Schuylkill Haven quarterback Brayden Fasnacht attempts a pass during the Hurricanes' 29-28 victory over Nativity on Friday at Rotary Field (Photo by Ashley Farr Donatti)

SCHUYLKILL HAVEN — Leyden Hertz looked at his head coach and said, “Trust in me … give me the ball.”

The Schuylkill Haven senior wide receiver hauled in a 16-yard pass from Brayden Fasnacht with 1.7 seconds remaining as the Hurricanes defeated Nativity 29-28 in a Schuylkill/Colonial Blue Division game at Rotary Field.

The touchdown catch capped a 19-play, 80-yard drive that covered the final 6 minutes, 15 seconds of the game. Schuylkill Haven’s eighth straight victory also gave the Hurricanes the Blue Division championship.

“To be a great player, you have to have the confidence that you’re a great player,” Hertz said. “I said to Brayden, ‘Give me this ball, I got you.’ And it turned out the right way.”

For most of the night, things weren’t going the right way for the Hurricanes (8-1, 8-0 Blue).

Nativity (6-3, 5-3 Blue) gave Schuylkill Haven all it could handle the entire game, despite playing without fullback/middle linebacker Sam Spolski and losing Army commit Noah Dolbin to an injury in the second quarter.

The Green Wave got a big game from senior running back Sam Walborn, who rushed for 113 yards and two touchdowns and hauled in a 22-yard pass for another score.

Walborn’s 1-yard TD run in the first quarter opened the scoring and his 12-yard touchdown run gave Nativity a 21-8 lead with 6:22 left in the second quarter. His 22-yard TD reception late in the third quarter gave the Green Wave a 28-14 lead at that point.

“It was a great football game,” Nativity coach Pat Mason said. “We told the kids to play loose and we threw everything at them. We got out of our wing-T, ran a little bit of a spread look and let our athletes try to make plays.

“I’m just super proud of their effort. If we can go toe-to-toe with Haven, we should be able to go toe-to-toe with anybody.”

Nativity also capitalized on a bevy of Schuylkill Haven mistakes.

The Hurricanes fumbled on their first offensive play of the game, with Mike Stank scooping up the loose pigskin and returning it to the Haven 5, setting up Walborn’s first TD.

Schuylkill Haven failed to convert a fourth-and-2 from the Nativity 6 early in the second quarter, came up empty later in the frame when Dolbin picked off Fasnacht in the corner of the end zone and lost a fumble in the end zone after it appeared Niko Carestia had scored on a 12-yard run on the Hurricanes’ first drive of the third quarter.

Schuylkill Haven also committed 10 penalties for 96 yards, with several extending Nativity drives and others negating long runs.

“Nativity played a great game. We did not,” Schuylkill Haven coach Mike Farr said. “But we gutted it out. That’s all you can ask of your guys, right?

“You hate to say it but we needed to play bad to figure out who we want to be. When you’re faced with adversity, good teams got to find a way to gut it out.”

Both Hertz and Fasnacht said the Hurricanes’ ability to come back and capture the victory shows their resiliency and echoes the cliché that good teams find ways to win in tough situations.

“It shows that we’re relentless,” Hertz said. “When things aren’t going our way, a big thing as a good team is you have to stick together in the tough times and the good times. It showed us today that in a rough situation that we’re still going to pull through.”

Carestia finished with 177 yards rushing on 27 carries as the Hurricanes racked up 340 yards on the ground. Carestia’s 25-yard TD run in the first quarter and his ensuing two-point conversion gave Haven an 8-7 lead at that point.

After Nativity built its 21-8 cushion, a 3-yard run by Colton Reber cut that deficit to 21-14 at intermission. Following Walborn’s final TD, the Hurricanes went 56 yards in three plays to get back in it, with Carestia scoring on a 16-yard run. His two-point conversion run set the score at 28-22 after three frames.

Nativity had a chance to ice the victory in the fourth quarter, driving 10 plays to the Haven 24. A Walborn fumble, however, was recovered by Ethan Kline at the 20-yard line with 6:15 left and the Hurricanes went to work.

There were no chunk plays in the game-winning drive. The Hurricanes converted a fourth-and-1 at their own 29 and got a key pass from Fasnacht to Hertz for nine yards on a fourth-and-5 at the Nativity 32 with 1:12 left.

Fasnacht’s passing was a key element to Haven’s victory as the senior QB, who had thrown just 13 passes all season, was 6-of-10 for 58 yards.

“We had to make plays all night,” Fasnacht said. “They’re a tough team. They came out really hot on defense. They were stopping the run game pretty good so we had to make some adjustments. I just did what I had to do.”

A 10-yard run by Carestia got the ball to the Nativity 13 as the clock ticked under a minute. After Barry Jenkins and Walborn stuffed Carestia for a 2-yard gain, the Hurricanes were whistled for a procedure penalty that put the ball on the 16.

Fasnacht tried to hit Hertz over the middle on the next play, but Hertz couldn’t haul it in and was hurt on the play when his ribs came down on a Nativity defender’s knee. With Hertz on the sideline for one play, another incomplete pass set up a fourth-and-13, game-on-the-line situation from the 16 with 6.9 seconds remaining.

“We were hoping to get a little rub with Hertz and hit Castillo on the wheel route,” Farr said. “Hertz’s defender kind of left him for a step and created the seam and Fasnacht put it there. You couldn’t ask for a better ball. He threw good balls all night.”

Fasnacht made a perfect pass on the game-winning score, splitting two defenders and hitting Hertz in stride into the end zone. Hunter Correll’s PAT kick put Haven ahead and sent the Senior Night crowd home happy.

“We’re a bundle of sticks,” Fasnacht said. “We say that all the time in the locker room. You have to work together as a team. It’s about working hard, playing together. I’m so proud of this team.”

Game Summary

Schuylkill Haven 29, Nativity 28

Nativity (6-3, 5-3)      14        7          7          0  —    28

Haven (8-1, 8-0)         8          6          8          7  —    29

Nat — Walborn 1 run (Stank kick)

SH — Carestia 25 run (Carestia run)

Nat — Wagner 16 pass from Kreitzer (Stank kick)

Nat — Walborn 12 run (Stank kick)

SH — Reber 3 run (run failed)

Nat — Walborn 22 pass from Kreitzer (Stank kick)

SH — Carestia 16 run (Carestia run)

SH — Hertz 16 pass from Fasnacht (Correll kick)

Team Statistics

                                          Nat             SH

First Downs                      15                22

Rushes-Yards                    25-117        47-340

Passes                                11-12-0       6-10-1

Passing Yards                   140              58

Total Yards                       257              398

Fumbles/Lost                    5-2              3-2

Penalties                            4-15            10-96

Individual Statistics

RUSHING: Nativity — Walborn 21-113, Stank 1-3, Wagner 1-2, Kreitzer 1-1, Colt Mason 1-(-2). Schuylkill Haven — Carestia 27-177, Castillo 10-101, Reber 9-61, Fasnacht 1-1

PASSING: Nativity —- Kreitzer 11-12-0, 140. Schuylkill Haven —- Fasnacht 6-10-1, 58.

RECEIVING: Nativity — Wagner 4-81, Stank 4-32, Walborn 2-19, Dolbin 1-8. Schuylkill Haven — Hertz 4-42, Castillo 1-11, Carestia 1-5.

INTERCEPTIONS: Nativity — Dolbin.