Juniata falls to West Perry in Friday night Football action

By Kenny Varner Jr.
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Updated: September 10, 2022

MIFFLINTOWN – West Perry to control early on and never looked back as Juniata were shutout by the Mustangs by the score of 24-0 in a non-league football game Friday night.
The Mustangs chose to receive the ball to start the game and on that opening drive, slowly but surely were marching the ball down the field right into the red zone. The Juniata defense however, were standing tall and were not budging and it came down to a fourth down and four yards to go.

West Perry decided to go for it and the gamble paid off as Mustangs’ quarterback Marcus Quaker found a wide open Holden Bassett in the endzone to put them ahead.

For the Indians, their opening drive did not fair as well as Aaron Kanagy tried to the ball to his receiver only to have it picked off by Ian Goodling.

From there on, it was all West Perry as in the second quarter, the Mustangs again were driving down the field with fullback Derek Snook putting the exclamation point on the drive powering his way up middle for a four yard touchdown run.

Then with two minutes remaining in the opening half, the Mustangs again were moving along towards the endzone as Quaker fired off a rocket at Trent Herrera looking for another touchdown, but defensive back Casey Smith was racing along side with Herrera and managed to get his arm up and knocked the potential touchdown catch away forcing West Perry to kick a 33 yard field goal which was completed.

The Juniata offense continued to struggle throughout the first half as the West Perry defense took away the run game for the Indians and never get into a solid rhythm. In fact, the Indians a had total yardage of 33 including negative five yards rushing.

However, Juniata did refused to give in, as the defense stepped up in a major way and did not allow any opportunities to put points on the scoreboard despite the continued struggles offensively.

The highlight of the night for the Juniata defense came during the third quarter with Smith making an incredible interception as West Perry wide receiver Dylan Gutshall tried to receive a pass but the ball tipped off his fingers as well as Smith’s, but Smith continued to go after it and managed to catch the ball.

But the Mustangs then put the game on ice during the fourth period with a two yard touchdown run by Herrera and along the extra point made it 24-0.

Overall the Indians compiled a total of 169 yards of offense with Waylon Ehrenzeller having 11 carries for 48 yards including a 37 yard run. On the defensive side of the ball, the Indians were had three players with double digit tackles for the game in Ethan Espitia who had 10, Jasper Shepps with 11 and Ehrenzeller leading the team with 15.

Juniata falls to (1-2) and will look to get back on track next week as the Indians will host Newport to begin league play.