GREENCASTLE — In a surprisingly high-scoring game, Middletown’s defense made a late stand to ensure a victory over Greencastle-Antrim.
The Blue Raiders not only earned a 40-33 Mid Penn Colonial win Friday night at Kaley Field, but also ended any chance of the Blue Devils qualifying for the District 3 playoffs.
Jeremiah Amstutz
“I was surprised by how quickly they could score,” G-A coach Jason Thurston said, “but I was also surprised at how quickly we scored, too. We were expecting a low-scoring game, but it turned into a shootout.”
Greencastle had trouble harnessing Blue Raider running back Gavin Paul, who scored 4 touchdowns, and Middletown took a beating from G-A running back Spencer Long, who tallied 195 yards on 17 carries and scored 3 times.
At the ened of the game, the Blue Devils had the ball on their own 8 with 2:25 left, needing to score a touchdown to tie it up. QB Gavin Logsdon threw passes of 17 yards and 9 yards on third-and-14, and fourth-and-9, respectively, to tight end Wyatt Hull to push the ball out to the Greencastle 40 with a minute left.
But a short scramble by Logsdon and a holding penalty put G-A behind the sticks and three more incompletions ended the threat.
Thurston said, “They brought a lot of pressure throughout the game and they were fast. They might have been a little too aggressive, and we did catch them on a couple of screens that got big yards.
“We hit a couple of long scoring plays with Spencer (runs of 55 and 74 yards), and we tried to mix in some play-action. But sometimes we didn’t get the ball out quickly enough. Gavin really battled and we made some nice catches, too.”
Logsdon’s one scoring pass went to Dane Medina from 23 yards out.
After Paul’s fourth TD brought the score to 40-33 with 5:27 left, the Blue Devils tried an onsides kick, but the Blue Raiders recovered. The Greencastle defense forced a three-and-out, but Ortiz punted the ball to the G-A 8.
Thurston said, “Our defense just had trouble holding them down. And then we couldn’t quite catch up.”
Jeremiah Amstutz, who would have been a backup halfback this year, had been out with an injury all season. Thurston put him into the game for one play in the second half, handed him the ball on an iso run, and Amstutz took it 28 yards to the house.
“That was pretty cool,” Thurston said. “Track is his primary sport and he didn’t want to push the injury in football. But we wanted him to get that one play in and it worked great.”
Greencastle finishes the season with a 5-5 record (3-4 in the division); Middletown was also 5-5 (3-4 MPC).
“I think we took some huge strides this year,” Thurston said. “Credit to our senior class, that had a good mindset and a positive attitude. One positive was that we had to find a way to utilize so many athletic kids and find good roles for them, and we were better after we did.”
Middletown 40, Greencastle-Antrim 33
Middletown 7 20 7 6 — 40
Greencastle 7 7 6 13 — 33
First Quarter
Mid — Gavin Paul 8 run (kick good) 3:37
GA — Spencer Long 55 run (Blake Witmer kick), 2:48
Second Quarter
Mid — Paul 1 run (kick good), 5:52
GA — Long 7 run (Witmer kick), 1:30
Mid — Paul 65 run (kick blocked), 1:16
Mid — Harrison Ortiz 15 fumble return (kick good), 0:39
Third Quarter
GA — Long 74 run (kick failed), 6:44
Mid — Markel Beasley 37 pass from Ortiz (kick good), 1:26
Fourth Quarter
GA — Jeremiah Amstutz 28 run (2-point conversion failed), 11:51
Mid — Paul 3 run (kick failed), 5:27
GA — Dane Medina 23 pass from Gavin Logsdon (Witmer kick), 3:52
Greencastle Statistics
Rushing — Long 15-195, Amstutz 1-28, Landon Kagarise 4-27, Dominic Angelini 1-16, Logsdon 5-15, Carter Peck 1-5, Luke Hull 1-2, Ethan South 1-0.
Passing — Logsdon 10-19-0-112.
Receiving –Wyatt Hull 5-51, Medina 1-23, L.Hull 2-21, Kagarise 1-15, Brady Kagarise 1-10, Iverson Stoner 1-7,