By GIFFORD WOLCOTT for The Morning Times-
Published: Friday, November 16, 2007 11:50 PM CST
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Athens' Garrett Morgan tries to run away from Towanda's Billy Gardner but Gardner latches on to Morgan at Friday night's game. ...Photo by Bob Hutchings |
TOWANDA- The Wildcats of Athens traveled to face the Black Knights of Towanda in a District IV class AA semi-final showdown here Friday.
The Wildcats would see their season come to an end falling to the Black Knights 35-14.
The first half belonged to Towanda as they jumped out to a 21-0 lead at the half. It was not as though the Wildcats did nothing, they had some bright spots. Towanda received the opening kick-off and returned it to the 33-yard line. On their first offensive play Black Knight running back Cameron Sullivan was stripped of the ball by a throng of Athens defenders and Wildcat Derrick Williams made the recovery at the 47-yard line. The Wildcats advanced the ball to the Black Knight 33-yard line before turning the ball over on downs. Athens had missed an early opportunity to gain momentum. Coach Young summed up the teams' first half performance and slow start saying,“in the first half I don't think we took care of some business. We didn't tackle real well and we weren't out here to make plays.”
Towanda had weathered the early storm and on its second possession marched 68 yards in seven plays to take a lead they would never give back. At 6:13 in the first Towanda's Jake Lamphere broke free for a 26 yard TD run and Dakota Roof added the kick to put Towanda up 7-0.
The next two Wildcat possessions ended in punts. As the second quarter began Towanda assembled an 18-play drive chewing up nearly eight minutes of the quarter in the process, mostly on the running of Lamphere and Adam Harris. The Black Knights moved from their 20 yard line to the Athens 3-yard line, where on first and goal, Lamphere found the endzone once again on an option keep left to push the Towanda lead to 13-0. The kick by Roof sailed wide, but with 4:14 left before the half Towanda was in command.
The Wildcats would punt for a third time giving the ball back to Towanda with under two minutes to play in the second quarter. On first down from their own 23-yard line Lamphere ran left and pitched to R. J. Baker who raced up the home sideline for 39 yards and a first down inside the Athens 40-yard line. Towanda's Lamphere then connected with Sullivan for a 20 yard gain inside the Wildcat 20. Lamphere then rushed the ball the to the 7-yard line where Harris bulled his way in for the third Black Knight score of the half. Lamphere added a two point run to make it a tidy 21-0 in favor of the homestanding Knights.
With just 33 seconds to work with the Wildcats struggled for anything positive to end the half. Wildcat Garrett Morgan had a pair of good runs and Raupers found Colin Repko for another 16 yards to move the ball to the Black Knight 34 yard line where with two seconds remaining, Raupers attempted a 51 yard field goal. The kick was wide and only a little short but the Wildcats seemed to gain something positive heading into halftime.
Athens received the second half kick-off and went to the air. A decision made by coach Young during halftime. Young told his charges saying “I challenged them at halftime to come out and let's go after it.” He added,“we told them we were going to throw the heck out of the ball, that's what we've got to do if we want to have a chance.”
And boy did they throw, five yards Raupers to Repko, 25 yards from Raupers to Eric Wells, 30 yards Raupers to Repko. As Athens galloped towards the endzone passing became a little harder. On third-and-goal Raupers appeared to have called his own number running left toward the goal line. The Towanda defenders closed in on him as he pitched the ball to Morgan who scooted around the corner for the first TD of the night for the Wildcats. Raupers kicked the extra point out of the facility to give Athens momentum and move to within 21-7 with 9:31 left in the third quarter.
On Towanda's first possession of the second half it was the Athens defense and the Athens crowd that came to life forcing Towanda to punt. The Wildcats, still in comeback mode, took only three plays, all through the air, to hit paydirt again. Raupers to Wells for 29 yards and once again to Repko for 35 yards and a second Wildcat TD in as many possessions. Raupers converted the kick and the Wildcats made it a one score contest 21-14 with 5:19 left to play in the third quarter.
