-yard catch and run score. The Wildcats converted the extra point for a 28-27 lead.

Following a defensive stop, Mifflinburg took over possession at the Midd-West 25-yard line. On the first play from scrimmage, Miller scored again on a 25-yard rush to put the Wildcats up 35-27.

In still a one-score game, Midd-West forced a turnover to regain possession with 4:03 remaining. Wolfley then promptly broke off his final touchdown run of the night from 57-yards away. A two-point conversion attempt was no-good, allowing Mifflinburg to cling to a slim 35-33 lead.

Following a failed onside kick attempt, the Midd-West defense forced yet another turnover deep in their own territory, giving the team one final chance with 2:41 remaining.

Wolfley helped the Mustangs drive down the field again, hauling in a 45-yard reception from quarterback Christian Regester in the final minute of the game to put the team in field goal range.

The Mustangs inevitably ran out of time and downs inside the opponent’s red zone and lined up for a 27-yard field goal with 27 seconds remaining to take a 36-35 lead.

The kick was no good as it was seemingly tipped at the line, and the Wildcats help on for a 35-33 win to improve to 2-3 on the season. The loss dropped Midd-West to 0-5 despite close losses to Mifflinburg and Lewisburg in the last two games.

“The thing I’m proud of the most is we kept our heads up and we stuck together through the game and we fought to the very end.” said Dressler. “That says a lot about their character and who they are as young men. That is what I’m proud of.”

“We put ourselves in a position to win the game at the end there, that’s all we can ask for.” said Hatter. “The guys fought hard again. The last couple weeks we learned to compete and learned to fight, we’re just falling short.”

Wolfley finished the night accounting for 496 of Midd-West’s 536 yards of offense. Collin Miller accounted for the most offensive yards for the Wildcats, recording 206 of Mifflinburg’s 406 offensive yards.

“Our line did an amazing job, they did great tonight.” Said Miller. “And Quintin Doane is a big guy. He did a great job making huge holes for us.”

Mifflinburg (2-3) hosts Warrior Run (1-3) next week, while Midd-West (0-5) plays host to Hughesville (1-4).

Mifflinburg 35, Midd-West 33

SCORE BY QUARTERS

Mifflinburg                             21  0  0  14  — 35

Midd-West                             14  7  6  6  — 33

First Quarter

M—Quintin Doane 2-yard run (Gabe Stetler PAT Good), 8:33.

M—Andrew Diehl 5-yard run (Stetler PAT Good), 8:06.

MW—Hunter Wolfley 67-yard run (Ryland Portzland PAT Good), 7:48.

M—Colin Miller 8-yard run (Stetler PAT Good), 2:22.

MW—Wolfley 80-yard run (Portzland PAT Good), 1:30.

Second Quarter

MW—Wolfley 40-yard run (Portzland PAT Good), 6:38.

Third Quarter

MW—Wolfley 58-yard run (PAT No Good), 7:32.

Fourth Quarter

M—Miller 71-yard reception from Jacob Reitz (Stetler PAT Good), 8:23.

M—Miller 25-yard run (Stetler PAT Good), 7:19

MW—Wolfley 57-yard run (2pt. conversion No Good), 3:50

TEAM STATISTICS              M                 MW

First downs                             14                11

Total yards                              406             536

Rushes-yards                         48-265        39-482

Yards passing                        141             54

Passing (comp.-att.-int.)       7-11-0        3-11-0

Fumbles-lost                           4-3              2-2

Penalties-yards                      5-35            5-45

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING—Mifflinburg: Diehl 17-108 TD, Miller 14-108 2TD, Reitz 4-29, Doane 4-9 TD, John Darrup 4-8, Tyler Foltz 1-3, TEAM 4-0. Midd-West: Wolfley 28-452 5TD, Trey Lauver 9-25, Christian Regester 1-5, TEAM 1-(-4).

PASSING—Mifflinburg: Reitz 7-11 141 yards, TD. Midd-West: Regester 3-11 54 yards.

RECEIVING—Mifflinburg: Miller 4-98 TD, Jarrett Miller 1-26, Lucas Whittaker 1-11, Diehl 1-6. Midd-West: Wolfley 2-44, Eli Swan 1-10.

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SELINSGROVE – The Shamokin Indians used stellar defense and some long, time-consuming offensive drives to pick up a 16-0 victory over Selinsgrove Friday night at Harold L. Bolig Memorial Stadium.

Shamokin staked itself to an early lead and then bled clock all night, possessing the ball for over 16 minutes in the second half of the game to earn the win.

Special teams was a big factor in the game for the Indians, as the team scored nine points on special teams in the game.

“I don’t know that there’s another team locally that spends more time on special teams than we do.” said Shamokin coach Henry Hynoski. “We spend a good half hour every day on that and as you can see its paying off. We got one (blocked punt) against Milton and we got two tonight.”

Despite an early opportunity, the Selinsgrove Seals stayed scoreless throughout the night. On the team’s first possession of the game, a punt was muffed and recovered by the Seals at the Shamokin 29-yard line. Despite gaining four yards following the fumble recovery, a 42-yard field goal attempt by Karmyne Cole drifted wide left and kept the game scoreless.

Shamokin got on the board on the team’s second drive of the game. On a second-and-ten at the Indians’ own 30-yard line, Ian Paul broke off a run on an inside handoff, taking the ball 67-yards before being run down from behind by the Selinsgrove defense. The 67-yard run was the longest play of the entire game by far and set the Indians up inside the Seals’ five-yard line. Two plays later it was teammate Maximus Madden that broke the plane of the endzone for the game’s first score.

On the Seals’ ensuing possession, the Shamokin defense stood strong and forced a three-and-out. The Indians then stepped up on special teams and blocked a punt that rolled all the way back into the Seals’ own endzone. Corey Adams fell on the ball for the Indians, giving the team a 14-0 lead with 4:12 remaining in the opening quarter.

Shamokin’s special teams practice paid off again late in the opening half. Following a sack by Micah Miller, the Seals’ were punting from deep in their own territory yet again. Once again the punt was blocked – this time by Aaron Frasch – and careened out the back of the endzone for a safety, putting the Indians up 16-0.

In the second half of the game, it was all Indians’ but no additional points were added to the scoreboard. The visitors used long, methodical drives to get deep into enemy territory before often turning the ball over on downs in attempts to score.

“We preach to the kids to bend, don’t break” said Selinsgrove coach Derek Hicks. “I told them that tonight was a little too much bend. The problem is these long drives are taking 8-10 minutes off the clock, which is time our offense doesn’t have to try to get things going.”

On Shamokin’s first drive of the second half, the team put together a 14-play drive that ate 8:05 off the clock. The drive covered 55 yards and the Indians converted on third down three times en route to picking up four first downs on the drive. The drive stalled out following back-to-back false starts and a sack from Selinsgrove’s Ryan Aument.

In all, the Indians possessed the ball for nearly 30 minutes of the 48 minute game.

“In all my experience playing football, time of possession, turnovers and penalties are the things that win you football games,” said Hynoski. “Its always good to win the time-of-possession battle, the turnover battle and the penalty battle.”

Shamokin nearly had a pair of 100-yard rushers on the night, as Paul ended up leading the team in rushing yards – thanks to his 67-yard jaunt – carrying the ball 10 times for 97 yards. Madden followed closely behind, toting the ball 23 times for 94 yards.

Selinsgrove’s passing attack came to life in the second half. At the halftime break, Selinsgrove quarterback Coy Bastian had thrown for only nine yards, he finished the game with 93 passing yards, thanks to nice nights from receivers Brett Foor – four receptions for 53 yards – and Frasch – four receptions for 42 yards.

Perhaps lost in the shuffle of the incredible all-around performance by the Indians was the team’s defense.

Shamokin’s defense limited Selinsgrove to just four total yards in the first half and just 101 total yards in the entire game.

“They were loading the box. I knew we had to be able to pass the ball a bit in order to loosen up the front, but unfortunately we didn’t get that going.” Said Hicks.

“The defense was lights-out the whole game.” Added Hynoski. “I thought we did really well on offense, especially running the football. We were able to get some nice time-consuming drives in, we just shot ourselves in the foot a few times.”

The win is a big one for Shamokin, who improves to 2-1 on the season and will host Shikellamy (1-2) next week.

“Overall, the effort and the physicality was there.” said Hynoski. “Selinsgrove is a physical football team. Hats off to them but we came to play hard.

“We got the monkey off our back, we got two (wins) in a row. We have to continue with the intensity. We can’t be complacent or slack off in practice.”

Meanwhile, the Seals fall to 1-2 on the season following back-to-back losses. The team will look to get back on track next week, though they will be facing an incredibly tough Jersey Shore team that has outscored opponents 149-14 through three games this season.

Shamokin 16, Selinsgrove 0

SCORE BY QUARTERS

Shamokin                               14  2  0  0  — 16

Selinsgrove                           0  0  0  0  — 0

First Quarter

Shamokin—Maximus Madden 1-yard run (Carson Ososkie PAT Good), 5:54.

Shamokin—Corey Adams fumble recovery (Ososkie PAT Good), 4:12

Second Quarter

Shamokin—Blocked punt SAFETY, 1:47.

TEAM STATISTICS       Sham         Sel

First downs                             13                6

Total yards                              282             101

Rushes-yards                         48-219        17-8

Yards passing                        63                93

Passing (comp.-att.-int.)       5-13-0        9-30-0

Fumbles-lost                           2-1              2-1

Penalties-yards                      8-65            4-43

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING—Shamokin: Ian Paul 10-97, Madden 23-94 TD, Aaron Frasch 11-41, Brett Nye 2-(-4), TEAM 1-(-9). Selinsgrove: Coy Bastian 11-5, Ryan Straub 1-4, Ryan Aument 5-(-1).

PASSING—Shamokin: Nye 5-13 63 yds. Selinsgrove: Bastian 9-30 93 yds.

RECEIVING—Shamokin: Micah Miller 1-30, Ryder Zulkowski 2-19, Paul 1-12, Madden 1-2. Selinsgrove: Brett Foor 4-53, Frasch 4-42, Aument 1-(-2).

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SUNBURY – The Jersey Shore Bulldogs came into Shikellamy Stadium ready to play last night, pitching a shutout and posting 430 yards of offense in a 53-0 victory over the Braves.

The team looked like it didn’t miss a beat from last season’s team that went all the way to the Class 4A State Quarterfinals.

Jersey Shore used hurry-up offense and a few quick turnovers in the opening quarter put things out of reach early.

After receiving the opening kickoff, the Bulldogs drove 74 yards in eight plays to cap off a two-and-a-half-minute drive to take an early 7-0 lead. Jersey Shore found the endzone when senior quarterback Branden Wheary connected with junior standout Cayden Hess for a three-yard touchdown reception.

Hess led all players in terms of yardage gained on the night, hauling in eight passes from Wheary for 110 yards and a pair of scores.

Shikellamy went three-and-out in its first possession of the game, and a long punt return from Dalton Dungan set the Bulldogs up in prime territory once again. This time sophomore fullback Hayden Packer punched in one of his two rushing touchdowns in the game from just one yard away.

On the following drive, Shikellamy quarterback Drew Balestrini rolled left on a third down pass attempt but was sacked. The ball squirted out and was scooped up by Quincey Myers and returned 20 yards for a score.

This still wasn’t the end of the Jersey Shore touchdown spree in the opening quarter. Another fumble recovery on the ensuing kickoff set the Bulldogs up again. Five plays later it was Wheary hooking up with Owen Anderson on a 17-yard catch-and-run for the score.

Just like that the Bulldogs found themselves up 28-0 just eight minutes and 12 seconds into the game.

“We wanted to come out and set some kind of tone that we were in charge early,” said Jersey Shore coach Tom Gravish. “We were able to do that.”

“The kids worked hard in practice all week,” said Shikellamy head coach Jim Keiser. “For some reason we got out here on the field and we couldn’t execute anything. We’re just going to keep working hard and see if we can get any better at it.”

