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.
