Biglerville strikes on first series, holds on for win vs. York County Tech

With Saturday's cold, damp and windy conditions, getting on the board quick was essential when Biglerville traveled to York County Tech for an afternoon contest.

The Canners were able to do that on the first series of the game, marching 54 yards in 11 plays for the first points and two more times in the opening half en route to a 23-6 victory against the Spartans.

Ben Hurda hit Nathaniel Newberry on an 11-yard touchdown pass that capped the four and a half minute opening drive.

With the win, the Canners improved to 2-0 in Division III and 3-2 overall, while York Tech fell to 0-2, 1-4.

"These types of games, you are not going to put up big-time yards," said Biglerville coach Alex Ramos. "I don't know what the stats were. The most important stat was we won the game. We were still able to score in the red zone. We've got to feel good in that aspect."

Still, Ramos and the other Canners coaches had a message for their team in the postgame huddle regarding the somewhat lackluster second half. They told the players the final 24 minutes left much to be desired.

"We've got to improve our attitudes big time," said senior Colton Sentz. "We've got to know that no matter if we are winning in the first half we've got to come out and play as hard as we can to seal the deal in the second half so we can ride home comfortably instead of making mistakes to give the other team hope."

In fact, the Spartans got hope on the first series of the third quarter after going 73 yards in 10 plays, capped when quarterback Damarius Wiggins, who led all rushers with 101 yards, scored from 11 yards out.

The visitors had an answer to that as Dane Showers returned the ensuing kickoff 40 yards down to the Spartans' 35-yard line. A pass interference call and a couple of runs set up a Sentz 8-yard touchdown blast.

"We were supposed to hit them as hard as we could early and keep it on them. We fell off on the last part of that," Sentz said. "I feel like we are a great team, though we still haven't shown it for four quarters."

Midway through the second quarter, a long punt return set the Canners up on the Spartans' 26-yard line. It took all of two plays, a 13-yard run from Scott Cooper, and Hurda's 23-yard scoring strike to Cooper, for Biglerville to grab a 14-0 lead.

Newberry's interception, and 33-yard return on the ensuing Tech drive started another series inside Spartans territory. Four plays later, Sentz hit a 33-yard field goal, helping the Canners take a 17-0 lead into halftime.

"We had a great first half, our momentum and execution was right on point," Ramos said. "The second half we had some things, like late on throwing the ball, just off on one block."

York Tech outgained the Canners, 302-177, although the short field Biglerville was able to work with contributed to that.

Biglerville71060—23York Tech0060—6

First quarter

Big — Nathaniel Newberry 11 pass from Ben Hurda (Colton Sentz kick), 7:21.

Second quarter

Big — Scott Cooper 23 pass from Hurda (Sentz kick), 6:31.

Big — Sentz 33 FG, 2:11.

Third quarter

YCT — Damarius Wiggins 11 run (run failed), 7:11.

Big — Sentz 8 run (kick failed), 4:45.

BigYCTFirst Downs1214Rushes-yards25-10947-241Passing6-12-16-15-2Passing yards6861Total yards177302Punts3-37.03-36.3Fumbles-lost0-04-0Penalty yards3-159-103

Individual Statistics

Rushing — Big, Sentz 8-40, Cooper 7-37, Dane Showers 5-24, Hurda 3-4, Malakai Curtis 1-3, Gage McAuliffe 1-1. YCT, Wiggins 19-101, Matthew Rossi 13-90, Kahliek Savery 10-33, JD Miles 2-15, Brandon Montouth 2-5, Bry'Quan Sweeney 1-(-3).

Passing — Big, Hurda 6-12-68-1. YCT, Wiggins 4-11-49-2, Miles 1-1-3-0, Josiah Smallwood 1-2-9-0, Savery 0-1-0-0.

Receiving — Big, Cooper 2-28, Nathanial Newberry 2-19, Showers 1-13, Nicholas Bell 1-8. YCT, Montouth 4-37, Austin Wehler 1-15, Luis DeLeon 1-9.