In the second quarter, Jersey Shore’s Cam Allison scored a rushing touchdown to put the Bulldogs up 34-0. Allison was the leading rusher in the game, carrying the ball 21 times for 84 yards and a TD.

In all, the Bulldogs ran the ball 49 times for 244 yards and four rushing touchdowns in the game. They ran 67 offensive plays in the game, as the team’s fast-paced offense controlled the tempo all night.

“We run (up tempo) pretty fast,” said Jersey Shore coach Tom Gravish. “We challenged them last week because we didn’t think they were running it fast enough. There was a time or two we didn’t line up fast enough tonight.”

Shikellamy’s best drive of the night came at the end of the third quarter. Junior running back Coltyn Sempko busted off an 11-yard run to open the drive – the longest run of the night for the Braves. Sempko also kept the same drive alive early in the fourth quarter, picking up a first down on fourth-and-one.

Sempko led the Braves in offense, carrying the ball 12 times for 30 yards.

Fellow junior John Peifer led the team in receiving, hauling in a reception for 11 yards.

Jersey Shore capped off the night with a late touchdown run from sophomore Brady Jordan to give the Bulldogs a 53-0 advantage. Jordan carried the ball 10 times in the game for 74 yards.

“Any time the kids can get to be out here together and play, it’s a positive.” said Coach Keiser.

Shikellamy falls to 0-2 on the season with the loss and will travel to take on the Milton Black Panthers (0-2) next Friday night.

Jersey Shore improved to 2-0 on the young season and will host Central Mountain (2-0) next Friday night.

Jersey Shore 53, Shikellamy 0

SCORE BY QUARTERS

Jersey Shore 28  12  13  0  — 53

Shikellamy 0  0  0  0  — 0

First Quarter

JS—Cayden Hess 3-yard reception from Branden Wheary (Cam Allison PAT Good), 9:36.

JS—Hayden Packer 1-yard run (Allison PAT Good), 7:00

JS—Quincey Myers 20-yard fumble return (Allison PAT Good), 5:27

JS—Owen Anderson 17-yard reception from Wheary (Allison PAT Good), 3:48

Second Quarter

JS—Allison 2-yard run (PAT No Good), 9:48.

JS—Hess 16-yard reception from Wheary (PAT No Good), 2:03.

Third Quarter

JS—Packer 1-yard run (PAT No Good), 6:38

JS—Brady Jordan 1-yard run (Allison PAT Good), 1:48

TEAM STATISTICS JS S

First downs 18 4

Total yards 430 25

Rushes-yards 49-244 27-14

Yards passing 186 11

Passing (comp.-att.-int.) 12-18-0 2-16-1

Fumbles-lost 2-0 4-2

Penalties-yards 2-10 0-0

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING—Jersey Shore: Allison 21-84 TD, Jordan 10-74 TD, Packer 9-36 2 TD, Nicholas Williams 5-32, Anderson 3-18, Gabe Andrus 1-0. Shikellamy: Coltyn Sempko 12-30, Gage Wolfe 4-3, Chase Morgan 2-3, Isaac Schaffer-Neitz 3-(-1), Braydon Wertman 1-(-8), Drew Balestrini 5-(-13).

PASSING—Jersey Shore: Wheary 12-18 186 yds, 3 TD. Shikellamy: Balestrini 2-16 11 yds, INT.

RECEIVING—Jersey Shore: Hess 8-110 2 TD, Anderson 2-48 TD, Dalton Dungan 1-29, Allison 1-(-1). Shikellamy: John Peifer 1-11, Wolfe 1-0.

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MILTON – When you think of the many ways to win a football game, special teams isn’t always the first aspect of the game that comes to mind.

You usually hear how the game is won in the trenches, or by a stifling defensive performance or a high-flying offense.

However, Friday night the Seals accomplished the former, blocking three punts and returning a kickoff for a touchdown to help roll to a season opening 42-6 victory over the host Milton Black Panthers.

The first of Selinsgrove’s three blocked punts came following Milton’s first possession of the game. After downing a punt of its own deep in Milton territory, a strong Selinsgrove defensive stand forced Milton to punt from inside its own 5-yard line.

Selinsgrove junior Brandon Hile rushed off the right edge and got to the Milton punter just in enough time to deflect the ball so it wouldn’t travel very far. The ball ended up downed at the Milton 4-yard line, but the Black Panthers forced a fumble on the ensuing play, earning a touchback and keeping the score 0-0.

Despite the slow start for the Seals, the team would find its groove quite quickly.

“We started slow,” said Seals’ coach Derek Hicks. “We had a couple opportunities to put some touchdowns up early, and we missed those. But the kids responded.”

Late in the opening quarter the Seals came away with their first score of the season. A Nate Aument interception set the Seals up in Milton territory, and just one play later Nate Schon ripped off a 41-yard run to earn a 7-0 advantage.

The Seals would score again on their next possession on yet another long run. This time Ryan Aument scored from 53 yards out for his first of two touchdowns on the night. He would finish the game with six carries for a team-high 64 yards and a score.

“With Schon, Aument and Teague back there, our line doesn’t have to dominate, they just have to stay on guys and open up some seams.” Said Hicks. “Our goal is to really establish that running game each week.”

With a 14-0 lead early in the second quarter, the Selinsgrove special teams unit got to its second punt of the day. This time Schon burst through the line and got his fingertips on the ball, causing the Milton punt to travel just five yards.

Four plays later, Selinsgrove punched in another score, giving the Seals touchdowns on three consecutive possessions and a 21-0 lead.

Milton earned its first points of the 2020 season on the following possession. The Black Panthers – led mostly by senior running back Jason Valladares – marched down the field on a methodical drive that took over six minutes off the clock.

Despite toting the ball nine times on the 13-play drive, Valladares gave way to quarterback Ethan Rowe deep in Seals’ territory, as the senior quarterback dove in for a one-yard score that got Milton back in the game, trailing just 21-6.

Valladares finished the night with 30 carries for a game-high 69 rushing yards for the Milton offense, while Rowe ran the ball four times for 10 yards and the lone Milton score.

Right as it seemed Milton may have earned some momentum in the game, the Black Panthers were brought right back down to earth when Nate Aument made his second big special teams play of the day. On the ensuing kickoff, Aument scooped the ball up at the Selinsgrove 16-yard line, made a few players miss, and scooted 84 yards into the endzone for a kickoff return touchdown.

“Our special teams were atrocious. It absolutely killed us tonight,” said Milton head coach Phil Davis. “We were able to score and then gave up a quick touchdown that completely took the wind out of our sails.”

The quick score sent Selinsgrove into the locker room with a solid 28-6 lead at the half.

In the second half the Seals continued to score. Junior running back Teague Hoover got a chance to tote the ball a few times and turned that into six carries for 38 yards and a pair of touchdowns in the third quarter.

Mid-way through the third quarter, Selinsgrove struck again with multiple players penetrating through the Milton linemen en-route to the third blocked punt of the night.

“Brandon Hile is so quick and long,” said Hicks. “He did a nice job coming off the edge and getting his hands up all night. He was able to deflect one and knock down another one.”

With the victory, Selinsgrove starts the season off on the right foot and improves to 1-0. They will travel to Central Mountain (1-0) next Friday.

The Black Panthers fall to 0-1 – and according to Coach Davis – still have a lot to work on.

“We’ve got a lot to work on,” said Davis. “We were unable to sustain drives. Early in the game we didn’t have great field position. We played hard, but we’ve got some things to work on.”

Milton is currently scheduled to travel to Shamokin (0-1) next Friday.

DANVILLE – It was a great night to be a Dallas running back Friday night in Danville, primarily starting running back Lenny Kelley, who posted a five-score performance to help his undefeated District 2 Class 4A champion Dallas Mountaineers earn a 56-28 victory over District 4 class 4A champion Jersey Shore to advance to the state title game in Hershey.

The win improved Dallas to a perfect 15-0 on the season. The last time the Mountaineers were undefeated this late in the season, the team won a state title in 1993.

“These are great young men, and this is a great year for Dallas,” said Dallas coach Rich Mannello. “This is the time of year where the work put in in the weight room and conditioning take over, and you saw that tonight.”

The game got off to an inauspicious start for both teams, as the first three drives of the game resulted in three turnovers. Dallas turned the ball over on the first two offensive snaps of the game.

“Nobody got rattled,” said Mannello. “If you looked at the sideline, we just went out and played defense and continued to do out thing. Eventually we were able to take over.”

Dallas won the coin toss and elected to receive. On play number one, Kelley ran to the right side, but lost control of the ball shortly after crossing the line of scrimmage. The fumble recovery put Jersey Shore in great position to score the game’s opening points.

Unfortunately for the Bulldogs, quarterback Tanner Lorson threw an interception on the third play of the drive to give the ball right back to Dallas.

Once again on the first play of the drive, Dallas turned the ball over again. After a completed pass down the field for a gain of 18 yards, a Dallas wide receiver fumbled the football and gave possession right back to the Bulldogs.

The turnover was the third of the game, which all happened in the game’s first three minutes.

“That’s not what you want to happen,” said Kelley. “Fumbling the first two times we touch the ball is ot what we wanted, but we didn’t think about that. We decided to keep moving forward and we got the job done.”

This time Jersey Shore took advantage. The Bulldogs marched a short 44 yards in just five plays to earn the game’s opening score. Running back Josh Malicky ran the ball up the gut, scoring on a second-and-one play from the Dallas 10-yard line.

This would be the only time Jersey Shore held the lead in the ballgame, and it didn’t last long.

On the ensuing drive, Dallas finally hit its stride on offense. Dallas drove the ball 62 yards on just a pair of big plays. A fullback dive resulted in a 15-yard gain up the middle for Danny Meuser and then on the next play, Dallas quarterback Michael Starbuck hit wideout Luke Delgaudio for a 44-yard catch and run to even the score.

Dallas stopped Shore on a short possession and got the ball back with 7:32 remaining in the opening quarter. Once again the Mountaineers moved the ball flawlessly down the field to take their first lead.

This time Meuser got the score after catching a ball in the flat and turning it upfield for a 19-yard catch and run for a score.

After finding themselves in a 21-point hole in the first quarter last week, it was obvious the Bulldogs were not going to give up, especially this early. The team regained possession of the ball and marched right back down the field to knot the game back up at 14-all.

Dallas struggled to stop the quick up-tempo pace of the Jersey Shore offense, which drove the ball 79 yards on eight plays, eventually scoring on a Cayden Hess reception. One of his two receiving touchdowns on the night.

“We know eventually the weight room is going to take over,” said Mannello. “The pace of play and how (Jersey Shore) runs that offense is so fast. All of our guys play both ways and we’re in great shape.”

From here on out it became the Kelley show. On Dallas’ next five possessions of the game, four ended in Kelley touchdowns. Some from long-distance, and some from up close.

Kelley scored on touchdown runs of 12, 42, 2, 19 and 78 yards on the night, He carried the ball 26 times for 268 yards.

“I felt a lot faster tonight,” said Kelley. “I think it was (quarterback, Michael) Starbuck. He let me use his gloves this week. I think it had something to do with that.”

Kelley also commented on how great the Dallas offensive line played in the contest.

“The holes were amazing tonight,” he said. “We got lucky a couple of times, but other that that, the holes were humongous.”

Jersey Shore flashed some signs that the team could be staying in the game, but those signs quickly faded when the defensive unit struggled to contain Kelley and the rest of the Dallas offense.

Down 35-14 at the half, Jersey Shore opened the third quarter with the ball and marched right down the field. Shore pieced together a 10-play, 63-yard drive to get back within two scores, but Kelley and the Mountaineers took right back over and drove down to tack on a score themselves.

“It’s been fun,” said Jersey Shore coach Tom Gravish of his 2019 squad. “It was a thrill to get here. Every day was a blast. This team’s personality was great. It was such an enjoyable season.”

Jersey Shore finishes its greatest season in school history with an overall record of 11-4.

In the game, Tanner Lorson tossed his 33^rd touchdown pass of the season, which tied a school record. Lorson broke 10 school passing records this season for the Bulldogs.

