GREENCASTLE — On a special night in Greencastle, Military Appreciation Night, the Blue Devils showed they have some depth.

Andrew Kerns

G-A lost its quarterback and top running back on its first offensive possession, and found itself trailing Susquehanna Township 7-3 early in the second quarter of their Mid Penn Colonial football game Friday night at Kaley Field.

But Greencastle showed some resolve by scoring the last 21 points in a 24-7 victory over the Indians.

“Overall, it was a good team win,” Blue Devil coach Devin McCauley said. “We lost our quarterback (Taylor Conrad) on our first drive and David Niebauer had two carries until he had to come out. But Andrew Kerns came in and did well running the offense and we leaned heavily on Tavon Cooper and Brady Diller for our running. It was a great way to see some guys step in and do well.”

The defense allowed an 11-yard touchdown run by Jerell Holmes early in the second quarter that gave ST (0-5, 0-2 MPC) the lead, but did not give up any more points, despite the danger of Indian QB javon White.

McCauley said, “Our defense bent some, but it didn’t break. We did well keeping them in front of us and then rallying to the ball. They played a lot of empty backfields which made it a challenge, but our secondary as a group are good tacklers.”

Greencastle (3-2, 1-1 MPC) regained the lead in the second quarter when Cooper finished off a drive with an 18-yard run. Then, with less than two minutes remaining in the first half, G-A struck for a killer blow.

Kerns handed off on a criss-cross misdirection play that included a double handoff, then a flip back to Kerns, who found the wide-open Ethan Shank for a 58-yard touchdown bomb, making the score 16-7.

“Kerns has a big arm,” McCauley said. “We are fortunate to have a second quarterback as good as he is.”

Cooper moved the lead to a comfortable 22-7 when he galloped 70 yards for a TD in the third period. On an outside zone run, Cooper, who finished with over 100 yards for the night (statistics were not yet available), made one nice cutback and was gone.

The finishing touch came in the fourth period when a Susquehanna Twp. snap sailed over the punter’s head and out of the end zone for a safety.

Shank, who McCauley said, “Made a lot of big plays at safety,” came down with an interception.

The Blue Devils play at Waynesboro next Friday night.

Greencastle-Antrim 24, Susquehanna Twp. 7
Susquehanna Twp.           0     7     0     0     —     7          
Greencastle                        3    13     6     2     —    24
First Quarter
GA — Nate Kirkwood 30 field goal
Second Quartet
ST — Jerell Holmes 11 run (kick)
GA — Tavon Cooper 18 run (Kirkwood kick)
GA — Ethan Shank 58 pass from Andrew Kerns (kick blocked)
Third Quarter
GA — Cooper 70 run (pass failed)
Fourth Quarter
GA — Safety, punt snapped out of the end zone