The Wildcats, showing the character of a true championship team, kept the pressure on the Black Knights. Rauper's kick-offs were deep into the end zone forcing Towanda to start their drives at the 20-yard line. On their second possession Towanda's Lamphere had the ball banged loose where ball-hawking Wildcat defender Jacob Horton pounced on the present.
With over four minutes left in the third quarter Athens began another drive. Unfortunately for the Wildcats Raupers began to misfire. Towanda forced Athens to punt, but again it was Raupers who launched a 55 yarder. As is usually the case a long punt out-kicks the coverage and this was the case for Athens as Towanda had a big return out to midfield. The Wildcat defense again rose to the occasion and forced a Black Knight punt. Still refusing to concede Athens stayed mainly with the pass but the Towanda defense was turning up the heat on Raupers, who missed connections a couple of times with teammate Dillin Rudloff and was forced into another punt, this time a 43 yarder.
The fourth quarter began with Towanda ahead by a single score and the Black Knight strategy became apparent. The plan was to make Athens tackle Harris. Three Harris runs pushed the ball just inside Athens territory where on first-and-10 Harris broke free for 47 yards and a Black Knight TD. Roof added the kick and the Black Knights were back in control 28-14 with 10:46 remaining in the game and the Wildcat season.
The next Athens drive was the last gasp for the Wildcats. Athens drove the ball to the 48-yard line where they were forced once again into a punting situation. Again showing a “never say die” attitude the Wildcats called a fake punt and converted for another four downs. Unfortunately for the Wildcats Raupers was picked off by Towanda's Lamphere to effectively end the Wildcat comeback hopes. From there on it was 10 plays and 85 yards of ground pounding, clock eating Black Knight football. The final blow came when Towanda's Sullivan bolted 16 yards into the endzone for the games final TD. Roof again converted the kick to bring the final score to 35-14 in favor of the Knights.
After the game coach Young praised his teams character saying, “to come back in the third quarter the way they did showed a lot of character. I'm super proud of them.” The coach summed up stating, “our season ends here, we're disappointed but these kids will move on they're good kids, and the underclassmen will be back.”
Towanda improves to 12-0 and will play for a District IV title next Friday when the host Loyalsock who were 21-14 winners over Montoursville. Athens finishes the season at 8-4 and return a good nucleus for the 2008 campaign.
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Black Knights defeat Wildcats to advance to district football finals
One thing opposing teams have noticed during the Towanda Black Knights’ 12-0 season is how many weapons they have on offense.
From R.J. Baker to Dakota Roof and Cameron Sullivan there are a ton of options for Jake Lamphere when he drops back to throw.
Towanda’s senior quarterback had over 1,000 yards throwing the ball this year and Baker was the most dynamic player in the area every time he touched the ball.
Friday night the Black Knights watched as Athens was the team throwing the ball all over the field, instead Towanda went with a different approach, a more old-school approach, as they played some hard-nosed football with plenty of big runs, and even more big hits.
Let’s not get confused here. Towanda has had a strong running game all season long as both Lamphere and senior Adam Harris went over 1,000 yards on the ground. But there was something different on Friday night.
The Black Knights -- and Harris in particular -- ran with some extra intensity, they ran with an edge, they ran the ball with the thought that they weren’t about to let this be their final game.
“We want to keep this ride going,” Harris said. “We don’t want to lose. The line started getting on the ball really well and we just ran behind them.”
And once the line opened up the holes Harris made sure that he took full advantage — punishing the Athens defense as he gained extra yards on every single carry. In the end Harris gained 212 yards on 24 carries with two touchdowns and he was impossible to tackle in the fourth quarter when he gained 148 yards and a score on just 10 carries.
“This is the best he’s run the ball, this is his best game by far running the ball,” Towanda coach Craig Dawsey said of Harris.
Towanda’s players all realized how well big No. 11 was carrying the ball during this District IV semifinal game.
“He was running great,” Lamphere said of Harris. “He had some nice moves and he did a great job of breaking tackles.”