Dallas takes its undefeated record into the state finals against Thomas Jefferson, 44-2 winners over Lampeter-Strasburg.

“We’ve got the best school in the state and these kids deserve every bit of this,” said Mannello. “What you don’t see is what these kids put in for four years when nobody is watching to get to this point.”

Dallas 56, Jersey Shore 28

SCORE BY QUARTERS

Dallas 14  21  14  7  — 56

Jersey Shore 14  0  7  7  — 28

First Quarter

JS—Josh Malicky 10-yard run (Cam Allison PAT Good), 9:58.

D—Luke Delgaudio 44-yard reception from Michael Starbuck (Ryan Fisher PAT Good), 9:06

D—Danny Meuser 19-yard reception from Starbuck (Fisher PAT Good), 4:35

JS—Cayden Hess 8-yard reception from Tanner Lorson (Allison PAT Good), 2:26

Second Quarter

D—Lenny Kelley 12-yard run (Fisher PAT Good), 11:25.

D—Kelley 42-yard run (Fisher PAT Good), 6:31.

D—Kelley 2-yard run (Fisher PAT Good), 0:48

Third Quarter

JS—Hess 9-yard reception from Lorson (Allison PAT Good), 9:39

D—Kelley 19-yard run (Fisher PAT Good), 6:12

D—Kelley 78-yard run (Fisher PAT Good), 0:34

Fourth Quarter

D—Meuser 5-yard reception from Starbuck (Fisher PAT Good), 11:56

JS—Lorson 12-yard run (Allison PAT Good), 5:23

TEAM STATISTICS D JS

First downs 13 22

Total yards 484 434

Rushes-yards 43-298 21-76

Yards passing 186 358

Passing (comp.-att.-int.) 11-17-0 35-61-3

Fumbles-lost 3-2 1-1

Penalties-yards 2-20 6-60

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING—Jersey Shore: Malicky 11-47 TD, Lorson 10-29 TD. Dallas: Kelley 28-268 5TD, Meuser 6-30, Starbuck 2-5, Jacob Fenske 1-3, Jake Delgaudio 5-(-3), Jackson Wydra 1-(-4), TEAM 1-(-1).

PASSING—Jersey Shore: Lorson 35-61 358 yds, 2TD, 3INT. Dallas: Starbuck 11-17 186 yds, 3TD.

RECEIVING—Jersey Shore: Hess 8-108 2TD, Stanton Westlin 7-80, Owen Anderson 7-76, Anthony Shaffer 9-70, Brett Guthrie 2-14, Malicky 2-10. Dallas: L. Delguadio 5-117 TD, Meuser 5-57 2TD, Jack Farrell 1-12.

DANVILLE – The Jersey Shore Bulldogs found themselves in a 21-0 hole at the end of the opening quarter Friday night in Danville, but the District 4 Class 4A champions rallied for a 42-35 victory in triple-overtime to earn its seventh straight win and advance to the Class 4A state semifinals.

The Bulldogs will take on District 2 champion Dallas for a shot at a berth in the state championship game at a time and location to be determined next week.

“This win is huge,” said Jersey Shore coach Tom Gravish following the game. “We get such great support from our community, whether it’s the administration, teachers, counselors, the band and cheerleaders, the booster club, and we filled up this entire Danville side of the stadium with great fans. The entire community is here, and we get great support.”

Pottsville – who had been making its first state playoff appearance since 2006 – started off hot by posting the first 21 points on the game.

The Crimson Tide – who started senior players at 21 of 22 positions – stopped Jersey Shore on a three-and-out on the game’s opening possession and promptly put together an eight-play drive that covered 46 yards to score the opening points of the game.

On a second-and-goal play from the 11-yard line, Pottsville quarterback Damon Yost found 6-4 wide receiver Kevin Schenk in the endzone for a score.

The Crimson Tide defense stepped up again on the following Jersey Shore drive. After Jersey Shore Quarterback Tanner Lorson hit wide receiver Stanton Westlin to give the senior 1,000 receiving yards on the season, a pitch play to halfback Josh Malicky went awry, and Pottsville’s Schenk picked up a fumble recovery deep in Jersey Shore territory.

Pottsville promptly scored again on a two-yard run by Justin McClure to go up 14-0 with 4:13 remaining in the opening quarter.

Another three-and-out by the Pottsville defense gave the ball right back to the Crimson Tide and the team drove right back down the field and scored again, this time on a 28-yard run by Yost.

At the end of the opening quarter, Pottsville had outgained Jersey Shore on offense 136 yards to just 16 for the Bulldogs.

Right when it seemed nothing Pottsville could do would possibly go wrong, it seemed as though the light switched on for Jersey Shore.

Early in the second quarter the Jersey Shore defense made a stand, stopping the Crimson Tide on fourth down in Jersey Shore territory. Three plays later for the Jersey Shore offense, Lorson dropped back and bombed a deep pass to Cayden Hess. Hess caught the pass down the right sideline after it had been tipped by a Pottsville defender for a gain of 30 yards. Hess ended up leading the Bulldogs in receiving in the game, catching nine passes for 98 yards and a pair of touchdowns.

From here, Jersey Shore took the momentum and ran with it. Three plays after the 30-yard gain, Lorson ran for a nine-yard touchdown on third-and-inches to put the Bulldogs on the board.

Jersey Shore attempted an onside kick with momentum on their side, but could not recover, but the defensive unit came back out and forced another three-and-out to get the ball right back.

Once again Lorson and the Jersey Shore offense put together a touchdown drive. The Bulldogs pieced together a 10-play drive that included a conversion on fourth-and-one early in the drive. On first-and-goal from the nine-yard line, Lorson found Owen Anderson in the endzone for the score for his first of five passing touchdowns on the night. In all, Lorson accounted for all six Jersey Shore touchdowns.

“I think we were a little scared coming in,” said Lorson, “(The coaching staff) was on us on the sidelines. They knew we could play with this team and once that second quarter hit we were able to move the ball on them and play great defense.”

The Jersey Shore score put the team behind 21-14 headed into the half as the team looked for a potential game-tying score. It would take the majority of the second half, but finally Jersey Shore found a way to knot things up at 21-apece.

With 2:40 remaining in the game, Jersey Shore took over at its own 44-yard line. With the drive seemingly stalled out early on, The Bulldogs converted a third-and-nine thanks to a Pottsville pass interference penalty. The drive stayed alive and eventually culminated in a 26-yard touchdown catch by Stanton Westlin with just 51 seconds remaining in the game.

Westlin caught three passes on the game’s final drive but wound up injured on the game-tying touchdown grab. He finished the game with seven catches for 89 yards and a score.

Pottsville took over possession of the ball with 50 seconds remaining and decided to take the game into overtime, where suddenly a game that saw just seven total points in the second half, exploded into an offensive free-for-all.

In the opening overtime period, Pottsville earned back-to-back sacks on Lorson to dampen the spirits of the Jersey Shore sideline. On a third-and-goal from the 26-yard line, Lorson dropped back and fired a pass to Hess in the endzone for an improbable score.

In an instance where Pottsville could have easily hung its collective heads, Yost came out an fired a touchdown pass of his own on the first play of the Crimson Tide’s possession to force a second overtime.

In the second overtime Pottsville had possession of the ball first and faced a fourth-and-goal from the four-yard line. Yost dropped back and hit Addison Mullins for the go-ahead score.

Jersey Shore struck right back two plays later, scoring on another Hess touchdown and forcing a third overtime period.

In the third overtime it took another spectacular fourth-down score for Jersey Shore to regain the lead. On fourth-and-goal from the five-yard line Pottsville brought the blitz, but Lorson stood tall in the pocket and delivered a pass to a wide-open Brett Guthrie to put Jersey Shore up 42-35.

Three plays later it was Guthrie who got to be the hero again. Guthrie picked off a Yost pass in the back of the endzone to finally end the game after three overtime periods.

“By far this is the biggest win in school history,” said Lorson. “We couldn’t have done it without everyone on the team. At halftime, we knew that we would be able to do it. It was a crazy game. I loved it.”

“We just couldn’t make that one big play when we needed it,” added Pottsville coach Tom McGeoy of his team’s performance. “Whether it was a third-and-one or a third-and-26 in overtime, we just couldn’t come up with that one extra big play to kind of finish the game.”

Jersey Shore improved to 11-3 on the season and advanced to the Class 4A state semifinals against Dallas.

“Our motto is that we play Bulldog ball for 48 minutes,” said Gravish. “It doesn’t matter what the score is, as long as there is still time on the clock we can still win the football game.”

“Hats off to them,” added McGeoy. “They did a great job and just kept battling. In overtime it looked like everything was going our way and then they end up with a big touchdown. They’re a great team and they’re very scrappy. I wish them good luck next week.”

Pottsville’s season ends with a record of 11-3.

“I told our guys that we’re reloading next year, not rebuilding,” said McGeoy. “Hopefully we can build off this season and move forward. Its going to take a little bit and this is going to sting.”

Jersey Shore 42, Pottsville 35

SCORE BY QUARTERS

Pottsville 21  0  0  0  7  7  0 — 35

Jersey Shore 0  14  0  7  7  7  7 — 42

First Quarter

P—Kevin Schenk 11-yard reception from Damon Yost (Raeff DiCello PAT Good), 7:58.

P—Justin McClure 2-yard run (DiCello PAT Good), 4:13

P—Yost 28-yard run (DiCello PAT Good), 0:51

Second Quarter

JS—Tanner Lorson 9-yard run (Cam Allison PAT Good), 5:47.

JS—Owen Anderson 15-yard reception from Lorson (Allison PAT Good), 1:48.

Fourth Quarter

JS—Stanton Westlin 26-yard reception from Lorson (Allison PAT Good), 0:51

Overtime

JS—Cayden Hess 26-yard reception from Lorson (Allison PAT Good)

P—Mason Barnes 10-yard reception from Yost (DiCello PAT Good)

Double-Overtime

P—Addison Mullins 4-yard reception from Yost (DiCello PAT Good)

JS—Hess 10-yard reception from Lorson (Allison PAT Good)

Triple-Overtime

JS—Brett Guthrie 5-yard reception from Lorson (Allison PAT Good)

TEAM STATISTICS P JS

First downs 13 13

Total yards 238 347

Rushes-yards 42-82 32-62

Yards passing 156 285

Passing (comp.-att.-int.) 17-33-2 26-43-1

Fumbles-lost 1-0 1-1

Penalties-yards 4-46 5-25

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING—Jersey Shore: Josh Malicky 18-68, Lorson 16-(-6) TD. Pottsville: Kevin DiCello 20-54, Bobby Walchak 1-8, Yost 10-7 TD, Mullins 2-4, Barnes 2-4, Joe Ferraro 3-3, McClure 1-2, Schenk 1-1, TEAM 1-(-1).

PASSING—Jersey Shore: Lorson 26-43 285 yds, 5TD, INT. Pottsville: Yost 17-32 156 yds, 3TD, 2INT; Barnes 0-1.

RECEIVING—Jersey Shore: Cayden Hess 9-98 2TD, Stanton Westlin 7-89 TD, Anthony Shaffer 2-43, Anderson 5-34 TD, Malicky 2-16, Guthrie 1-5 TD. Pottsville: Mullins 6-52 TD, Schenk 3-32 TD, Barnes 3-26 TD, Ferraro 2-19, Daulton Mates 2-14, DiCello 1-13.

SELINSGROVE – Jersey Shore jumped out to an early lead Friday night against Bishop Shanahan and never looked back as the team went on to earn the first state playoff victory in school history.

Jersey Shore – The District 4 Class 4A champions – snapped an 0-3 record in state playoffs with the win over District 1 Class 4A champion Bishop Shanahan.

Bishop Shanahan also accomplished a feat of its own Friday night, as the game was the first state football game in school history for the Eagles.

The win moves Jersey Shore (10-3) into the PIAA Class 4A State quarterfinals where the team will play the winner of Pottsville and Allentown Central Catholic. That game is scheduled to kick off at 1 p.m. Saturday.

