MONTGOMERY – The line between winning and losing can be very thin sometimes, and that was no more evident than in Saturday night’s season opener between neighbors Hughesville and Montgomery.
In what was a relatively even game, one blown coverage resulting in the longest play of the game just seconds before halftime ended up being the difference as Hughesville outlasted Montgomery 14-7.
That one play was a 42-yard touchdown pass from Blake Davis to Conor Knight for the Spartans. It came following an offside penalty on a fourth-and-3 that gave Hughesville a first down at the Montgomery 42. Knight hauled in the pass in stride, then outran the remaining Red Raider defenders to get into the end zone and give Hughesville a 14-0 lead.
That would prove crucial because Hughesville punted on its next three possessions in the second half, and then fumbled the ball away inside the 10 on its four second half possessions. Montgomery ran 36 plays in the second half to just 21 for the Spartans.
“We’ve been harping on doing your job, and that was one of those situations when you don’t do your job and it gets you,” said Montgomery coach Cory Tice. “But our ability to fight is the real deal. If they continue to fight, we’ll be ok.
“They’re starting to play winning football. One blown assignment, you don’t do your job, you commit too many penalties, you have a turnover, you make negative plays and they just snowball, so if we clean up those things and do a better job of doing our job, and we’ll have a chance to compete.”
Montgomery cut the lead in half on its first second half possession as Parker Persing capped a seven-play drive with a one-yard touchdown plunge.
But despite picking up first downs on all of their remaining second half drives, the Red Raiders were unable to muster up the equalizer for the rest of the game. Hughesville locked up the win with a big stop late in the game, as Brenden Fisher came up the middle on a blitz to sack Persing on a fourth-and-6 from the Hughesville 15-yard line with :26 remaining.
Following Persing’s touchdown on Montgomery’s first second half drive, the Red Raiders were forced to punt on their next two drives, with both stalling around midfield.
“First half, we thought we could do what we wanted to do for the most part, but then second half, they came out and they wanted it,” said Hughesville coach Howard Rainey. “But when it came down to it, we were able to keep them out and I’m very proud of them. They went a Power I in the second half, which we hadn’t practiced against that much and we didn’t have the horses to stuff it like we may have prepared for so the came out with a smart plan in the second half and we weren’t ready for it.”
For the game, Montgomery actually outgained Hughesville by the slightest of margins, 220-208. But 156 of Hughesville’s yards came in the first half.
The second-longest play of the game from scrimmage for the Spartans set up their first touchdown of the game earlier in the first half. After a 30-yard punt return by Knight set them up at the Montgomery 36, a 27-yard run by Chase Shrawder put the ball at the Montgomery 1, and Jed Abernatha finished the drive with a one-yard touchdown at the 6:50 of the second quarter.
The Red Raiders, meanwhile, only amassed 74 of their 220 yards in the first half. Coy Bryson ran for 110 yards on 30 carries, with 90 of those coming in the second half as the Red Raiders switched up their offensive plan.
“It’s belief in our linemen. I was hard on them all of camp, hitting the sled all the time and that’s why, so they can put in performances like that. We’re going to lean on our line and if they execute, we’ll be good,” said Tice. “We went right at them in the second half. Hughesville’s best group is their linebackers and we realized real quick it’s hard to sideline to sideline on them so we went right at them.”
Hughesville 14, Montgomery 7
Hughesville (1-0) 0 14 0 0 – 14
Montgomery (0-1) 0 0 7 0 – 7
Second quarter
6:50 – (H) Jed Abernatha 1-yard run (Smith kick), 5-36, 1:06
:06 – (H) Conor Knight 42-yard pass from Blake Davis (Smith kick), 6-69, 1:21
Third quarter
7:06 – (M) Parker Persing 1-yard run (Childs kick), 7-51, 3:23
Statistics
H M
First downs 13 16
Rushes-net yards 30-82 51-142
Passing yardage 126 78
Passing 9-17-1-0 8-11-0-0
Fumbles-lost 1-1 2-1
Penalties-yards 3-15 9-66
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING: Hughesville: Luke Stutzman (12-41), Chase Shrawder (6-48), Blake Davis (5-(-20)), Jed Abernatha (4-15-1), TEAM (2-(-2)), Conor Knight (1-0); Montgomery: Coy Bryson (30-110), Parker Persing (12-(-5)-1), Max Furman (4-18), Lincoln Miller (4-17), Ethan Tupper (1-2)
PASSING: Hughesville: Blake Davis (9-17-126-1-0); Montgomery: Parker Persing (8-11-78-0-0)
RECEIVING: Hughesville: Conor Knight (6-102-1), Carson Stackhouse (2-13), Chase Fowler (1-11) ; Montgomery: Hayden Wilt (5-59), Coy Bryson (1-9), Max Furman (1-8), Lincoln Miller (1-2)
