MINERSVILLE – In an intense game both on the field and in the stands, third seeded Minersville hosted and defeated sixth seeded Pen Argyl by a score of 35-27 on Saturday night.
At the start of the game, Carr ran 63 yards for a Battlin’ Miner touchdown to take the early 7-0 lead. When the Green Knights took possession of the ball, Paiten LaPoint intercepted Mason Soos’ pass to set up the Miners’ offense. They were stopped however, on a fourth down on the Minersville 47 yard line by the aggressive Green Knight defense. Pen Argyl put their first set of points up when Rocco DeCesare tied the game up at 7.
Shifting into the second quarter, Derek Derenzo ran 45 yards to glory to increase the Miners lead making the score 14-7. Both teams exchanged turnovers as Minersville recovered a fumble and Pen Argyl did the same thing the next play. With four minutes remaining in the half, Soos connected with Caiden Faust to once again tie the game up.
This is the type of play that deserves its own section in any article. Carr sat in the backfield for five seconds and evaded three Green Knights trying to tackle him, hurdled a player, faked out two more players after, and scored the Miners touchdown to give his team the 21-14 lead. However, Carr was given a penalty for spiking the ball on the ground after the score. One thing to know about Dante is that he is a humble person, and he was not afraid to admit that was a selfish move by him that had a stupid outcome. “Stands went nuts. Players went nuts. I went nuts,” added Minersville head coach Justin Frantz.
With less than a second left in the half, Soos found Anthony Beltran to tie the game at 21 going into the locker room. Two notes going into the half were that three unsportsmanlike conduct penalties were given that quarter alone, and LaPoint was taken out of the game and eventually out of the stadium by an ambulance. Carr said after the game that the team didn’t just lose a fast football player, but more of a leader. “He’d be in everyone’s face telling them to get it up, getting fired up. We wanted to go out and do it for him,” he (Carr) added.
Entering the second half, Carr made another run, this time for 54 yards to take back the lead 28-21. Pen Argyl could have tied the game with around two and a half minutes left in the quarter, but a holding penalty on their offense wiped the score off. On the next play, Justin Cutler intercepted Soos to deny the Green Knights another scoring opportunity on that drive.
In the last quarter of the game, Soos threw a 34-yard touchdown to Zach Metzgar, but the PAT was just wide to the right to let Minersville keep the lead 28-27. With 6:29 left in the game, Carr ran 25 yards for another Miners’ score. Their lead was 35-27. The Battlin’ Miners created another turnover defensively when Matthew Dube forced a fumble, which was recovered by Anthony (TJ) Bowers.
This is the last home game for one of the most successful senior classes in Minersville history. The senior class led the Miners tonight, and to be able to send them out of Veterans Memorial Stadium with a win felt right to Frantz. He (Frantz) will miss the physical competitor that Carr is when he goes off to UCF in the winter and hopes that they have a few more weeks together.
With the victory, the Battlin’ Miners will move onto the District 11 Class 2A semifinals against and at the second seeded Williams Valley on November 8th. The Vikings beat seventh seeded Executive Education Academy Charter School 42-13 on Saturday night.