“” said Jersey Shore coach Tom Gravish. “

Jersey Shore jumped out early, scoring in just the second play of the game. The Bulldogs opened with the ball on their own 26-yard line where quarterback Tanner Lorson opened the game with a 12-yard run. On the next snap, Lorson tossed the ball to halfback Josh Malicky who rushed to the left side and scurried down the sideline for a 62-yard touchdown.

The Bulldogs made the lead stand up for a while, though Bishop Shanahan ended up getting a game-tying score late in the opening quarter. After long punt return gave the Eagles great field position at the Jersey Shore 27-yard line, the team from Downingtown scored on a short 5-play drive that ended in a four-yard rush from Brandon Choi.

The scored knotted things up at the end of the opening frame.

Jersey Shore regained control of the game in the second quarter, outscoring Bishop Shanahan 13-0 in the frame.

The Bulldogs scored on their opening possession of the quarter on a long drive that was extended on a Bishop Shanahan pass interference call on a fourth-and-one late in the drive. Two plays after the penalty, Lorson escaped pressure and scrambled 25 yards into the endzone for the go ahead score. His first of three rushing touchdowns on the night.

Bishop Shanahan attempted to cut into the 14-7 Bulldog lead on its ensuing drive, but a 35-yard field goal attempt sailed wide left and gave the ball back to the Bulldogs.

The Eagles’ next drive was a short one. On the first play after forcing a Jersey Shore three-and-out, the Bulldogs earned a sack and forced a fumble that the District 4 squad recovered at the Bishop Shanahan 48-yard line.

Once again, it took the Bulldogs just two plays to score. On first-and-ten, Lorson dropped back and launched a long pass down the left sideline to Stanton Westlin. Westlin hauled in the pass and was tackled at the two-yard line to set up a first-and-goal where Lorson ran in for another score to increase the Bulldog lead to 20-7.

The final drive of the opening half ended up producing what very well could have been the turning point of the game. With Bishop Shanahan down a pair of scores, the team was in the midst of a 13-play drive and were set to receive the opening kickoff of the second half.

The Eagles drove the field behind a few long completions by quarterback Cooper Jordan and some nice runs by Simmi Whitehill. On first-and-goal at the six-yard line, Jordan ran the ball but was stopped at the two-yard line. Bishop Shanahan used a timeout with just 30 seconds remaining in the half, but on the following play, the Eagles lost a fumble that ended up being recovered by Jersey Shore to end the scoring threat.

“The defense has been huge all year for us,” said Gravish “That play really sparked us again. We had a couple plays like that tonight.”

Would the Eagles have scored there; the team would have been down one score and receiving the second-half kickoff. Instead the Eagles received the second half kickoff down two scores and promptly marched down the field for the team’s second score of the game.

The drive was 14 plays long and lasted half of the quarter. Jordan ended up throwing an 18-yard touchdown pass to Connor Roth. The catch was just his second of the season.

Once again, the turnover at the end of the half loomed large, as the Eagles could have been in control of the game had they scored before the halftime whistle.

The two teams swapped a few solid defensive stands before Jersey Shore eventually wore down the Bishop Shanahan defense, scoring a pair of late touchdowns in a 33-14 victory.

“We came of the field at the end of last season against Pottsgrove and our guys all talked after the game in the locker room and on the way home and said we want to try to get in the position to play Pottsgrove again.” Said Gravish. “We figured they might be back. Our guys earned our way back and I’m proud of everything they’ve done to get back here.”

Jersey Shore’s touchdowns all came on the ground with Tanner Lorson scoring three times and Josh Malicky scoring twice.

In the game, that duo became the first duo to each rush for 1,000 yards in a season in school history for the Bulldogs. The team had never had two players accomplish the 1,000-yard feat in the same season before.

The Bishop Shanahan season ends with a 7-5 overall record after coming through District 1 at the No.3 seed in the four-team bracket.

“It hurts,” said Bishop Shanahan coach Paul Meyers. “Hopefully it really hurts the young guys. We want this to eat them up for the next 11 and a half months. Unfortunately for our seniors, they won’t get another chance, but we’ve got some juniors and a lot of sophomores returning. We’ll get another shot at it hopefully.”

Jersey Shore 33, Bishop Shanahan 14

SCORE BY QUARTERS

Bishop Shanahan 7  0  7  0 — 14

Jersey Shore 7  13  0  13 — 33

First Quarter

JS—Josh Malicky 62-yard run (PAT Good), 11:34.

BS—Brandon Choi 4-yard run (PAT Good), 1:29

Second Quarter

JS—Tanner Lorson 25-yard run (PAT Good), 10:01.

JS—Lorson 2-yard run (PAT No Good), 6:15.

Third Quarter

BS—Conner Roth 18-yard reception from Cooper Jordan (PAT Good), 6:03.

Fourth Quarter

JS—Lorson 4-yard run (2pt. Conversion No Good), 11:26

JS—Malicky 1-yard run (PAT Good), 3:42

TEAM STATISTICS BS JS

First downs 16 16

Total yards 281 344

Rushes-yards 43-117 46-220

Yards passing 164 124

Passing (comp.-att.-int.) 13-22-1 10-21-0

Fumbles-lost 3-2 1-1

Penalties-yards 6-60 10-66

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING—Jersey Shore: Malicky 18-126 2TD, Lorson 26-91 3TD, Dawson Sechrist 2-3. Bishop Shanahan: Jordan 16-66, Simmi Whitehill 4-33, Choi 8-26 TD, Jon Loftus 3-6, Garrett Glendenning 7-(-2), Gus Ross 4-(-5) TEAM 1-(-7).

PASSING—Jersey Shore: Lorson 10-21 124 yds. Bishop Shanahan: Jordan 13-22 164 yds, TD, INT.

RECEIVING—Jersey Shore: Cayden Hess 5-62, Stanton Westlin 1-46, Owen Anderson 2-13, Malicky 1-3, Anthony Shaffer 1-0. Bishop Shanahan: Ross 5-58, Ryan Smyth 4-50, Whitehill 1-27, Loftus 1-21, Connor Roth 1-18 TD, Glendenning 1-0.

TURBOTVILLE – It was a historic night for the Warrior Run football programs on many levels.

The game marked the first time the Warrior Run football program had hosted a playoff game in the 61 years of the program’s existence.

By the end of the night, Warrior Run would also win its first ever playoff game in school history when the No.4 seeded Defenders knocked off visiting No.5 Lewisburg by a final score of 28-7 in District 4 Class 3A quarterfinals.

The win advances the Defenders to the semifinals where the team will travel to No.1 seeded Montoursville, winners over Shamokin by a final score of 42-0 Friday night.

The playoff home game and playoff victory weren’t the only historic moments of the night, as senior wide receiver Riley Daubert was able to set a pair of school records in the win. Daubert entered the game needing 47 receiving yards and two receiving touchdowns to break a school record held by Warrior Run graduate Justin Brouse since he graduated in 2006.

Daubert ended up catching four passes for 148 yards and a pair of scores in the victory, running his career stats up to 1,868 receiving yards and 19 receiving touchdowns with at least one more game to add on.

“Ever since my freshman year we’ve had something to prove,” said Daubert. “Everyone and worked hard and has come together and it has helped us execute.

“He’s bought in, he’s played well and he’s great on both sides of the football,” added Warrior Run coach Chris Long of his record-breaking receiver.

It feels good to break the record(s), but I don’t care as much about that as getting a playoff win. I think we shocked a lot of people and it feels really good.”

Warrior Run seemed to control the game from the start. Lewisburg opened up the game with possession of the ball, but quickly lost it eight plays into the drive when Warrior Run was able to force a strip sack on Lewisburg quarterback Nick Shedleski.

The Defenders put the first points on the scoreboard on their second drive of the game. After a shanked punt by the Green Dragons, Warrior Run took over in plus field position and drove the ball 31 yards on six plays for a touchdown.

Denver Beachel took a snap from the wildcat formation on a third-and-goal play from five yards out and ran it up the middle for the score.

On the team’s very next possession, Warrior Run drove the field again and scored on a controversial 31-yard bomb from quarterback Remington Corderman to wideout Tyler Pick.

Corderman rolled out of the pocket and facing pressure from the Lewisburg defense, lobbed a ball toward the front corner of the endzone to Pick. Both Pick and Lewisburg defender Cam Michaels came down with the ball, and after both wrestled for possession, the ball rolled away, but was called a touchdown on the field.

A failed 2-point conversion attempt put the Defenders up 13-0 in the second quarter.

Lewisburg scored its lone touchdown of the night with time running down in the opening half. With Warrior Run driving in Lewisburg territory, a botched handoff resulted in a Warrior Run fumble. The ball was scooped up by Lewisburg linebacker Ethan Spaulding and taken 65-yards for a defensive touchdown to make it a 13-7 game with 2:20 remaining in the half.

Rather than hang their heads, or simply take care of the ball on one last possession before the half, the Defenders kept their foot on the gas pedal and scored in just over a minute on a 42-yard catch and run by Daubert. This catch broke the school record for receiving yards and tied the school record for touchdown receptions.

In the opening half, the Warrior Run defense quietly held Lewisburg off the scoreboard, but in the second half, the defense made a statement. With the game on the line, Warrior Run allowed the Lewisburg offense to convert just two first downs in the second half to earn the victory.

Warrior Run tacked on an insurance score when Daubert scored his record-breaking touchdown on a 65-yard catch and run late in the third quarter.

“We had the whole community behind us tonight,” said Daubert. “We executed on both sides of the ball. We played lights-out defense and we made big plays all over.”

The Warrior Run defense had five sacks on the night and forced four Lewisburg turnovers.

“The defense played huge,” said Long. “It starts up front with Ahmahd (Keyes) and Pete (Reasner) and Kenny Newman. They are just a force. We got numerous sacks on Shedleski with those guys tonight. It was a great effort by them tonight.”

Warrior Run is now 7-4 in a season where the team completed its first winning season since 2006. The Defenders take on Montoursville next week. Montoursville has lost just one game this season, which was against District 4 powerhouse Southern Columbia.

“The feeling is unbelievable,” said Long. “This is what our goal was at the start of the season. We’ve accomplished it now. I’m just so glad for these guys, especially the seniors. They’ve accomplished something that no other team has ever accomplished.”

Lewisburg’s season comes to an end an a four-game losing streak. The team concludes the season with a 5-6 overall record.

Warrior Run 28, Lewisburg 7

SCORE BY QUARTERS

Lewisburg 0  7  0  0 — 7

Warrior Run 7  14  7  0 — 28

First Quarter

WR—Denver Beachel 5-yard run (Logan Witmer PAT), 3:34.

Second Quarter

WR—Tyler Pick 31-yard reception from Remington Corderman (2pt. conversion No Good), 7:30.

L—Ethan Spaulding 65-yard fumble return (Ben Liscum PAT), 2:20.

WR—Riley Daubert 42-yard reception from Corderman (2 pt. conversion Daubert from Corderman), 1:03

Third Quarter

WR—Daubert 65-yard reception from Corderman, (Witmer PAT) 2:50.

TEAM STATISTICS L WR

First downs 8 9

Total yards 144 294

Rushes-yards 33-33 33-85

Yards passing 111 209

Passing (comp.-att.-int.) 10-23-1 8-13-0

Fumbles-lost 4-3 3-2

Penalties-yards 5-55 8-71

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING—Warrior Run: Hoyt Bower 11-33, Beachel 14-30 TD, Corderman 2-27, Daubert 1-4, David Gearhart 1-4, TEAM 4-(-13). Lewisburg: Cam Michaels 2-30, Ethan Dominick 11-10, Spaulding 1-4, Gavin Sheriff 1-0, Nick Shedleski 16-(-10), TEAM 2-(-1).

PASSING—Warrior Run: Corderman 8-12 209 yds., 3TD; Beachel 0-1. Lewisburg: Shedleski 10-23 111 yds, INT.

