Big 2nd half lifts Blue Mountain past Tamaqua
Tamaqua quarterback Luke Kane attempts a pass as he's hit by Blue Mountain's Gaige Guers during Friday's Schuylkill/Colonial Red Division game at Tamaqua. Blue Mountain won 21-7 (Photo by Brook Koch-Guers).
TAMAQUA — Blue Mountain entered Friday’s regular-season finale looking to get its swagger back.
A big second half gave the Eagles some momentum heading into the District 11 playoffs.
Tyler Stahley rushed for 99 yards and a touchdown, Lukas Kauffman and Gaige Guers had touchdown catches and Blue Mountain’s defense harassed Tamaqua all game long en route to a 21-7 victory over the Blue Raiders in a Schuylkill/Colonial Red Division game at the Tamaqua All-Sports Stadium.
The win snaps a two-game losing streak for the Eagles (7-3, 6-3 Red), who will have a home game Thursday in the District 11 Class 4A playoffs.
The loss, their fourth straight, coupled with Saucon Valley’s win over Northern Lehigh, drops the Blue Raiders (6-4, 5-4 Red) out of the District 11 playoffs and into the Eastern Conference Class 3A playoffs.
“This was a needed bounce-back game,” Stahley said. “The past two weeks we haven’t been doing the best. To come out in the second half and do what we did, it was needed for playoffs. We needed to get some momentum.
“Coach was saying we needed to get our swagger back. We got a half back. The second half we had it.”
The first half was a frustrating one for both teams. Neither team could establish a running game, with the Eagles running 13 times for 37 yards and the Blue Raiders gaining 20 yards on 18 carries.
Each team threw an interception in the red zone and the game went to intermission scoreless after Tamaqua’s Nicholas Barron missed a 39-yard field goal in the closing seconds.
Blue Mountain made news before the opening kickoff, going with freshman Cohen Kirby as its starting quarterback instead of junior Brady Strause, who entered the game having thrown for 1,489 yards, with 14 touchdowns and 10 interceptions. Six of those picks have come in the past two weeks.
Kirby, who was 5-for-8 for 133 yards and two touchdowns in limited duty this season, looked good early, completing his first four passes. His fifth attempt, however, was picked off by Tamaqua’s Brady McCabe on a first-and-10 play at the Raiders’ 13.
Kirby struggled the rest of the first half before finding a rhythm in the second half, finishing 10-of-18 for 145 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions.
“We needed a jump-start,” Blue Mountain coach Tom Gallagher said of the quarterback change. “We tried to get a little momentum in the team. We have to keep building, keep refining and do our best to keep him comfortable.
“Cohen did a great job. He’s a skilled kid and he kept his composure.”
Blue Mountain struggled in the second half of its last two games, a 38-14 loss to North Schuylkill and a 28-14 loss to Pottsville.
With the game scoreless at halftime, Gallagher said he challenged his offensive line during the break and they responded.
“We challenged them, challenged our offensive line especially, and they answered. I thought we did a nice job,” Gallagher said. “There are still some things we need to clean up, but I really think we’re on the right path to doing that and I’m excited to see how we come to play and come to practice next week.”
After an exchange of punts gave Blue Mountain a short field early in the third quarter, Stahley ripped off a 20-yard run before scoring on a 7-yard scamper. The first of Aidan Grace’s three PAT kicks put the Eagles up 7-0 with 7:50 left in the third quarter.
After a quick three-and-out, Blue Mountain scored again as Kauffman took a quick pass from Kirby and barreled 47 yards for the touchdown.
The Eagles made it 21-0 midway through the fourth on a 26-yard TD pass from Kirby to Guers.
“I turned around and the ball was in my hands from our new freshman quarterback. Great guy,” Kauffman said of his score. “From there I wasn’t really thinking, just playing.”
Kauffman was a key piece of a stellar Blue Mountain defensive effort from his linebacker spot. The Eagles, who lost standout middle linebacker Reese Miller in the first half to a shoulder injury, stuffed the Tamaqua running game and pressured Raiders quarterback Luke Kane from start to finish.
The Eagles sacked Kane four times and picked off three passes, with Jayden Blankenhorn (2), Brody Foose and Kauffman getting sacks and Kauffman, Cole Swick and Chase Guers corralling interceptions.
Tamaqua finished with 55 yards rushing, while Kane was 8-for-21 for 154 yards. Two passes of 47 and 10 yards to Victor Schlosser on Tamaqua’s final drive led to Kane’s 9-yard TD run with 1:04 remaining that dashed Blue Mountain’s shutout bid.
“The last couple of weeks our secondary hasn’t played its best,” Gallagher said. “We challenged them this week and our guys made plays. It was a total effort by all of those guys on our defense.”
The Eagles will be either the No. 2 or No. 3 seed in the Class 4A playoffs and host either East Stroudsburg North or Lehighton in Thursday’s quarterfinals at the Eagles’ Nest. The District 11 playoff brackets should be finalized Sunday morning.
For now, Gallagher and his crew hope Friday’s win was the momentum builder they need heading into the postseason.
“We talked about that as a team,” Gallagher said. “Maybe the last two weeks didn’t go in our favor, but it was what we needed for where our season is going to go from here on now.
“The momentum piece here going forward is key. It started here tonight, got to keep it going into round one of the playoffs. Hopefully we can keep things moving in the right direction.”
