GREENCASTLE — It came down to a nerve-wracking final play, but Greencastle-Antrim pulled off a huge upset Friday night at Kaley Field to cap off a stunning Homecoming and Alumni Night.

West Perry had come in with a sparkling 5-0 record, but the Blue Devils played well throughout the game and won 28-21 behind a scintillating last 2:20.

Wyatt Hull

The Mustangs (5-1, 2-1 MPC) took over on their own 41-yard line with 2:20 left and the score deadlocked at 21-21. But a missed handoff hit the ground and was recovered by Greencastle’s Zachary Russell at the 41.

The G-A offense powered in from there in just four plays. QB Gavin Logsdon gained 8 yards on a pass to Landon Kagarise, and then a nifty reverse to Samuel Petruska gained another 8 to the 25. Spencer Long ripped off a 7-yard gain, and on the next play, Long bolted through a huge hole in the middle and went 18 yards to the end zone.

With Ben Witmer’s kick, it was 28-20. But the Mustangs were far from done.

Starting at their 30 with just 49 seconds left, West Perry got one first down, but a sack of QB Hayden Fleisher for 12 yards raised the degree of difficulty. A hook-and-ladder play gained 17 yards, and a facemask penalty tacked on another 15 yards to the Greencastle 37 with 14 seconds left.

On the next play, Fleisher passed for a gain down to the Blue Devil 13 with just 01.9 on the clock. On the game’s final play, Fleisher rolled right and had some room to take off. But he was run down from behind by Wyatt Hull, who grabbed Fleisher’s ankles for a game-saving tackle.

“They busted that big play and with the facemask, I was hoping we weren’t running out of gas,” Greencastle coach Jason Thurston said. “But we only had to defend two more plays. We called a time out before the last play to get set. And then Wyatt makes that shoelace tackle that was very similar to a tackle he made last year at the end of our win over Juniata.”

Spencer Long

The Blue Devils (4-2, 2-1 MPC) had their offense rolling early. Spencer Long ripped off a touchdown run of 57 yards to open the scoring, and later scored on runs of 12 and 18 yards. He finished with 19 carries for 191 yards.

Thurston said, “Assistant coach Sam Sprague had an idea last Sunday that all the teams West Perry played had tried to run the ball down their throat. We talked about spreading it out and getting it to our athletes in open space. So I pulled out this one part of our playbook and we worked on a spread zone all week. The players were all for it.

“It worked really well early, because they had probably practiced against our wing-T all week. Long did a great job of reading his blocks. And in the second half we did more wing-T and mixed it up. It really opened up the inside for us late.”

Greencastle’s other touchdown came on a 13-yard pass from Gavin Logsdon to Wyatt Hull. Fleisher ran for two scores and passed to Mason Page for the other.

“Fleisher is a really good quarterback,” Thurston said. “We got some good hits in on him and he was beat up at the end, but he still made some really good plays.

“I am really proud of my staff and the players this week. This is a huge win for the program and the community. I asked the players to make the alumni players here proud, and they did.”

NOTES: G-A sacked Fleisher 5 times for 32 yards, with Loki Huffman and Russell getting two each … Dominic Angelini made an interception for the Blue Devils … Elijah Ambrose (8) and Ben Jansen (6) led in tackles … Greencastle hosts Milton Hershey next Friday.

Greencastle 28, West Perry 21
West Perry                   7     0     7     7     —     21
Greencastle                14     0     7     7     —     28
First Quarter
GA — Spencer Long 57 run (Ben Witmer kick), 11:33
WP — Hayden Fleisher 7 run (Drew Brandt kick), 5:59
GA — Wyatt Hull 13 pass from Gavin Logsdon (Witmer kick), 2:47
Third Quarter
GA — Long 14 run (Witmer kick), 3:50
WP — Mason Page 10 pass from Fleisher (Brandt kick), 0:41
Fourth Quarter
WP — Fleisher 1 run (Brandt kick), 5:22
GA — Long 18 run (Witmer kick), 0:54
Team Statistics
                                          WP             GA
First downs                      17              14
Rushes-yards                39-116       31-224
Passing                          17-22-1      8-13-0
Passing yards                 162             78
Total offense                   278            302
Fumbles-lost                   3-1             1-0
Punts-average               3-25.3          0
Penalties-yards              12-68         6-45
Individual Statistics
Rushing — WP, Mason Sprecher 16-51, Fleisher 17-51, Christian Laughman 4-12, Trent Hockenberry 2-2. GA, Long 19-191, Samuel Petruska 1-8, Luke Hull 2-6, Logsdon 5-5, Dom Angelini 1-4, Dane Medina 1-4, Landon Kagarise 2-4.
Passing — WP, Fleisher 17-22-1-162. GA, Logsdon 8-13-0-78.
Receiving — WP, Brandt 5-60, Page 5-48, Hockenberry 4-22, Sprecher 1-19, Marshall Etter 2-13. GA, W.Hull 2-40, Medina 1-14, Kagarise 1-8, Iverson Stoner 1-8, Long 1-5, Petruska 1-2, Logsdon 1-1.