RECEIVING—Warrior Run: Daubert 4-148 2TD, Pick 1-31 TD, Beachel 1-17, Ahmahd Keyes 1-11, Bower 1-2. Lewisburg: Dominick 4-49, Jack Landis 2-28, Spaulding 3-23, Simeon Beiler 1-11

MIFFLINBURG – Every season at halftime of the week 10 meeting between Mifflinburg and Lewisburg, the “Little Brown Jug” gets awarded to the school that earned the most head-to-head victories across all sports in the previous year.

Every time the Wildcats or Green Dragons earn a victory over their rivals, a point is earned for a chance to win the prestigious jug that is coveted between the two schools.

Lewisburg earned possession of the Jug at halftime Friday night in Mifflinburg by a margin of 12-8 in the previous school year.

As for the teams on the gridiron, it was Mifflinburg that got the last laugh, as the football team earned a Brown Jug point for this season in a 17-14 victory over their Union County Rivals.

“It means the world to us to beat these guys. I’m so excited to get this win,” said Mifflinburg freshman Andrew Diehl following the game. Even the freshman knows how important it is to beat the team from just 10 miles down the road.

Though Lewisburg led in many major stat categories at the end of the game, it was a strong performance by the Mifflinburg defense that earned a big regular season finale victory Friday night.

On the first Lewisburg drive of the night, senior quarterback Nick Shedleski dropped back and found an open Gavin Sheriff for a 59-yard gain down to the Mifflinburg 3-yard line.

With the Green Dragons in prime scoring position, the Mifflinburg defense stopped back-to-back quarterback sneak attempts by Shedleski, the latter resulting in a lost fumble which ended the scoring threat.

Lewisburg’s next drive also got deep into Wildcat territory, when a nine-play drive stalled out at the Mifflinburg 12-yard line. The Green Dragons sent out the field goal unit, but a low snap caused the kicker to not get enough leg on a 29-yard field goal attempt that ended up short and wide right.

Lewisburg couldn’t quite get into the Mifflinburg red zone on its third straight attempt to begin the game, though the Green Dragons were stopped on a fourth-and-five attempt at the Mifflinburg 27-yard line.

The three consecutive stops to begin the game really got the Wildcats believing a victory was within grasp.

“That was huge,” said Mifflinburg coach Jason Dressler. “To have our defense do that, especially when the offense if of to a slow start. Our defense battled hard and kept us in the game.”

After the fourth down stop, the Wildcats put together their first strong offensive drive of the game. The Wildcats executed a 12-play drive to put the game’s first points on the board.

This drive didn’t come without its fair share of struggles. With the ball at the Lewisburg 40-yard line, Mifflinburg faced a third-and-27 to keep the drive alive. That is when quarterback Gary DeGroat dropped back and hit tight end Michael Antonyuk for a 35-yard gain and a first down. On the following play, Mason Breed plowed in for the score.

Mifflinburg took a shutout into the halftime break, but that didn’t last long as it looked like Lewisburg may have figured out the Wildcat defense on the opening drive of the second half.

The Green Dragons marched right down the field on a six-play drive that resulted in a 12-yard touchdown run by Shedleski. Lewisburg missed the extra point, keeping the Wildcats out front by a score of 7-6.

With the third quarter winding down and the Wildcat defense holding strong, the Green Dragons began forcing a few passes down the field. This helped Andrew Diehl earn a pair of interceptions, and nearly grabbing a third in the process.

“They couldn’t run on us and I knew I had to help our seniors out,” said Diehl. “We practice (defense) and practice it. It’s the most important thing we do. We had some good practices this week and capitalized.”

After the first interception by Diehl, the Wildcats scored immediately as Mason Breed powered through the line of scrimmage and broke free for a 19-yard run, his second score of the night.

Following the second Diehl interception, the Wildcats tacked on some more points. After driving down the field, Mifflinburg’s Gabe Stetler came out to attempt a 25-yard field goal which he knocked through for a 17-6 Wildcat lead with 11:55 remaining in the game.

From here the Wildcats began to slow down their pace, running the ball on offense and continuing to play bend-but-don’t-break defense.

However, just when it looked as if Lewisburg had run out of chances, the Green Dragons scored on a desperation play. Facing third-and-nine at its own 19, Lewisburg dropped back and delivered a deep ball down the field.

The pass was tipped into the air by wide receiver Dante Sims and directly into the arms of fellow wideout Cam Michaels. Michaels – who was behind the entire Mifflinburg defense – sprinted down the field for an 81-yard score that put Lewisburg within a score with 1:57 remaining.

Lewisburg was out of timeouts and had no choice but to attempt an onside kick. The attempt rolled out of bounds and Mifflinburg lined up in victory formation to seal the game.

“A rivalry game brings out the best of both teams,” said Dressler. “our guys came out hungry and we knew that was how we had to play. We had to play hungry every play and every down. It certainly paid off.”

The win snapped a four-game losing streak for the Wildcats who started the season at 4-1.

“It’s a very emotion win for many reasons,” said Dressler. “It’s been a tough second half of the season for this team with all of the injuries and everything. To come back and battle like we did, I’m so proud of these guys.”

Lewisburg’s Shedleski completed a milestone of his own in the game, as his 81-yard touchdown pass broke a school record for most career touchdown passes. The senior QB now has 41 career touchdown passes.

Shedleski threw for 301 yards in the game but threw multiple interceptions in a game for the first time this season.

Mifflinburg wrapped up the regular season with a 5-5 overall record. It is the first time the Wildcats have had a .500 season since 2013, when the team also finished the regular season with a 5-5 record.

Lewisburg also finished the regular season at 5-5 but have lost three consecutive games heading into the postseason.

Mifflinburg 17, Lewisburg 14

SCORE BY QUARTERS

Lewisburg 0  0  6  8 — 14

Midd-West 0  7  7  3 — 17

Second Quarter

M—Mason Breed 5-yard run (Gabe Stetler PAT), 1:51.

Third Quarter

L—Nick Shedleski 12-yard run (PAT No good), 9:54.

M—Breed 19-yard run (Stetler PAT), 4:28

Fourth Quarter

M—Stetler 25-yard field goal, 11:55.

L—Cam Michaels 81-yard reception from Shedleski (2 pt. conversion, Simeon Beiler reception from Shedleski), 1:57

TEAM STATISTICS L M

First downs 12 8

Total yards 326 210

Rushes-yards 26-25 41-133

Yards passing 301 77

Passing (comp.-att.-int.) 16-28-2 7-10-0

Fumbles-lost 4-2 1-0

Penalties-yards 5-41 3-25

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING—Mifflinburg: Rylee Stahl 16-91, Breed 14-47 2TD, Andrew Diehl 1-1, Gary DeGroat 8-(-4), TEAM 2-(-2). Lewisburg: Ethan Dominick 11-45, Michaels 1-4, Ethan Spaulding 1-2, Shedleski 13-(-26) TD.

PASSING—Mifflinburg: DeGroat 7-10 77 yds. Lewisburg: Shedleski 16-27 301 yds, TD, 2INT; Spaulding 0-1.

RECEIVING—Mifflinburg: Michael Antonyuk 2-44, Breed 3-16, Diehl 2-7. Lewisburg: Michaels 2-85 TD, Gavin Sheriff 2-83, Simeon Beiler 4-67, Jack Landis 4-52, Spaulding 3-22, Dante Sims 1-9.

BEAVER SPRINGS – A strong opening half from Greater Latrobe made a second half comeback nearly impossible for Midd-West Friday night as the visiting Wildcats earned a 35-7 victory.

Greater Latrobe scored 14 points in each of the first two quarters to build a 28-0 lead at halftime.

Midd-West won the coin toss and chose to receive to start the game. After a six-play drive stalled at the 50-yard line, the Mustangs punted a ball to the Wildcats 20-yard line. Wildcat playmaker Kameron Stevens took the ball from there and skirted down the left sideline for the game’s opening score.

The 80-yard punt return was Stevens’ first of the season, though he had previously returned four kickoffs for the Wildcats earlier this season.

The Wildcats scored later in the half on a drive where a 69-yard touchdown run was called back due to a holding penalty.

Penalties hurt the Wildcats on the night, as the team racked up 11 penalties for 100 yards.

Later in the Wildcats’ third drive of the game, quarterback Bobby Fetter kept a read option and scampered in from three yards out.

The Wildcats used running plays to the outside to beat the Mustangs all night. Taking advantage of their speed to get to and around the edge.

“It’s hard to prepare for a team like that because they have a lot of athletes. Their offense is to try to get things to the edge.” stated Midd-West head coach Brad Hatter. “You can’t coach speed, so the biggest thing for us was to try to make adjustments. We got some great play out of our linebackers tonight.”

Greater Latrobe went up 21-0 on the first play of the third quarter when running back AJ Rock rumbled in from three yards away. Latrobe ran the ball with eight different players in the game, and though nobody eclipsed the 100-yard mark for the Wildcats, the team racked up 398 rushing yards on 43 run plays in the game.

Greater Latrobe’s final scoring play in the opening half came when Midd-West was attempting to drive the field and get a score before the halftime break. With just 55 seconds left on the clock, Latrobe’s Tucker Knupp picked off a Midd-West pass and took it 35 yards back for the score, giving the Wildcats their second defensive/special teams score of the night.

“We came out on a long road trip today against an experienced football team and played well.” said Greater Latrobe coach Jason Marucco. “Obviously there were a few adjustments we need to make. We left a few opportunities on the table in the second half, but we’re learning.”

In the second half the Midd-West defense really came to life, not allowing a score until just over five minutes were remaining in the game. The defense was led by Trey Lauver, who seemed to be everywhere all night long on the defensive side of the ball.

“I can’t say enough about (Trey Lauver)” said coach Hatter. “The leadership that he provides for our defense and the work ethic he puts in. He left everything out there. We couldn’t ask for anything more out of our middle linebacker.”

Midd-West also was able to get on the scoreboard in the second half.

With 7:39 remaining in the game, Christian Regester dropped back in the pocket on 1^st-and-10 from the Greater Latrobe 23-yard line. Regester fired a pass toward the sideline that slipped through Hunter Wolfley’s hands and careened perfectly into the hands of Trent Peachey who took it all the way to the endzone.

The score capped off an eight-play drive that started all the way back at the Midd-West five-yard line.

Midd-West looks to improve as the team closes the regular season at home against Tunkhannock this coming Friday.

“I told the guys that we can take what we did in the second half and use that to build on for this upcoming game against Tunkhannock.” said Hatter of his defense’s performance. “We’re going to have to have a good week of practice to get ready for them.”

Midd-West dropped to 3-6 overall with the loss, while Greater Latrobe improved to 4-5 on the season.

Greater Latrobe 35, Midd-West 7

SCORE BY QUARTERS

Greater Latrobe 14  14  0  7 — 35

Midd-West 0  0  0  7 — 7

First Quarter

GL—Kameron Stevens 80-yard punt return (John McHenry PAT), 8:54

GL—Bobby Fetter 3-yard run (McHenry PAT), 3:44

Second Quarter

GL—AJ Rock 3-yard run (McHenry PAT), 11:52.

GL—Tucker Knupp 35-yard interception return (McHenry PAT), 0:55.

Fourth Quarter

MW—Trent Peachey 23-yard reception from Christian Regester (Carter Sauer PAT), 7:39.

GL—Stevens 30-yard run (McHenry PAT), 5:23

TEAM STATISTICS GL MW

First downs 19 7

Total yards 423 198

Rushes-yards 43-398 23-41

Yards passing 125 157

Passing (comp.-att.-int.) 7-17-2 8-29-2

Fumbles-lost 6-1 2-1

Penalties-yards 11-100 3-15

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING—Midd-West: Trey Lauver 7-20, Hunter Wolfley 9-17, Regester 3-5, Josh Rodriguez 3-4, TEAM 1-(-5). Greater Latrobe: Stevens 3-92 TD, Dakota Morrison 4-51, Rock 9-49 TD, Logan Gustafson 10-47, Fetter 9-33, Branden Crosby 7-21, Raymon Henderson 2-17, Wyatt Schmucker 2-2, TEAM 1-(-14).

PASSING—Midd-West: Regester 8-27 157 yds, TD, 2 INT; Oakley Bennett 0-2. Greater Latrobe: Crosby 4-9 78 yds; Fetter 3-7 47 yds, INT; Knupp 0-1, INT.

