MIFFLINTOWN — Greencastle-Antrim scored the only touchdown of the second half for either team with just 28 seconds left in the game and hung on to trip Juniata, 21-20.

The Blue Devils scored on a 12-yard pass from Lane Barry to Wyatt Hull to tie the score at 20-20, and Blake Witmer kicked the game-winning extra point to prevail in the non-league contest Friday night.

Blake Reuter

The Indians (5-3) led at halftime 20-14 as both offenses had success. Defense ruled in the second half and the Blue Devils (3-5) shut Juniata out.

Greencastle appeared ready to take the lead in the game with just over 5 minutes left, but running back Blake Reuter had the ball knocked out just before he crossed the goal line and the Indians recovered in the end zone.

“That was tough, but we knew we still had time left,” Greencastle coach Jason Thurston said. “And we got the ball right back.”

The Blue Devil defense forced a three-and-out, and after Juniata punted, the G-A offense took over on its own 27 with 3:20 left.

On a third-and-10, Barry flipped a waggle screen pass against the flow and Reuter took off for a 25-yard gainer. A sweep left by Reuter — on a play designed to go inside — netted 22 yards and took the ball to the Indian 20 with 1:57 left.

Thurston said, “We had enough time to just run our normal offense

Asher Whitson picked up 8 yards and two carries by Reuter got a first down at the 9. A pitch to Reuter lost 3 yards. But on the next play, Barry rolled to his left and floated a pass to the back left corner of the end zone and Hull hauled it in.

“We still had enough time to keep running the ball, but I’ve been making an effort to throw on early downs more, so I thought we should take a shot,” Thurston said. “Wyatt got open and Lane was able to get the ball out quickly.”

Earlier in the fourth period, Juniata star Jasper Shepps intercepted a pass and returned in for an apparent touchdown, but he was called for pass interference.

In the first half, Shepps fumbled a punt return, but picked the ball up and then weaved his way through the coverage team for a touchdown. The Blue Devils returned the favor with a long pass play from Barry to Reuter.

Thurston said, “We weren’t quite as focused as we needed to be in the first half, but we got better in the second half. That’s a nice win on the road against a 5-2 team.”