As well as Harris ran the ball he was hardly alone as Lamphere also had a big game on the ground, racking up 101 yards and a pair of scores.
“The line did a real good job, they really played great,” Lamphere said. “We wouldn’t have done any of this without the line.”
While Towanda has loved throwing the ball at times, this year there is something a little special about lining up and playing smash-mouth football.
“It’s always fun to watch the line smash people around,” Lamphere. “We just line up and go against the other team and like 99 percent of the time our line is going to win.”
This year has been a special one for Lamphere. He has over 1,000 yards on the ground and in the air and Dawsey has seen a change in his quarterback this season.
“He’s really matured as a quarterback this year,” Dawsey said of Lamphere. “He is more relaxed, he is more comfortable with his options. He has really done a great job.”
Part of the reason for the strong rushing effort on Friday was because Athens did a strong job of limiting Baker’s chances, taking away some of Towanda’s passing attack.
“They did a great job of taking away R.J.,” Dawsey said. “They put (Shane) Raupers on him and we just had to go out and commit to the run. We were able to run the ball well today, it was a textbook effort on how to run the ball.”
In the end the Black Knights racked up 397 yards on the ground and it was names like Harris and Lamphere who will walk away with the big numbers and the recognition for a job well done.
And while everyone carrying the ball for Towanda Friday night seemed to run in a different gear, much of the recognition should go to the players up front who opened up all the holes.
“The line is just doing great,” Lamphere said. “The line is just unbelievable, we don’t beat them without the line.”
When the game was over and the celebrations were set to begin Dawsey talked about Harris’ career game running the ball and he went over all the attributes that have made Lamphere great.
And while the coach knows that the two seniors took their game to a different level, he also knows they weren’t the only ones.
“Absolutely they are on top of their game, a lot of people on this team are on the top of their game,” he said.
In the end all of Raupers running and throwing, all of the Wildcats defensive efforts on Baker weren’t enough because Towanda isn’t ready to let this magical season come to an end.
“We are not ready for this to be over,” Lamphere said. “We want to keep playing.”
In 2005 the Black Knights were in this same position, hosting a district title game with a shot at the state playoffs on the line.
That night Towanda came up short against Montoursville and Dawsey plans to make sure his team is ready to try and make sure the same thing doesn’t happen this year.
“We are going to enjoy this tonight and tomorrow,” Dawsey said. “Sunday we are back to work, trying to get ready for next week’s game.”
©Daily and Sunday Review 2007
By Brian Fees, Sports Editor
11/16/2007
This is the game Towanda and Athens have played all season for.
One game decides who moves on to the District IV, Class AA final and whose season will come to an end.
Towanda enters the game with an 11-0 record on the season, while Athens comes in at 8-3, but Black Knights coach Craig Dawsey knows that you have to come ready to play during the postseason.
"Absolutely, I hope we are a worthy opponent for Athens," Dawsey said. "I hope we play better than we did the first time and we give them a good game.
"A lot of things we were lucky with were things kind of bounced our way when we played them the first time. Looking at the tape it's easy to see some things that Athens didn't capitalize on, and obviously if they had, we wouldn't have come out on the right side of that game."
The game that Dawsey is referring to is a 24-6 road victory by Towanda earlier this year, a game where Athens coach Jack Young says his team was outplayed.
"We are familiar with them," Young said of Towanda. "We feel the better team won the first game, and we feel we are going to need to play better this time if we want to try and win."
For both teams this game has a little more special meaning with two rivals going head-to-head in the playoffs.
"Absolutely, this is why you play the game," Young said. "Your goal all year is to make the playoffs and see if you can make some noise.
"I think this sparks the interest of the entire Northern Tier. This is big, big, for the NTL. This is the fourth straight year the league will have a team in the district final."
Over the past three years, Athens has played in two district finals, and Towanda has been in one and Young said his team knows about the program's history.
"The kids understand our tradition and our history," he said. "They have worked real hard to understand what this means to the school and the community."
