GREENCASTLE — Another very competitive Mid Penn Colonial football game.

Another game that Greencastle-Antrim had a legitimate shot to win.

Tavon Cooper

But for the fifth straight game, the Blue Devils could not come up with the winning formula at the end and fell 20-14 to Mechanicsburg at Kaley Field on Friday night.

The Wildcats (4-5, 4-2 MPC) snapped a 14-14 tie with 5:13 left in the fourth quarter when QB Jeff Lougee scored on an 11-yard jaunt. But the extra point was missed, giving Greencastle (4-5, 1-5 MPC) a chance.

The Blue Devils drove down the field, and with 2:06 left was faced with a fourth-and-3 play at the Mechanicsburg 38. But a lay-action pass to Tavon Cooper from Logan Alvey in the flat was stuffed by the Wildcat defense, essentially ending the game there.

G-A coach Devin McCauley said, “We struggled to get much rhythm with our offense. They did a really nice job tackling and were able to contain what we do well. There were quite a few plays where we got seven or eight yards, but we couldn’t break that last tackle and get a really big play out of it.”

The first of two TD runs by Parker Sample gave Mechanicsburg the lead in the first quarter. Greencastle countered with an 11-yard scoring from Alvey to Cooper to tie the game with 11 seconds left in the half.

“It was nice to score right before halftime, because we had been giving up points in that situation lately,” McCauley said.

Mechanicsburg retook the lead in the third on Sample’s run, but the Blue Devils drove for a score on a 1-yard run by Alvey to tie it 14-14.

McCauley said, “It was a really tight game. They ran the ball effectively, but our defense was able to bend and not break. We did not allow any long passes and fewer big plays than we have been.

“But, we needed to more on offense tonight. We always have 24 points as our goal and we didn’t get there.”

NOTES: Greencastle finishes its season at Shippensburg on Friday at 7 p.m. … Cooper was held to 97 yards on the ground and 30 in receiving … Seth Stouffer had 58 yards of offense.

Mechanicsburg 20, Greencastle 14
Mechanicsburg                  7     0     7     6     —     20
Greencastle                         0     7    0     7     —     14
First Quarter
M — Parker Sample 26 run (Brennan Baker kick),
Second Period
GA — Tavon Cooper 11 pass from Logan Alvey (Jackson Eby kick)
Third Quarter
M — Sample 6 run (Baker kick)
Fourth Quarter
GA — Alvey 1 run (Eby kick)
M — Jeff Lougee 9 run (kick failed)
Greencastle Individual Statistics
Rushing — Cooper 23-97, Seth Stouffer 1-11, Darren Kline 8-9, Logan Shifflett 2-8, Alvey 1-1
Passing — Alvey 13-22-0-84.
Receiving — Stouffer 4-47, Cooper 7-30, William Young 1-13, Sawyer Brookens 1-0.