Tamaqua rallies past Pottsville in Red Division
Tamaqua edged Pottsville 24-21 on Friday night at Veterans Memorial Stadium. (Photo by Danie Mae Photography)
POTTSVILLE — The football gods can be cruel and kind: Just ask Pottsville and Tamaqua.
Exactly 39.8 seconds remained in this slugfest between a pair of gallant warriors. The Tide looking for sure a game-winner, the Raiders never yielding to defeat.
Somehow the stunned crowed in Pottsville’s Veterans Memorial Stadium could not believe what had occurred right before their eyes.
Tamaqua quarterback Luke Kane and wide receiver Victor Schlosser combined for two terrific, sensational and scintillating plays to soar over Pottsville’s defense. Tamaqua moved the ball from their own 15 to the end zone in a matter of 31 seconds to stick the dagger in the heart of the Tide for an unbelievable 24-21 victory.
The win keeps Tamaqua (3-0, 2-0 Red) unbeaten in the Schuylkill/Colonial Red Division. Pottsville falls to 1-1 in the division and 1-2 on the season.
For drama, it was high on the agenda.
“Victor Schlosser is my best friend, and I knew if he could get open I could get it to him,” Kane said describing the electrifying closing seconds. “He finds a way to get open.”
Not once but twice. The first was a 47-yard heave to the Tide 36. After a spike, the Kane to Schlosser show continued, as the speedy Tamaqua receiver was all alone uncovered in the left corner of the end zone.
Bingo! Game, set, match.
“I just ran to the open field,” Schlosser said describing how he worked himself free in the Tide secondary. His first catch was a deep slant, again uncovered for 47 yards and the game was still in hand. “Once I got in the open (for the first catch) I knew he would get it to me.”
It was obvious, Tamaqua’s mental toughness came to the surface in a grinding display of determination.
“The kids did a hell of a job. I’d like to take credit for it,” Tamaqua coach Sam Bonner said with a smile, “but it was the way they came back. It was all them.”
The way this game lifted off was defensive gem from Schlosser, who picked off a deflected pass and zoomed into the end zone for a 70-yard score, before Nicholas Barron booted the PAT for a quick 7-0 lead with 7:34 to play in the first half.
Unfazed, the Tide quickly reversed the tempo and turned to their superb junior running back JuJu Bainbridge, who ran every which way he could find a hole and finished the night with 140 yards on 24 carries. He cracked the end zone twice and helped drive Pottsville to its first touchdown of the evening, a well-executed 56-yard drive. Sophomore quarterback Andrew Allen rode the offensive line into the end zone for a 10-yard score and Christian Alvarez booted the first of his three extra points.
Tamaqua caught a huge break when Pottsville fumbled a punt at its own 37-yard line with time dwindling in the first half. The Raiders went rambling toward the end zone in six plays with Kane crashing home for a 1-yard score with 34 seconds to play in the half. He also had a huge 19-yard bootleg to set the score up at the 1, which sent the Raiders to the locker room with a 14-7 halftime lead.
Pottsville stayed the course. It was getting super play from its dynamic linebacker duo of Brayden Evans and Tsirell Curry and a very disruptive lineman Cole Cesari. That trio threw a wrench at the Raiders, who looked touchdown-bound only to be foiled at the Tide 6.
“It was upsetting that we came away without points,” Bonner thought back, and acknowledged there was a thought about trying a field goal.
Pottsville got the equalizer on the board, forcing a fumble on a punted ball at the Tamaqua 46. Allen found Curry open for a 45-yard completion to the 1 and immediately called Bainbridge’s number for the score and a 14-14 tie. However, Tamaqua mounted a drive of its own, getting to the Tide 13 but had to settle for a field goal, with Barron converting from 28 yards and a 17-14 lead.
Pottsville answered with its best drive of the game to slip on top 21-17 with just 3:04 to go. Owen Holley set the stage with a great runback on the kickoff following Barron’s field goal. In eight plays, Bainbridge zipped in from 4 yards out and the Tide celebrated.
But plans quickly shifted, even after Tamaqua was forced to give up the pigskin deep in its own territory at the 16 with 2:15 to play. After miscue lost the Tide a yard, three plays later the Tide turned the ball over on downs at the Tamaqua 15.
The rest was history.
“Disappointing obviously,” first-year Pottsville coach Mike Brennan said. “We’re a young football team, not good enough to overcome (mistakes). We’re making catastrophic errors and are unable to recover.”
DIFFERENCE MAKERS … Tamaqua is undersized up front, but physicality is far from lacking. Call the grunts junkyard dogs.
QUOTABLE I … “I told them the game is not over, this is football,” Kane on telling his team in the huddle to start the winning drive.
QUOTABLE II … “It’s nuts, crazy I didn’t know what they would do at the end … we thought they might kick a field goal,” Bonner on the hectic finish.
BY THE NUMBERS … Bainbridge led the way on the ground for his side; Tamaqua was led by Bradley Whalen who kept coming up with clutch runs all night for Tamaqua as he finished with 64 on 20 totes. Schlosser had 124 yards on 7 catches, Koch came up with a big 30-yard reception in the second half and carried 7 times for 32 yards.
