MECHANICSBURG – A key divisional football game can sometimes boil down to the simplest formula – whoever makes enough big plays prevails.
The Mechanicsburg football team pulled off a first quarter Pick Six and a handsome touchdown passing play in the second quarter– with Noah Apple involved both times – and held previously unbeaten Red Land, 14-7, in a Mid-Penn Conference Keystone Division game Friday night at Memorial Park Stadium.
“I was happy with our effort across the board,” said Mechanicsburg head coach Dave Heckard. “We just made some mistakes and couldn’t put the ball in the end zone. I’ve got to give them credit, Red Land is a good team, and they battled all night.
“This is a nice win for these guys and I’m proud of them,” Heckard said.
THE STARS
Mechanicsburg Apple returned an interception 45 yards for a touchdown and later hooked up with Jack DeLuca on a 19-yard touchdown pass. Apple completed seven passes for 85 yards.
Running back Rece Miller performed yeoman’s work in the backfield, rushing 29 times for 147 hard-earned yards.
HOW IT HAPPENED
Apple’s Pick Six came on Red Land’s third possession of the game when he stepped in front of a receiver on a sideline route and zoomed untouched to paydirt at the 2:46 mark of the first quarter.
Mechanicsburg’s defense held the Patriots on a fourth down near midfield midway through the second quarter and Wildcats capitalized with an 8-play, 54-yard drive, capped by Apple’s 19-yard pass to DeLuca, who made a great catch at the sideline and stayed inbounds.
Red Land forced a late first half punt from Mechanicsburg before intermission and Hoffman darted through a huge hole in coverage and scored from 78 yards out with 1:11 left to cut the lead to 14-7.
Mechanicsburg had the best chances to put the game away in the second half behind the legs of Miller and Drake Dawson, but two lost fumbles deep in Red Land territory scuttled those.
The Patriots suffered with poor field position throughout much of the second half. Red Land was able to drive to the Mechanicsburg 26 in the fourth quarter, but a a fourth down quarterback keep by Shearer came up two yards shy.
BIG PICTURE
The result put Mechanicsburg and Red Land into a tie atop the Keystone Division with four weeks to play in the regular season.
Mechanicsburg, now 5-1 overall and 4-1 in the Keystone Division, hosts winless Northern next Friday night.
Red Land moves to a similar 5-1, 4-1 record and will travel to Hershey next week.
THEY SAID IT
“It wasn’t the cleanest night, but we did what we had to. That touchdown was a great catch by Jack. We struggled in the passing game, but Rece and Drake Dawson ran the ball hard,” – Mechanicsburg quarterback Noah Apple.
“I kind of like getting down and dirty. I know they’re going to come hard. I’ve got to lower my shoulder pads, run behind my shoulder pads and get as many yards as I can. We had that tough loss against Lower Dauphin and we knew we had to win this one. We know we’ve got to win out and we’re well on our way to doing that,” – Mechanicsburg running back Rece Miller.
“Our guys fight. That’s what we’re going to do in any game we line up in. It wasn’t the result we wanted, but our guys fought and I’m proud of that. Nothing was good on offense, I’ll be honest about that. There’ some better position I can put out guys in. I’ll give credit to their defense, but our defense played their butts off – three or four takeaways – they kept us in it. We’ve got to get more on the scoreboard,” – Red Land head coach Jaimie Thomas.
Red Land 0 7 0 0 — 7
Mechanicsburg 7 7 0 0 — 14
SCORING
First quarter
M-Noah Apple 45 interception return (Tanner Minnich kick) 2:46
Second quarter
M-Jack DeLuca 19 pass from Apple (Minnich kick) 5:04
R-Cason Hoffman 78 punt return (Tyson Kirchner kick) 1:11
Third quarter
No scoring
Fourth quarter
No scoring
TEAM STATISTICS
RL M
First downs: 6,18
Rush yards: 19-46, 48-228
Passing: 80, 85
Comp-Att-Int: 8-22-1, 7-14-0
Fumbles-lost: 2-1, 4-3
Punts/(avg): 7/34.5, 3/42
Penalties: 4-20, 7-55
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING – Red Land: Tyson Kirchner 8-24, Quinlin Shearer 10-20, Eli Phillps 1-2; Mechanicsburg: Rece Miller 24-147, Apple 12-24, Drake Dawson 5-45, Anthony Francis 2-12.
PASSING – Red Land: Shearer 8-22-1, 80; Mechanicsburg: Apple: 7-13-0- 85, DeLuca 0-1-0, 0
RECEIVING – Red Land: Kirchner 2-(-4), Kyle Wonders 1-40, Sean Porter 2-9, Colin McConahy 1-17, Anthony Plever 1-15, Phillips 1-3; Mechanicsburg: Brock Metz 1-17, JJ Gould 2-(3); Dawson 1-25, DeLuca 2-34, Miller 1-11.