Blue Mountain knocks off Southern Lehigh in Red Division
Story by Doyle Dietz
ORWIGSBURG – After playing three quarters of entertaining football, Blue Mountain found itself in a familiar position Friday night at the Eagles’ Nest. Southern Lehigh had stunned the Eagles with an 81-yard kickoff return and then took a one-point lead on the extra-point kick.
Merely playing a competitive game apparently is not going to be enough for these Eagles, however, who, for the second straight week, got the better of their opponent in the fourth quarter and rallied for 13 unanswered points for a 32-20 Schuylkill/Colonial Red Division victory in their home opener.
Blue Mountain (2-0, 1-0 Red) scored the winning touchdown with an 11-play drive, 10 of which came in the fourth quarter. It was not surprising how the Eagles scored, but who scored was an example of how they have multiple weapons, and quarterback Brady Strause knows how to use them.
For one of the few times all game, Southern Lehigh (1-1, 0-1) was able to stonewall the Eagles on first-and-goal at the 10. So, on third-and-9, Strause went with a pass, and tight end Brad Renninger responded by getting open and cradling the ball in the end zone for the winning touchdown.
“I’ve got to give Brad a lot of credit for working to get open,” Strause said. “He was the second option on the play, but knew how to get open.
“I’m not saying how good this team is, but we play together and don’t give up. When they took the lead, we were confident we could come back.”
After playing to a 13-13 halftime tie, the Eagles broke through when Renninger blocked a punt and recovered the ball in the end zone for a touchdown and a 19-13 lead. Then the Spartans responded and grabbed back the momentum when Sean Steckert scored a touchdown on an 81-yard kickoff return and the extra point by Noah Tapler gave them a 20-19 lead.
After an exchange of punts, the Eagles got on the board with an 81-yard pass from Strause to Lukas Kauffman. Then Blue Mountain went to work with a heavy dose of Tyler Stahley. It was the punishing running style of Stahley, who carried 27 times for 185 yards and two touchdowns, that took the biggest toll on the Spartans.
With 6-foot-5, 215-pound tight end and Michigan recruit Andrew Olesh a real threat for the Spartans even when Blue Mountain took a 25-20 lead, Olesh was kept out of the end zone. He had six receptions for 151 yards and three carries for 33.
Gaige Guers had his second interception to stop the Spartans after they fell behind, and then Strause made the key play on fourth-and-1 from his 48. Using a hard count, he got the Spartans to jump offside, and four plays later the Eagles scored on a 9-yard run by Stahley.
“We figured we had nothing to lose on that fourth down,” Strause said. “If we had to punt, we had confidence our defense would hold them.”