For Towanda playing a game against a team from just up the road will be something special.
"There is no question about it, it's going to be a classic game and we have to prepare for it," Dawsey said. "We have to do the best we can and execute our game plan.
"It's always nice to have home games throughout the playoffs, but it's kind of a home game for Athens too. They are not going to be on the bus forever, it's just like a league game."
Young said that the Athens community has been getting pumped up for the game, and having the game played in the Northern Tier just makes it more special for everyone.
"I think the kids are feeling that way, there is a lot of activity up in Athens this week," he said. "Being the fact that we only have to travel 20 minutes down the road makes it nice."
While Towanda won the first matchup, Dawsey knows that this game against Athens will not be easy.
"They have seven players that are first-team all-league and they have a player of the year, and anytime you have that, of course you better be ready," Dawsey said. "They have so many great players, we are going to have our work cut out for us.
"They are the team that has to be favored in this game, with all the first-team kids. They have all those all-stars. How can they not be favored? We have to take care of crossing the T's and dotting the I's and make sure we play our best football."
The Wildcats know that Towanda is entering the game with an unbeaten record for a reason.
"I think the biggest thing is we have to try and force some mistakes by them and avoid any big plays," Young said. "Hopefully, we can limit Towanda's big plays and get some big plays of our own.
"They are a real good football team, we aren't looking to specifically take anything away from them, we are just looking to play good, solid football and hopefully we will have some luck against them."
Both teams are happy with the way their teams played at times last week.
For Towanda, it was a close game for a while against a solid Warrior Run team, and Dawsey was happy with the way his line played in the second half of that game.
"I said all along, Warrior Run's a real good football team, they are a real good team and we knew coming in they had a wide-open offense," Dawsey said.
"I think in the second half we did much better on the line, we got off the ball better. We challenged the kids at half time to get off the ball and move people, and they had a much better second half. I'm happy with the second half, now we have to come out and be ready for Athens."
For Athens, last week's win over Mifflinburg was one of the better offensive performances of the season.
"The kids have been working hard," Young said. "One of the things we struggled with offensively was finding our identity, and I think last week we did that. We were able to kind of dictate the tempo of the game, which was important for us."
Athens' offense will face a tough test this week against a strong Towanda defense.
"I think the defense has played well," Dawsey said. "All year we have had some time we've bent, but we have obviously not broken. With the co-player of the year (Shane Raupers), and all the weapons he has around him at Athens, we can't bend because they will break us."
Offensively, Towanda will rely on the league's other co-player of the year, Jake Lamphere.
"Jake's done a great job this year," Dawsey said. "The offensive line has gelled as a unit real well and they've done a lot of outstanding things."
Today's game will kick off at 7 p.m. in Towanda.
By DAVE POST-Times Sports Editor
Published: Saturday, November 10, 2007 12:01 AM CST
ATHENS - As Athens coach Jack Young put it, it was a total team effort. But Young and Mifflinburg coach Mark Reitz had to admit that Shane Raupers was special in Athens' 40-12 win over Mifflinburg in the quarterfinals of the District IV Class AA playoffs Friday night.
There were plenty of kudos tro go around, indeed. All night, Mifflinburg's quarterback was under duress from Derek Williams, Tim Rogers and Kevin Schlosser. Josiah Lesser had some stellar plays and Cody May blocked very well down field. Those are just a few of the Wildcats' stars.
But Raupers did a little bit of everything. He returned a punt 35 yards for one touchdown, returned a kickoff 85 yards for another and hooked up with Colin Repko and Eric Wells on touchdown passes. He also booted two field goals and four extra points for good measure.
And that wasn't all. Defensively, he batted down two certain touchdown passes intended for Mifflinburg's Mark Musser.
“He killed us on special teams,” said Reitz of Raupers.
“I usually excel in one or two parts of my game, but tonight it just seemed like everything was clicking,” said Raupers.
