GREENCASTLE — Greencastle-Antrim did all it could in the fourth quarter to try to pull out a win against Mechanicsburg.

But the Wildcats made just enough plays on defense to hold onto the lead and captured a 28-24 Mid Penn Colonial victory Friday at Kaley Field.

Andrew Kerns

“It was a heckuva football game,” G-A coach Devin McCauley said. “We knew it wold be tough and everybody got their money’s worth. Our kids battled and had a chance to win at the end.”

The Blue Devils (3-4, 1-3 MPC) held a 10-7 lead at halftime, courtesy of a 25-yard scoring pass from Andrew Kerns to Brady Diller and a 24-yard Nate Kirkwood field goal. But Mechanicsburg took the lead with a pair of touchdowns in the third period — both on TD passes by QB Jeffrey Lougee — 10 yards to Seth Brubaker and 75 yards to Sam Deluca.

McCauley said, “Until those two, we had not given up a scoring pass all season. I didn’t want to say anything to jinx it by saying anything. On the second one, we just had a blown coverage.”

But in the fourth period, Greencastle got back in it when Kerns hit Seth Stouffer in the corner of the end zone from 16 yards out. David Niebauer ran in the two-point conversion to make it a 21-18 game in Mechanicsburg’s favor. And the Wildcats then went ahead 28-18 when Parker Sample ran it in from 17 yards out.

Then it got really exciting. The Blue Devils drove downfield quickly and Tavon Cooper found the end zone with a 14-yard scoring catch from Kerns. Greencastle went for two points from a Wildcat formation, but dropped the snap, leaving the score 28-24.

McCauley said, “We went for two points because if we got it and then recovered the onsides kick, we could go for the win at home in regulation with a field goal. It almost worked.”

Remarkably, G-A did recover an insides kick around the Wildcat 40. They had about a minute left to score a touchdown, but bogged down and the game ended.

“We just ran out of downs,” McCauley said. “Our kids played their tails off — there were several times they could have quit, but didn’t. We did really well against heir running game, but that long pass they got really hurt us.”

Kerns threw for 219 yards and three touchdowns (9-for-14). Cooper led the rushers with 54 yards and the receivers with 5 catches for 82 yards.

The Blue Devils play at Northern York next Friday.

Mechanicsburg 28, Greencastle-Antrim 24
Mechanicsburg             0     7     14     7     —     28
Greencastle                    7     3       0    14    —     24 
First Quarter
G — Brady Diller 25 pass from Andrew Kerns (Nate Kirkwood kick)
Second Quarter
G — Kirkwood 24 field goal
M — Seth Brubaker 10 run (kick good)
Third Quarter
M — Brunaker 10 pass from Jeffrey Lougee (kick good)
M — Sam Deluca 75 pass from Lougee (kick good)
Fourth Quarter
G — Seth Stouffer 16 pass from Kerns (David Niebauer run)
M — Parker Sample 17 run (kick good)
G — Tavon Cooper 14 pass from Kerns (run failed)
Greencastle Statistics
Rushing — Cooper 10-54, Niebauer 17-44, Kerns 7-(-7).
Passing — Kerns 9-14-219.
Receiving — Cooper 5-82, Stouffer 4-58, Jackson Eby 4-54, Diller 1-25