RECEIVING—Midd-West: Gabe Regester 4-104, Peachey 2-27 TD, Wolfley 1-18, Lauver 1-12. Greater Latrobe: Knupp 3-76, Stevens 3-48, Gustafson 1-1.

ALMEDIA – Warrior Run entered Friday night’s tilt with the Central Columbia Bluejays as clear underdogs.

The Defenders entered at 4-3 on the season and faced a tough road test against a Central Columbia team who had just two losses on the season, both to area powerhouse teams (Southern Columbia and Mount Carmel).

Warrior Run handled any pressure it may have felt just fine as the Defenders lived up to their namesake by delivering a strong defensive performance in a 14-10 victory that put both team’s records at 5-3 going into the ninth week of the regular season next Friday night.

“I think we shocked everyone in District 4 tonight,” said Riley Daubert of the victory. “We weren’t predicted to win. Nobody believed in us. It feels good to come together as a team and put forth the effort to get a win like this. If we play as a team we can be unstoppable.”

Neither team eclipsed 200 yards of offense on the night as defense really was the story of the game.

It was the Central Columbia defense that struck first early in the game. After winning the field position battle early in the game, Central Columbia’s Mason Yorty perfectly placed a Bluejay punt deep in Warrior Run territory. The punt rolled out of bounds at the five-yard line and the Central Columbia defense stood strong, forcing a Warrior Run three-and-out.

With Denver Beachel’s heels on his own endline, the long snap on a 4th-and-3 punt sailed over his head and out the back of the endzone for a Central Columbia safety.

With a 2-0 lead early in the game, Central drove down the field on its ensuing possession, but came up short of making it a 5-0 lead when a 29-yard field goal attempt sailed wide left.

The miss helped shift momentum back in Warrior Run’s favor. Two drives later Warrior Run scored its lone offensive touchdown of the game to take a 7-2 lead.

Warrior Run put together a 12-play drive that culminated in a spectacular 28-yard touchdown catch from Riley Daubert on a Remington Corderman pass. Daubert won a jump ball against tough coverage in the endzone, coming down with the score. The drive saw Warrior Run convert four third downs, including the touchdown pass on 3^rd-and-12.

It didn’t take long for Central Columbia to strike back. On the team’s first drive after losing the lead, the home team went on a long, methodical drive of its own, scoring on a one-yard QB sneak by Garrett McNelis. The QB sneak was set up by a nice run by Troy Johnson one play prior.

Johnson took a handoff around the left side for 13 yards and was stopped less than a yard short of scoring the go-ahead touchdown.

With an 8-7 lead thanks to the early safety, Central Columbia decided to go for a two point conversion to put the team up by three. McNelis found Zander Bradley in the endzone for the conversion and a 10-7 lead.

In all, the Central Columbia touchdown drive lasted 11 plays and ate up over five minutes off the clock and left Warrior Run little time to strike back in the opening half, as the touchdown came with only 1:04 remaining in the opening half.

Central Columbia seemed to be in great shape with a 10-7 lead at the half and about to receive the second half kickoff.

That feeling would not last long, as it was the Warrior Run defense making a huge play to take control of the game.

On 3^rd-and-seven at the 50-yard line, Warrior Run’s Daubert jumped an out route and picked off a McNelis pass. Daubert took it back to the house for a 55-yard interception return and a 14-10 lead to open the second half.

From here on out both defenses held firm. The teams battled back and forth for field position for the remainder of the game.

In a 14-10 game, it came down to the final drive for Central Columbia. The Bluejays began from their own 21-yard line with 5:04 remaining on the clock.

The Central offense began to click, earning three first downs on the drive and getting into Warrior Run territory in the game’s final two minutes.

On a 1^st-and-10 from the Warrior Run 29, Central Columbia was tagged with a holding penalty well behind the line of scrimmage. This turned the 1^st-and-10 into a 1^st-and-31, pushing the ball back to the 50-yard line. A Defenders sack by Ahmahd Keyes pushed Central back even farther into a hole that the home team could not climb out of.

On the final play of the night, McNelis dropped back and delivered a last-ditch effort deep down the field. The ball was intercepted by Coltin Pentycofe to seal the victory for the road team.

“The defense really played lights out,” said a nearly speechless Chris Long after the game. “Time after time and drive after drive they came up big. We were able to shut them out in the second half which was great.”

Riley Daubert – who scored both Warrior Run touchdowns on the night (one receiving, one interception return) – also had high praise for his team’s defensive effort and team effort as a whole.

“Once we get our momentum rolling, I think we’re unstoppable” he said. “Once we got points on the board and we were winning, everyone on the team started believing. Everyone was playing 100 percent tonight.

Warrior Run improved to 5-3 overall with the big road victory.

“This is the best win that we’ve had around here in a long time,” said Jones. “We beat a team that is proven. This is a fun one. This is great.”

Warrior Run 14, Central Columbia 10

SCORE BY QUARTERS

Warrior Run 0  7  7  0 — 14

Central Columbia 2  8  0  0 — 10

First Quarter

CC—Aborted Snap out back of endzone, 6:07.

Second Quarter

WR—Riley Daubert 28-yard reception from Remington Corderman (Logan Witmer PAT Good), 6:20.

CC—Garrett McNelis 1-yard run (2 pt. Conversion Good; Zander Bradley reception from McNelis), 1:04.

Third Quarter

WR—Daubert 55-yard interception return (Witmer PAT Good), 8:27.

TEAM STATISTICS WR CC

First downs 5 12

Total yards 123 185

Rushes-yards 30-78 34-116

Yards passing 45 69

Passing (comp.-att.-int.) 3-14-1 7-21-2

Punts-avg. 4-35 5-33

Fumbles-lost 1-0 1-1

Penalties-yards 5-40 6-66

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING—Warrior Run: Daubert 11-57, Denver Beachel 14-34, David Gearhart 1-0, TEAM 2-(-2), Corderman 2-(-11). Central Columbia: Troy Johnson 21-88, McNelis 9-23 TD, Jake Reifer 3-9, Eli Morrison 1-(-4).

PASSING—Warrior Run: Corderman 3-12 45 yds, TD; Beachel 0-1, INT; Daubert 0-1. Central Columbia: McNelis 7-21 69 yds, 2 INT.

RECEIVING—Warrior Run: Daubert 3-45 TD. Central Columbia: Reifer 1-30, Morrison 2-25, Bradley 2-8, Johnson 3-6.

MANDATA – The Newport defense had a solid outing Friday night at Line Mountain. The team limited the home Eagles to just 116 yards of total offense and certainly stepped up when it needed to most.

Newport’s defense halted a potential game-winning drive by the Eagles to earn themselves a 20-15 victory.

The Eagles found themselves down 20-8 and punting the ball away with just under nine minutes remaining in the game, but a few strong defensive stands and a quick touchdown found the Eagles down 20-15 with 3:42 remaining in the game and a chance to march down the field on a game-winning drive.

That drive didn’t quite culminate, as Newport’s strong defensive stand earned its first victory at Line Mountain since 1993.

The Buffaloes defense limited Line Mountain to eight rushing yards on three carries on the final drive and good coverage forced Line Mountain quarterback Evan Herb to throw two consecutive incompletion that gave Newport the victory.

It was an emotional victory for Newport head coach Todd Rothermel who played football and also coached for the Line Mountain football team back in the early 2000’s.

“I grew up here. I played on this field. I got an opportunity to start coaching here and had a ton of magical moments,” said an emotional Rothermel following the win. “When I took over the Newport program, my dad passed away the first year and we haven’t won here since 1993. Its emotional for me personally. My dad never missed a game. Its nice to come back and get one.”

Newport was able to get on the scoreboard first in the opening quarter after Line Mountain’s second three-and-out in as many drives to start the game.

A Jacob Feese punt was muffed by the Newport return man but recovered at the Buffaloes’ own five-yard line.

On the first play of the drive, Newport running back Ethan Rode rumbled down the right sideline for 55 yards and the Newport drive was off and running – no pun intended.

The Buffaloes ended up scoring quite quickly on a seven-play drive, though it took a fourth-down conversion to put points on the board.

Facing a fourth-and-five from the Line Mountain 25, Newport quarterback Elijah York dropped back in the pocket and delivered a strike to a wide-open Reilly Taylor for a touchdown. The PAT was no good, giving Newport a 6-0 advantage.

In the second quarter Line Mountain was finally able to get the offense going by taking advantage of good field position. After another Feese punt deep into Newport territory, the Buffaloes fumbled on the first play of the drive, giving the Eagles the ball at the Newport 29-yard line.

The Eagles used a little fourth down magic of their own on the drive, as quarterback Evan Herb found wideout Kelly Reed in the endzone on a fourth-and-seven play for a Line Mountain touchdown. An offsides penalty by Newport on the PAT try put the ball on the one-yard line, and Brandon Carson placed his offense back out on the field in an attempt at scoring two points.

The attempt paid off as Feese took a carry up the middle to give Line Mountain an 8-6 advantage early in the second quarter.

Newport struck right back on its next drive, as Rode accounted for 43 of the 44 yards gained on the drive which culminated in a two-yard rushing touchdown by the senior running back.

Rode produced the most offense by far in the game for either team. Rode carried the ball 31 times for 210 yards and a touchdown in the victory.

“To be honest I wasn’t quite sure if we were going to be more physical than them up front,” said Coach Rothermel. “Their size had me a little concerned, but I thought our kids played very inspired and they did the things we asked them to do this week in order to get better.”

Rode was a workhorse in the third quarter as Newport possessed the ball for all but 2 minutes and 24 seconds in the 12-minute third quarter.

In that span, Rode carried the ball on 13 of 20 offensive snaps for Newport, including nine of the first 10 plays run by Newport in the second half of play.

With 9:09 remaining in the game, Newport scored what seemed to be the touchdown to put the game away. On fourth-and-goal from the Line Mountain six-yard line, York dropped back and found Mason Huggins in the endzone for the score.

Line Mountain quickly went three-and-out and punted the ball back to Newport. Unfortunately for the Buffaloes, an attempt to run the ball and run some time of the clock backfired on a holding penalty on first down.

The hold put Newport behind the sticks and after two consecutive running plays, Newport found itself with a third-and-15. On what is normally a safe play call Newport ran a screen pass, but the ball was deflected into the air and intercepted by Line Mountain’s Colin Fritchey.

Three running plays by Jacob Feese later, and the Eagles found themselves within a score with still six minutes to play.

Line Mountain decided to kick the ball deep and lean on its defense which had just produced a big turnover. The result was everything Line Mountain had hoped for, as the Eagles stopped a run for no gain on first down, then followed that up with back-to-back sacks by safety Cameron Smeltz.

“That was really big,” said Coach Carson of his team’s late defensive heroics. “Our defense did a really nice job there.”

Down 20-15, Line Mountain regained possession with 3:42 remining, but the potential game winning drive by the Eagles came up short as the team produced just one first down on the final drive.

“I hate that we couldn’t score there at the end when we got the ball back to kind of reward the team and reward our defense.” said Coach Carson. “I feel like the offense just let the team down and that’s my responsibility. The game was there to be won and we just didn’t take advantage.”

Rothermel was happy with the way his team preformed to earn his first win at Line Mountain as a visiting coach.

“I thought we did a good job of keeping ourselves composed and under control and staying focused,” he said. “We made a ton of mistakes, but that’s high school football. It was nice for us to be able to put them back on their heels.”

Newport improved to 4-3 overall on the season with the win, while Line Mountain is now 3-4 after losing back-to-back home games.

Newport 20, Line Mountain 15

SCORE BY QUARTERS

Newport 6  8  0  6 — 20

Line Mountain 0  8  0  7 — 15

First Quarter

N—Reilly Taylor 25-yard reception from Elijah York (PAT No Good), 2:59.

Second Quarter

LM—Kelly Reed 21-yard reception from Evan Herb (2 pt. Conversion Good; Jacob Feese run), 8:48.

