by Ryan Caulfield and Jade Schleicher
On Friday, September 25th, the North Schuylkill Spartans hosted the Eagles from Blue Mountain High School. The Spartans came into the game 2-0 while Blue Mountain was looking to rebound after a heartbreaking loss to Jim Thorpe the previous week. After North Schuylkill went three and out on their first possession, the Eagles took advantage of the great field position when Jack Dean found Bryce Hensley for a 16-yard touchdown. Carson Steinruck’s extra point made the lead 7-0. The game turned into a defensive battle, as both teams went scoreless from there until halftime. Blue Mountain limited North Schuylkill to only 20 total yards in the first half.
The momentum swung early in the third quarter when Jared Tinari recovered a fumble on the third play of the second half. Jake Hall capped off the Spartans drive with a two-yard plunge into the endzone. Dylan Dietz’s extra point was good and tied the game at 7-7.
After the teams traded possessions, Blue Mountain was pinned inside their own 20-yard line. Tinari recovered another Eagles fumble and put the Spartans in great field position. Freshman Jaxson Chowansky took it into the endzone from two yards out on the first play of the fourth quarter to put the Spartans up 14-7.
Blue Mountain showed major poise and determination, putting together a long drive which was capped off by a Toby Renninger touchdown with 8:04 to go. North Schuylkill was forced to punt and Blue Mountain drove into North Schuylkill territory before turning the ball over on downs after Dean’s pass to Hensley was broken up by Terry Thomas. With less than two minutes to go, the Spartans drove down to the Blue Mountain 16 yard line before Jake Hall was intercepted by Bryce Hensley at the goal line.
The game headed into overtime, where Blue Mountain won the toss and deferred. This was a bold move by Coach Mabry, and it seemed to be brilliant as the Eagles stifled the high-powered Spartans offense and forced a fourth and goal from the five-yard line. The Spartans lined up for a field goal to take a three-point lead. The ball was snapped to holder Jake Hall, who flipped the ball back to kicker Dylan Dietz and fired the ball to a wide-open Jared Tinari in the end zone. The extra point was missed, putting the Spartans up 20-14.
Blue Mountain got the ball up to the three-yard line for a fourth-down attempt to score. Jack Dean was blitzed heavily by the Spartans Kody Schell, and his pass fell just out of the reach of Bryce Hensely, sealing the victory for the Spartans. Coach Wally Hall made a gutsy call on a trick play.m His team executed it to perfection to take the win in a highly contested matchup.
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