Eagles roll in District 4 Playoff Opener

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.