N—Ethan Rode 2-yard run (2 pt. Conversion Good; Taylor reception from York), 5:08.

Fourth Quarter

N—Mason Huggins 6-yard reception from York (PAT No Good), 9:09.

LM—Feese 1-yard run (Cameron Smeltz PAT Good),6:08

TEAM STATISTICS N LM

First downs 10 5

Total yards 300 116

Rushes-yards 41-244 26-88

Yards passing 56 28

Passing (comp.-att.-int.) 5-10-1 5-12-1

Punts-avg. 3-28 5-30

Fumbles-lost 4-1 3-0

Penalties-yards 9-60 3-30

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING—Line Mountain: Feese 15-70 TD, Herb 8-7, Reed 1-5, Cameron Smeltz 1-3, Jace Hackenberg 1-3. Newport: Rode 31-210 TD, York 6-21, Huggins 1-13, Alexander Vanhorn 1-2, TEAM 2-(-2).

PASSING—Line Mountain: Herb 4-10 22 yds, TD; Feese 1-2 6 yds, INT. Newport: York 5-10 56 yds, 2TD, INT.

RECEIVING—Line Mountain: Reed 3-23 TD, Garrett Laudenslager 1-6, Aidan Herb 1-(-1). Newport: Taylor 2-42 TD, Huggins 2-13 TD, Vanhorn 1-1.

MANDATA – Williams Valley was able to play the spoiler Friday night as the team took its undefeated record into Line Mountain’s homecoming.

The Eagles paid homage to teams from the past with special throwback uniforms, sporting yellow tops and blue bottoms for the occasion, but the new threads alone were not enough to tame the undefeated Vikings.

The Eagles were able to get the crowd excited early as the team struck for the game’s opening score, but there wasn’t much to cheer about after that, as Williams Valley stayed unbeaten to the tune of a 35-7 victory over the Eagles.

Line Mountain opened strong, forcing a fumble by Williams Valley quarterback Bryce Herb on just the third play of the game. Line Mountain’s Cameron Smeltz fell on the football and gave the Eagles a first down at their own 39-yard line. Two plays later it was the Herb brothers that connected for the game’s opening score.

Wide receiver Aiden Herb ran a quick slant over the middle as older brother Evan Herb hit his sibling in stride for what would be a 63-yard catch-and-run to put the Eagles up 7-0 just over a minute into the game.

This would be the last time Line Mountain scored in the game, as Williams Valley took over from there.

Third down conversions were the story of the game, as the Vikings converted 22 total first downs in the game. Of those 22 conversions, nine of them took place on third or fourth down.

“That’s literally the story,” said Line Mountain coach Brandon Carson. “We had them in a lot of third-and-long situations and we just could not get off the field. They were able to make plays and we didn’t.”

With the Vikings down 7-0, the team took the ball down the field in just one minute and 26 seconds to score on a 12-yard reception by Jayden Cruz from quarterback Bryce Herb. The Vikings missed the extra point and trailed 7-6 at the end of the first quarter.

Line Mountain had a nice chance to extend its lead later in the opening quarter. The Eagles put together a nice 12-play drive but facing a fourth-and nine from the Williams Valley 19-yard line, Herb was chased out of the pocket and forced to throw on the run, which was intercepted in the endzone by Williams Valley’s Bo Raho.

The Vikings then went on a methodical drive their own to eventually take the lead. Williams Valley went 80 yards on 13 plays in five minutes to take a 14-7 advantage. Cruz capped off the drive with his second score of the game and was also on the receiving end of a two-point conversion to get the Vikings back on track.

Cruz finished the game with four catches for 68 yards and a pair of scores.

The Vikings did much of the same on their next drive. After a beautiful punt by Jacob Feese pinned the Vikings back at their own three-yard line, the Vikings took 13 plays to score again, this time going 97 yards and taking nearly six minutes off the clock.

The drive was aided by a Line Mountain defensive holding penalty that erased a sack by Dominick Bridi on first-and-10 at the Line Mountain 44 yard-line.

This penalty resulted in a big swing, as instead of facing a second and long, the Vikings had a first-and-10 at the Line Mountain 34-yard line and scored just two plays later.

The score was Williams Valley’s first rushing touchdown of the night as Brady Miller rumbled in for the first of his two rushing touchdowns in the game.

Miller led all rushers in the game with 96 rushing yards.

Surprisingly enough, the 97-yard drive was not the longest drive of the night by the Vikings. The team’s opening drive of the second half started at its own one-yard line following another coffin corner punt by Feese.

Williams Valley used a terrific mix of run and pass plays to drive 99 yards in 10 plays, culminating in an 18-yard touchdown reception by Jesse Engle.

The touchdown was Bryce Herb’s third touchdown pass of the night. Herb finished the night completing 17 of 23 pass attempts for 295 yards and three touchdowns. He was not sacked in the game.

“I don’t know what is out west, but in the east, I do know this is the best receiving corps in single A,” stated Williams Valley coach Tim Savage. “Bryce (Herb) has been throwing the ball very well.”

Savage went on to applaud his team’s offensive effort in a tough Tri-Valley Athletic Association matchup.

“Besides one miscue on our part we would never have punted,” he said. “That just feels great as a play caller and a coaching staff as a whole. The kids executed and it all looked great.”

Williams Valley scored one more time on the evening after Hunter Wolfgang busted through the line to block a Line Mountain punt in the fourth quarter.

The block resulted in the Vikings starting a drive in Line Mountain territory and ended with Miller’s second touchdown run of the night.

Line Mountain fell to 3-3 overall on the season with the loss.

Evan Herb completed four passes for 97 yards and a touchdown for the Eagles, while Feese led the team in rushing with 67 yards on 16 carries.

Williams Valley outgained the Eagles in offensive yardage 452-223.

“They had some kids make some unbelievable catches. Their quarterback kept his head under pressure. It was a great job by them,” said Coach Carson, “We had some breakdowns, but we were in position a couple of times and they made great throws and great catches.”

Williams Valley 35, Line Mountain 7

SCORE BY QUARTERS

Williams Valley 6  15  7  7 — 35

Line Mountain 7  0  0  0 — 7

First Quarter

LM—Aiden Herb 63-yard reception from Evan Herb (Cameron Smeltz PAT), 10:51.

WV—Jayden Cruz 12-yard reception from Bryce Herb (PAT No Good), 9:13.

Second Quarter

WV—Cruz 8-yard reception from Herb (2 pt. Converstion Good; Cruz reception from Herb), 11:13.

WV—Brady Miller 3-yard run (Madisun Ferron PAT), 2:34.

Third Quarter

WV—Jesse Engle 18-yard reception from Herb (Ferron PAT), 2:10.

Fourth Quarter

WV—Miller 4-yard run (Ferron PAT), 8:01.

TEAM STATISTICS WV LM

First downs 22 10

Total yards 442 213

Rushes-yards 38-157 34-116

Yards passing 295 97

Passing (comp.-att.-int.) 17-23-0 4-14-2

Punts-avg. 1-44 3-23

Fumbles-lost 2-1 1-0

Penalties-yards 4-17 4-34

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING—Line Mountain: Jacob Feese 16-67, E. Herb 10-23, Jace Hackenberg 2-17, A. Herb 3-10, Christian Bridi 1-1, Max Bingaman 1-1; TEAM 1-(-3). Williams Valley: Miller 23-96 2TD, Aaron Minnich 2-15, Engle 4-14, Cruz 2-12, Aiden Miller 2-10, Gage Miller 2-9, Logan Williard 1-7, TEAM 2-(-6).

PASSING—Line Mountain: E. Herb 4-12 97 yds, TD, 2INT; Hackenberg 0-2. Williams Valley: Herb 17-23 295 yds, 3TD.

RECEIVING—Line Mountain: A. Herb 2-67 TD, Cameron Smeltz 2-30. Williams Valley: Engle 4-92 TD, Bo Raho 5-89, Cruz 4-68 2TD, Miller 4-44.

BEAVER SPRINGS – For two drives to begin the game Friday night it looked like the Midd-West Mustangs might have their hands full with visiting Shenandoah Valley.

Any hope for the Blue Devils quickly faded as Midd-West scored on five straight offensive possessions and even scored with the defense on the field as the home team rolled to a 54-6 blowout Friday night.

Shenandoah Valley won the coin toss and chose to receive. The Blue Devils promptly put together a nice drive with quarterback Joseph ‘Junebug’ Karvois completing his first four passes of the game. Unfortunately for the visitors, the drive came to a halt shortly after crossing into Midd-West territory forcing a punt.

The Blue Devil’s defense came out just as strong on the opening drive, holding the Midd-West offense to just four yards on three plays and gaining possession right back.

From that point forward it was all Mustangs, as the team forced a Shenandoah Valley three-and-out thanks in part to a Ben Umstead sack that pushed the Blue Devils back deeper into their own territory.

Just two offensive snaps later, the Mustangs were literally off and running as Hunter Wolfley galloped 85 yards for the game’s opening touchdown. Wolfley would score two more touchdowns on the night – One more on the ground and one through the air.

“It was all our line,” Wolfley said of his team’s success on the ground. “We challenged ourselves to try to get 200 rushing yards this week and our line stepped it up a little bit.”

The Mustangs finished with 210 yards on the ground.

After a missed PAT, the Mustangs held a 6-0 lead and Shenandoah Valley went back to its areal attack. Unfortunately for the visitors, this resulted in an interception by Gabe Register that was taken back to the house for another Mustang score.

With a modest 12-0 lead entering the second quarter, the Mustangs really found their offensive groove.

Trey Lauver was the next to score as he took an inside veer 45 yards for a score. This was the first of two touchdowns on the ground for Lauver in the game.

As the Mustangs’ lead increased, the team was able to take a 41-0 lead into the halftime break which put the mercy rule into effect right at the start of the second half.

After a scoreless third quarter, Shenandoah Valley was able to drive for its lone score of the game. Junebug Karvois put together another drive with four completions, this one ending in a seven-yard touchdown to senior wideout Joey Alshefski.

Alshefski may have scored the lone Blue Devil touchdown and finished the night with five catches for 26 yards and a score, but it was the other senior receiver for the Blue Devils that led all players in the game in receiving. Senior Alex Donchak put up an outstanding line of seven catches for 102 yards despite not finding the endzone.

“We wanted that shutout, but we gave that up late,” said Midd-West coach Brad Hatter following the blowout. “But offensively we preformed well. They went in and took care of business.”

On Midd-West’s next possession following the Blue Devils’ touchdown, a special moment happened when junior TJ Straub – a player on the Midd-West team with special needs – ran 20-yards untouched into the endzone.

“We were hoping to be able to do something like that,” said Hatter. “(TJ) has been with us since day one. He’s been working hard, doing the conditioning and all that stuff, so we as a staff wanted to find a good time to get him in the game. Credit to Shenandoah Valley for working with us on it and making it a special night for him.”

Midd-West scored a pair of touchdowns in the final five minutes to walk away with a 54-6 victory.

“We played well tonight,” said Hatter. “You never know how you’re going to respond in games like this. It’s easy to overlook a team like this. In that first drive they had a few plays against us in the passing game, but we made adjustments and played solid football after that.”

The Mustangs improved to 2-2 on the season and will host Jim Thorpe (4-0). The Olympians are coming off of a 76-0 shutout of Kutztown.

Shenandoah Valley fell to 0-4 on the season and will take on Nativity BVMat 7 p.m. Friday in Pottsville.

Midd-West 54, Shenandoah Valley 6

SCORE BY QUARTERS

Shenandoah Valley0  0  0 6 — 6

Midd-West12  29  0  13 — 54

First Quarter

MW—Hunter Wolfley 85-yard run (PAT No Good), 4:07.

MW—Gabe Regester 48-yard interception return (PAT No Good), 2:12.

Second Quarter

MW—Trey Lauver 45-yard run (2 pt. Converstion Good; Wolfley run), 10:20.

MW—Lauver 2-yard run (2 pt. Conversion No Good), 4:38.

