ENOLA — Greencastle-Antrim’s football team did its job Friday night, and now this coming Friday’s game at home against Middletown will be a very meaningful contest.

The Blue Devils’ defense held East Pennsboro in check in Enola and G-A came home with a 14-9 Mid Penn Colonial victory.

Spencer Long

That means Greencastle (5-4, 3-3 MPC) kept alive its chances for making the District 3 Class 4A playoffs. It must beat Middletown in the regular season finale, and then hope the rankings come out with G-A ranked in the top 10.

“One down, and one to go in must-win games,” G-A coach Jason Thurston said. “We need to win and we may need some help from some other teams to make it happen. There are six teams from No. 9 to No. 14 with four losses.”

Unfortunately, the Blue Devils are at No. 14, so they need to pass a couple of teams next week. Middletown (4-5) is No. 15.

East Pennsboro (3-7, 2-4 MPC) found it difficult to run against Greencastle, carrying 26 times for just 48 yards.

Thurston said, “Our defense laid the wood to them. We were getting after the quarterbacks and hit their running back for lots of losses. Luke Hull made a really nice interception. The defense was just very physical.”

The Panthers did not score in the first half, got a field goal in the third period and scored their touchdown on the final play of the game.

Greencastle took a 7-0 lead in the first quarter after a drive was capped off by Landon Kagarise plowing in from the Panthers’ 1.

It remained 7-0 until late in the third period when Calvin Hunsicker hit a 30-yard field goal for EP.

But Spencer Long put the Blue Devils in charge when he scored on a 14-yard run with 6:41 left in the game. Long carried the offensive load with 14 carries for 117 yards, as G-A totaled 188 yards on the ground.

“Their defense put a lot of pressure on us, and we made some mistakes at times,” Thurston said. “I’d say both offenses struggled in this game.”

Greencastle appeared to have a second touchdown in the first half, but it was called back because of a personal foul penalty.

Greencastle-Antrim 14, East Pennsboro 9
Greencastle              7     0     0     7     —     14
East Pennsboro       0     0     3     6      —      9
First Quarter 
GA — Landon Kagarise 1 run (Blake Witmer kick), 8:14
Third Quarter
EP — Calvin Hunsicker 30 field goal, 2:52
Fourth Quarter
GA — Spencer Long 14 run (Witmer kick), 6:41
EP — Nasiere Ingram 56 pass from Alex Costa, 0:23
Team Statistics
                                              GA                  EP
First downs                         14                  11
Rushes-yards                   33-188          26-48
Passing                              9-23-0          11-22-1
Passing yards                     63                 174
Total offense                      242               200
Fumbles-lost                      0-0                1-0
Punts-average                  7-30.3          6-41.2
Penalties-yards                 6-65              6-40
Individual Statistics
Rushing — GA, Long 14-117, Kagarise 10-46, Luke Hull 2-12, Carter Peck 2-9, Gavin Logsdon 3-3, Ethan South 2-1. EP, Elijah Shank 12-27, Cassius Comp 4-15, Ingram 1-6, Asean Dennis 1-5, Tavery Good 4-3, Nasadir Craft 2-(-1), Kareen Alatabani 2-(-7).
Passing — GA, Logsdon 9-23-0-63. EP, Good 7-13-0-91, Costa 4-9-1-83.
Receiving — GA, Wyatt Hull 3-45, Samuel Petruska 1-12, Kagarise 1-8, L.Hull 2-4, Long 2-(-6). EP, Ingram 6-135, Comp 3-31, Julius Brannock 1-5, Craft 1-3.