“Shane got beat on a double move and was like ‘alright, you're not going to beat me twice,'” said Young of Raupers' defensive effort “The play in the end zone was beautiful. We had so many kids step up and make plays, I can't say enough about the whole team effort.”
At the outset, it looked like the night would be all Mifflinburg. After stopping Athens on three plays, Mifflinburg put together a nine-play, 81-yard drive to take a 6-0 lead. The big play was a 33-yard Cory Dorman-to-Mark Musser hookup that put the ball at Athens' 31. Six plays later, Dorman found Travis Moyer in the end zone for a 17-yard TD pass and Mifflinburg was up 6-0 with 6:20 to go in the first period. Dorman made that play work, escaping rushers to get the ball off.
After that, there wasn't a lot for Mifflinburg's fans to cheer about for the rest of the first half.
Athens moved the ball well on its next possession, but was stopped near midfield. Raupers' punt pinned Mifflinburg back deep and three plays went backwards from the 8-yard line to the 2-yard line thanks to Athens defenders Garrett Morgan and Williams. Mifflinburg's punt only went to the 35-yard line, where Raupers caught it, angled right, and raced into the end zone - then kicked the PAT for a 7-6 Athens lead with four seconds left in the first period.
“There was a beautiful block by Williams,” said Raupers. “I was just waiting for him to make that block.”
Athens started its next possession at its 38-yard line after forcing a punt and began chewing up both yards and clock. A 12-yard Morgan run here and a 13-yard pass from Raupers to Colin Repko there helped get the ball to Mifflinburg's 25-yard line. The drive stalled there, but Raupers nailed a 42-yard field goal to make the score 10-6 Athens.
Raupers credited holder Cody May for a hard night's work.
He did a great job,” said Raupers. “It seemed like all the snaps on the field goals were rolling to him, but he got the hold down right on time.”
The host Wildcats began their last drive of the half at their 15-yard line and with 2:18 left. Once again, Athens moved the ball. Big plays included a 15-yard Morgan run on second-and-13, an 18-yard run by Derek Horton, a 13-yard Raupers run and two 13-yard Raupers-to-Repko passes, the last for a touchdown with just seven seconds left in the half. Repko took a huge hit from Mifflinburg's Mark Musser, but held on. Raupers' PAT made it 17-6 Athens.
After the half, a Jake Horton interception led to a 44-yard Raupers field goal, then Raupers made two dazzling plays on defense. Mifflinburg went to a spread offense in order to get Dorman some running room. The plan worked well, as Dormen gained 44 yards in three plays. With the ball at Athens' 15-yard line, Dorman went to the end zone for Musser, but Raupers batted the ball away. On fourth down, Dorman went to Musser again. This time Musser got both hands on the ball only to have Raupers bat it away again.
Late in the third, Athens pounced on a Mifflinburg fumble but was stopped at the 28-yard line. A Raupers field goal was barely short, but Mifflinburg leveled holder May, giving Athens new life at the 14-yard line. Two plays later, after taking a seven-yard loss, Raupers hit Eric Wells near the 5-yard line and the tight end ran in from there.
Mifflinburg scored on a 36-yard Dorman-to-Moyer hookup on the first play of the fourth quarter, but Raupers, jogging at first to let his blocking wall do its work, returned the ensuing kickoff 85-yards. His PAT try hit the left upright - it was the only thing he missed all night - and Athens led 33-12.
“I was just waiting for a hole to open up,” said Raupers. “That's probably the best feeling in my life, blowing right through there.”
The final TD for Athens was on a 3-yard Morgan run with 1:45 to play.
“I couldn't be prouder,” said Young. “These kids showed up. They came down and put one on us and our kids reacted. They played with their heads up all night long. That's a pretty good football team. Thay had a lot to present offensively and defensively, they were hitting the snot out of us.”
In the end, though, the host Wildcats had a bit more. Athens will travel to Towanda next weekend to face off for the second time this season against the Black Knights. Towanda dumped Athens 24-6 earlier this season.