MW—Wolfley 53-yard run (2 pt. Conversion Good; Lauver run), 1:42

MW—Wolfley 30-yard reception from Oakley Bennett (Ethan Schlief PAT Good)

Fourth Quarter

SV—Joey Alshefski 7-yard reception from Joseph Karvois (PAT No Good), 10:18.

MW—Schlief 20-yard run (Schlief PAT Good), 5:43

MW—Isaac Hummel 6-yard reception from Christian Register (PAT No Good), 0:52

TEAM STATISTICSSVMW

First downs75

Total yards108344

Rushes-yards28-(-20)20-210

Yards passing128134

Passing (comp.-att.-int.)12-22-17-12-0

Punts-avg.5-322-34

Fumbles-lost3-03-1

Penalties-yards4-302-20

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING—Midd-West: Wolfley 5-147 2TD, Lauver 4-53 2TD, Schlief 3-20 TD, Joe Rodriguez 2-14, Bennett 1-2, Josh Kline 2-2; Elijah Swan 1(-5); C. Register 1(-7); TEAM 1-(-16). Shenandoah Valley: Tyler Harris 5-6, Brian Dunne 7-2, Alshefski 1-1, Karvois 10-(-22), TEAM 5-(-7).

PASSING—Midd-West: Bennett 2-6 58 yds, TD; C. Regester 5-6 76 yds, TD. Shenandoah Valley: Karvois 12-22 128 yds, TD, INT.

RECEIVING—Midd-West: Corey Reinard 3-39, Everest Wilson 1-31, Wolfley 1-30-TD, G. Register 1-28, Hummel 1-6-TD. Shenandoah Valley: Alex Donchak 7-102, Alshefski 5-26-TD.

MIFFLINBURG – Things weren’t looking good for the home Wildcats through the first two drives of the game Friday night.

Bloomsburg seemed to have the Mifflinburg rushing attack figured out, stuffing the Wildcats for just four rushing yards on five attempts in the Wildcats first five offensive plays of the game. The first drive ended with a three-and-out with one yard of offense. The second drive ended in a Mifflinburg fumble, which Bloomsburg turned into a score. The Black Panthers took the lead with four minutes remaining in the opening quarter.

From that point a switch flipped, and the Wildcats came to life. The team racked up 234 rushing yards, with 179 coming from Mason Breed. From that point forward, the Wildcats rebounded to pick up a 39-13 win over Bloomsburg to improve to 2-0 on the young season.

“I just told these guys, I can’t remember the last (game) where the opponent scored first and we ended up on top,” Mifflinburg coach Jason Dressler stated following the game. “We showed so much heart and so much toughness. We made a lot of mistakes in that game, but they just kept battling.”

The Mifflinburg fumble that set up an early Bloomsburg score certainly set Bloomsburg up with the early momentum, but that didn’t last long.

Mifflinburg’s Andrew Diehl fielded the ensuing kickoff at the Mifflinburg 11-yard line and scampered up the near sideline. The 89-yard kickoff return evened the score at seven apiece, just 13 seconds after Bloomsburg had taken the initial lead.

“That was huge by Andrew to show his athleticism there,” stated Dressler. “We did a great job blocking. He saw the seam and took it. It was awesome. Great momentum for us.”

Following the game-tying score a series of events happened. It didn’t seem as though either team wanted to obtain possession of the ball.

Mifflinburg’s defense was able to force a three-and-out on Bloomsburg’s ensuing possession and took over in Bloomsburg territory. An interception on the second play of the drive gave the Panthers the ball right back.

Unfortunately for Bloomsburg, their possession was short-lived. A fumble on the first play of the drive gave the ball right back to Mifflinburg, who ended the first quarter with an offensive three-and-out.

Bloomsburg struck early in the second quarter to take the lead back. On first-and-15 from their own 14-yard line, Bloomsburg quarterback Jack Howell dropped back in the pocket and delivered a beautiful deep ball to Daniel Guzevich. Guzevich turned to locate the ball, and despite near-perfect coverage from DeGroat in the secondary, was able to make the catch and stroll into the end zone for an 86-yard catch and run score.

Mifflinburg again struck back immediately, though not quite as quickly as it had the first time. Mifflinburg’s ensuing drive lasted 11 plays and took over four minutes off the clock in the second quarter. Halfback Mason Breed rumbled into the endzone from 11-yards out, his first of four scores on the night. Gabe Stetler knocked the extra point through the uprights to give Mifflinburg its first lead of the game at 14-13 with 6:26 remaining in the first half.

In the second half, things really took off for Mifflinburg on both sides of the ball. Offensively the Wildcats more than doubled their score as the Wildcats outscored the Panthers 25-0 in the final two quarters.

Breed scored his second and third touchdowns of the night.all four of his scores came on the ground – on the Wildcats’ first two possessions coming out of the half, as a stout Bloomsburg run defense early on looked as if it was wearing down.

“We went in (to the locker room) and talked about things that we saw in the first half. We were anxious and we weren’t executing properly. We weren’t finishing things.” Dressler said. “We figured out a couple things and just made some minor adjustments and they came out here and did it.”

Defensively in the second half, Mifflinburg forced a pair of turnovers and also blocked a punt which was scooped up and taken to the endzone by Michael Antonyuk on the final play of the game.

“In the second half our defense really stepped up,” Dressler said, “There were a couple things we saw going on. We had to fix our tackling, but still they came out the second half and played phenomenal.”

Breed finished the game with 24 rushes for 179 yards (7.5 yards per carry) and four touchdowns.

“It was an amazing feeling,” said Mason Breed, “Last year I wasn’t able to play because of an injury and we lost big-time. It was a great feeling to get some redemption this year and be able to pound them and run the ball which we haven’t been able to do in a while.”

The win improves the Wildcats’ record to 2-0 to begin the season. This is the first time Mifflinburg has started a season 2-0 since 2011.

“It feels great,” said Dressler, “I’m very proud of this team… It was a battle and we knew it was going to be.”

The Wildcats will look to improve to 3-0 Friday when the team plays host to Milton (0-2).

Notes: The Wildcats lost to the Panthers in Bloomsburg last season 39-0… The Wildcats did not attempt a single pass play in the second half… Mifflinburg ran more running plays (45) than Bloomsburg ran total offensive plays (41) in the game.

Mifflinburg 39, Bloomsburg 13

SCORE BY QUARTERS

Bloomsburg 7  6 0  0 — 13

Mifflinburg 7  7 12  13 — 39

First Quarter

B—Gage Klinger 3-yard run (Torsten Hartmann PAT Good), 4:03.

M—Andrew Diehl 89-yard Kickoff return (Gabe Stetler PAT Good), 3:50.

Second Quarter

B—Daniel Guzevich 86-yard reception from Jack Howell (PAT No Good), 10:59.

M—Mason Breed 11-yard run (Stetler PAT Good), 6:26.

Third Quarter

M—Breed 8-yard run (PAT No Good), 9:24.

M—Breed 3-yard run (2 pt. Conversion No Good), 3:13

Fourth Quarter

M—Breed 1-yard run (PAT No Good), 5:54.

M—Michael Antonyuk 26-yard blocked punt return (Brandon Linn PAT Good), 4:10

TEAM STATISTICSBM

First downs 7-15

Total yards 191=291

Rushes-yards 26-56 : 45-234

Yards passing135-57

Passing (comp.-att.-int.) 6-15-17-13-1

Punts-avg.4-30.53-30

Fumbles-lost 4-23-1

Penalties-yards 6-31 4-20

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING—Mifflinburg: Breed 24-179 4TD, Diehl 10-33, Rylee Shahl 4-9, Ethan Hoy 1-7, Gary DeGroat 5-6, TEAM 1-(-3). Bloomsburg: Cade Klinger 8-44, Dylan Smith 4-15, Xzayivher Russel-King 2-9, G. Klinger 3-4, Spencer Yodock 2-(-1), Howell 6-(-7), TEAM 1-(-8).

PASSING—Mifflinburg: DeGroat 6-9 42 yds, INT, Jacob Reitz 1-3 15 yds, Stahl 0-1. Bloomsburg: Howell 6-15 135 yds, TD, INT.

RECEIVING—Mifflinburg: Stahl 4-37, Diehl 1-15, Colin Miller 2-5. Bloomsburg: Guzevich 2-91 TD, C. Klinger 2-30, G. Klinger 1-8, Madden Locke 1-6.

Beaver Springs – It was déjà vu for the Midd-West football team Friday night in Beaver Springs, as the team opened its second year with a football program in the same fashion it opened its first season, with a win over Marian Catholic.

In last season’s opener, Midd-West earned its first career victory as a football program by earning a road victory over the Colts to open the season. Much was the same Friday night, though there was never much doubt that the Mustangs would be able to take care of business.

Things did start out slow for the host team. After receiving the opening kickoff, the Mustangs promptly went three-and-out and then eventually punted on their second offensive drive of the game.

Meanwhile the team’s defense looked outstanding. The Mustangs owned the trenches throughout the game, completely shutting down any hope Marian Catholic had of establishing the run game.

In the Colts’ first two possessions of the game, the team posted -19 total yards of offense as the Mustangs stopped Marian Catholic in the backfield on five of its first six plays.

Midd-West was able to flip the field following Marian Catholic’s second possession of the game. Both Thane Treaster and Brayden Swineford were able to get penetration to block a Marian Catholic punt, recovering the ball at the Marian Catholic 11-yard line.

Midd-West put points on the board, though probably not in the way Coach Hatter had hoped. The team had to settle for a 32-yard field goal by Carter Sauer to take a 3-0 lead.

On the following Marian Catholic possession, Midd-West continued to dominate defensively. After a holding penalty on the kickoff caused the Colts to begin from their own eight-yard line, back-to-back negative plays and a pair of false start penalties pinned the Colts back at their own one-yard line. On third-and-17, a host of Midd-West defenders swarmed the ball. They earned a safety by tackling the Marian Catholic ball carrier in the backfield for a 5-0 lead early in the second quarter.

On the night, Midd-West stuffed the Colts’ running game as the Colts ran the ball 40 times for -13 yards.

Midd-West scored its first touchdown of the season later in the quarter, as Hunter Wolfley scored the first of his four touchdowns on the night. This one coming on a 69-yard punt return for a score. Wolfley had found himself in the endzone twice before on the night, though both scores were called back due to a Midd-West penalty. Wolfley ended the night with a punt return touchdown, a receiving touchdown and a pair of rushing touchdowns.

Wolfley’s punt return touchdown seemingly sparked the Midd-West offense. The team rallied to score two more touchdowns, one on a 17-yard Wolfley reception and another on a 36-yard Gabe Register reception, in the final two minutes of the quarter to take a 25-6 halftime lead.

During the strong offensive outburst by the Mustangs, Marian Catholic was able to produce its lone score of the game. With 6:24 remaining in the second quarter, the Colts struck on back to back big plays to set themselves up in scoring position. On a third and ten from their own 22-yard line, Colts’ quarterback Matt Rehrig fired a ball to wide receiver Luis Terion, who made a defender miss and took the ball down the far sideline for a 42-yard gain. The very next play, halfback Nick Falls took a handoff for a 23-yard gain to put the Colts at the Midd-West 13-yard line.

Three plays later it was Terion again who hauled in a fade pass from Rehrig for a 15-yard score.

Midd-West didn’t slow down in the second half, as Wolfley scored yet again, tacking on a pair of rushing touchdowns to safely put the game away.

“We cleaned things up a bit in the second half,” said Hatter. “We didn’t hurt ourselves like we did in the first half. We left 14 points on the board in the first half that had to come off because of penalties.

“We worked well together as a team tonight,” Wolfley said. “There were some penalties here and there but it’s our first game. We had a good week of practice and that makes Fridays easier.”

Midd-West allowed just 24 yards of total offense in the entire second half and only 63 yards of offense in the entire game.

“In the first game, there is a lot of unknowns,” Hatter added. “We came out and challenged them and they answered the bell for us. It was a good win tonight.”

Midd-West improved to 1-0 to begin the season and will take on Blue Mountain (1-0) on the road next Friday. Blue Mountain shut out the Mustangs in Beaver Springs last season.