WILDCATS WILL PLAY TOP-SEEDED MOUNT CARMEL FOR DISTRICT TITLE
By TIM BIRNEY
Valley Sports Report
MIFFLINBURG — A pair of fourth-down defensive stops in the fourth quarter propelled third-seeded Athens to a 23-21 win over second-seeded Mifflinburg here Friday night in the semifinals of the District 4, Class 3A football playoffs.
Athens coach Shawn Bradley sang the praises of his defense after the win.
"Our kids fly the football," he said. "They've played great defensive the entire season, and they did again tonight.
"The offense has struggled at times, but our defense has always been there and it was there tonight," noted Bradley. "It's been fly to the football, make tackles, and just create havoc all season.
"And, we have some really tough kids, really good kids, and tonight was just fantastic," he added.
Bradley also praised his team's poise and composure.
"(Mifflinburg is) a really good football team," he said. "They played some really good teams this year and beat them.
"Our kids just showed up and played, and they played with a lot of heart," noted Bradley. "We could have quit many, many times tonight, but the kids never quit.
"I'm so proud of these kids, so proud to be their coach," added Bradley. "It's just such a great feeling for those boys."
Senior Brady Flynn said the win was about respect.
"They don't take us seriously down here. We had to come here and show them we're legit," he said. "It feels amazing to come here and get a win."
Senior Connor Davidson said the entire team deserves credit for the win.
"The key tonight for us was to play as a team," he said. "Plays as a team, don't turn on each other ... and play with energy.
"Captains lead, captains told other captains accountable, and we did that," added Davidson.
Athens held a Mifflinburg team that was averaging 35.7 points per game to 21, and held senior tailback Landon Moser shy of his average of 132 rushing yards and well below his mark of 8 yards per carry. (Moser had 109 yards and one TD on 19 carries).
"Coach (Steve) Satterly had a great game plan," said Bradley. "(Moser) is a stud, so we needed to get some penetration on the line, hit (Moser) low, and get 11 hats to the ball.
"The quarterback (Brennen Snyder) is also very capable. He scrambles around, and makes good plays.
"The big thing was to keep the ball in front of us, keep (Moser) in check, and try to tackle them with gang-tackling," added Bradley.
Flynn said stopping Moser was the key.
"The plan was to stop (Moser)," he said. "We knew he was going to get the football the whole game.
"If we could stop him at the line, that takes away everything they want to do," noted Flynn.
"They don't want to throw the football, so if you stop (Moser), you win the game," he added.
The Athens defense forced Mifflinburg into a three-and-out punt on the game's opening possession, and Athens took over at its own 47.
Senior Brendan Cooke opened the drive with runs of 8 and 4 yards, and Davidson gained 6 yards and completed passes of 5 yards to senior Lucas Persun and 10 yards to junior Kade Rowe to move the ball into the Mifflinburg red zone.
On first-and-15 at the Miff 19, Davidson ripped off a 12-yard run, then capped the nine-play drive with a 7-yard run with 5:31 remaining in the first quarter. Senior Zach Fisher's PAT kick made it 7-0.
After an exchange of punts, Mifflinburg drove 86 yards on 12 plays, capped by a 1-yard TD run by QB Brennen Snyder with 10:04 remaining in the first half. Jared Boyer's PAT kick made it 7-7.
Moser ran for 37 yards on nine carries, and Snyder completed passes of 15 and 18 yards to big tight end Luke Brubaker in the drive.
Athens answered with a 14-play, 6 1/2-minute drive that ended with a 24-yard field goal by Fisher to put the Wildcats up 10-7 with 3:28 remaining in the half.
Davidson did the majority of work on the drive, running for 46 yards on seven carries, and Cooke added a 14-yard carry.
Athens got the ball to start the second half, but Mifflinburg's defense forced a three-and-out punt, and Miff took over at its 27.
The drive started poorly for Miff when Athens sophomore Devin Maxfield dropped Jackson Marr for a 7-yard loss, but Snyder hit Seth Hartman for a 29-yard gain to the Athens 49 on the next play.