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High School Football: Athens tops Mifflinburg
Raupers' big plays help Athens end Mifflinburg's season
By Harold Raker
The Daily Item
ATHENS -- Shane Raupers said he usually excels in just one, or occasionally, two phases of a football game.
So, when the Athens safety got burned on a double-move by Mifflinburg Z-back Travis Moyer for a 16-yard touchdown on Mifflinburg's first possession, it might have been a logical assumption that defense would not be Raupers' strong point on this rainy night at Alumni Stadium.
That assumption could not have been more wrong.
Although Athens coach Jack Young Jr. could not say enough about the great team effort after his team defeated Mifflinburg 40-12 on Friday night in the District 4 Class AA quarterfinals, no one could have blamed him if he had given all the credit to Raupers.
Not only did the Athens junior quarterback-safety-kicker-return man make two superb defensive plays to keep Mifflinburg (7-4) at bay, he absolutely took control of the game on offense and special teams.
Especially on special teams.
Raupers kicked field goals of 44 and 42 yards (just missing on a 45-yard try), returned a punt 35 yards for a touchdown and returned a kickoff 85 yards for another TD, and threw a 12-yard TD pass on which Eric Wells made a great fingertip catch while taking a hard shot.
"Tonight it just seemed like everything was clicking," Raupers said. "On the punt return there was a beautiful block by Derrick Williams, I was just waiting for him. And on the kick return, I was just waiting for a hole to open up, and that was probably the best moment of my life, just blowing through there."
He added that it seemed like all the snaps on the field goals were rolling to the holder, Cody May, but May did a great job getting them down in time.
Mifflinburg coach Mark Reitz said, "Two special teams plays and they made the plays that we didn't make. We had a touchdown knocked out of our kid's hands (by Raupers), we had one just out of his reach and the other plays we've been making to win games, we just didn't quite make those plays.
"And then he killed us on special teams, and that was the difference in the game," Reitz said.
Mifflinburg just missed on some plays on both sides of the ball that could have kept this game competitive to the end.
Reitz said that at halftime, his team believed it was going to win the game.
But Raupers denied touchdowns by Mark Musser twice in one series with the score 20-6 in the third quarter.
"After that first play, I was off him eight yards but after that I knew I had to get in his face, because I knew I could match his speed," Raupers said. "I was running by his side and I saw his hands and head go up, I turned around and the ball was right there. I just got it right in time."
"We moved the ball up and down the field the whole second half, there were just a couple of plays we didn't get," Reitz said.
Mifflinburg got off to a great start, stuffing the Athens Wildcats to force a three-and-out on the game's first series, then driving 81 yards on nine plays to take the lead on quarterback Cory Dorman's 16-yard TD pass to Moyer with 6:20 left in the first quarter. The PAT was blocked.
Dorman was brilliant on that drive and many others. Not only did he run for 17 yards on the first play, behind the block of center James Brobst, but, on the TD pass, he broke out of the grasp of a defender to avoid a sack and drilled the pass right into the chest of Moyer.
But that's when Raupers and the Athens Wildcats (8-3) took over. Athens scored 27 unanswered points, starting with Raupers' punt return TD.
"It's all in how you are going to react," Young said. "They came down and (scored) one on us and we go down 6-0. How are you going to react?
Our kids reacted. And they made plays and they played with the heads up all night long. (Mifflinburg) is a pretty good football team. They present a lot to you offensively and defensively, my goodness, they were hitting the snot out of us. But we ran the ball effectively and that's what I told the kids we had to do."
Dorman (103 rushing yards) continued to work his magic as he ran the option to near perfection, only to have something go wrong at every turn.
They included a Mifflinburg drive to the Athens 36, which was spoiled by a holding penalty; Dorman overthrowing a wide-open Moyer for what probably would have been a touchdown; two interceptions; and a lost fumble.
Even when Mifflinburg got some momentum with a 36-yard TD pass from Dorman to Moyer to get it to within 27-12 with 11:52 left, Raupers took the game right back with his return of the ensuing kickoff.