Five plays later, Moser busted loose on a 25-yard TD run with 6:41 remaining in the third quarter. Boyer's PAT kick gave Miff a 14-10.
Once again the black-and-white Wildcats had an answer, driving 74 yards on 13 plays to regain the lead.
Davidson connected with senior Tony Robbins on a key 9-yard completion on third-and-8 early in the drive, and later hit senior Gage Marmor for a 15-yard gain to the Miff 35.
Three plays later, Davidson hit Persun for a 12-yard to the Miff 20 on third-and-seven. Three plays after that, Davidson scored on a 5-yard TD run with 11:41 remaining in the game. Fisher's kick made it 17-14.
Two minutes later, Miff took a big gamble on fourth-and-4 at its own 37 with 9:37 remaining in the game. A dropped pass that would have resulted in a first down, instead gave Athens the ball.
Bradley wasn't surprised by Mifflinburg's fourth-down gamble.
"They're confident," he said. "They have a really good football team, they believe in themselves, I can't second-guess them for that."
Senior Connor Davidson said he understood the decision.
"I was a little surprised, but I can't blame them," he said. "They're also fighting for the same thing we're fighting for.
"We have seniors, they have seniors," added Davidson. "We just won a couple more football games with our guys."
Three plays later, on third-and-11, Marmor made a nice sliding catch of a Davidson pass for a 15-yard gain to the Miff 23.
Davidson ripped off a 21-yard run on the next play, then capped the five-play drive with a 2-yard TD run with 7:38 remaining in the game. A high snap resulted in no attempt on the extra point, and Athens led 23-14.
Mifflinburg returned the ensuing kickoff to its 40, but a block-in-the-back call moved the ball back to the 11.
Despite a pair of dropped passes, Snyder engineered a 10-play drive, highlighted by three completions for 47 yards, including a tremendous catch in the end zone by Marr for a 26-yard TD. Boyer's PAT kick closed the gap to 23-21 with 4:28 left in the contest.
Athens picked up one first down, but ended up punting the ball away with 2:28 left in the game. The punt was a soaring 46-yard kick by Fisher that Marr fielded at the 11, then slipped as he cut and was down at the 13.
After a 9-yard completion to Moser gave Mifflinburg on second down, Snyder was stopped fora 1-yard loss by Robbins to force a fourth-and-2.
Snyder's pass was batted into the air by Flynn, and corralled by senior Jess Oldroyd at the Miff 18.
Athens went into victory formation and took a knee three times to run out the clock.
Davidson led the Athens offense with 180 rushing yards and three TDs on 30 carries, as well as completing 8 of 19 passes for 72 yards.
Cooke added 40 yards on 11 carries, while Rowe led Athens' receivers with three grabs for 57 yards, and Persun added two catches for 17 yards.
Moser led Mifflinburg with 109 rushing yards and one TD on 19 carries. Miff had a total of 126 yards on the ground.
Snyder completed 12 of 23 passes for 182 yards and one TD, with one interception. McBride led the Wildcats with three grabs for 59 yards.
Bradley said the win was a big one for the Athens program.
"We started off four years ago, and we had two seniors," he said. "The next year we had three seniors, and we took some beatings. We played Danville (in Districts) and got whipped. We started seven freshmen in a playoff game, and had a 135-pound middle linebacker.
"Now, we have eight seniors playing defense, it's a little bit different team," noted Bradley. "Hopefully, kids in our school see that and we can build depth and graduate 14, 15, 16 kids a year; that's what you need to make a strong program.
"That's what these programs down here do," added Bradley. "Hopefully, we can feed off this, and do bigger things."
Athens will travel to top-seeded Mount Carmel Friday for the District 4, Class 3A championship game.
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IN PHOTO 1: Athens senior Brendan Cooke. IN TOP PHOTO: Athens senior Connor Davidson scores one of his three TDs. ... PHOTOS BY TIM BIRNEY.
