Juniata takes Central Keystone Pee Wee title against tough McVeytown team

By Kenny Varner Jr.
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Updated: October 17, 2021

By Kenny Varner

LEWISTOWN – On a crisp Autumn Saturday night a champion was crowned at Mitchell Field.

The Juniata Pee Wee football team battled a spunky McVeytown in the Championship game of the Central Keystone Football and Cheer League.

Mix a strong opportunistic offense with a strong defense and you get a Juniata Indian 27-0 win over the Eagles.

Running back Bryson Summers lit up the ground game for the Indians, posting a 112-yard rushing performance. He also picked up two touchdowns.

“We played well on both sides of the ball today. We tackled well and we ran the ball hard on offense,” said Juniata coach Joe Dowling. “We really didn’t them anything to try against us. We played tough on both sides of the ball. We played well in all four stages as well. Everybody played hard.”

The Indians defense set the tone early as they opened the game by forcing a fumble and putting their offense on the Eagles 45.

McVeytown’s defense held strong for three plays, forcing the Indians to a 4th down and 5 on the Eagles 40.

Summers took the fourth down hand off and blazed his way around the end and motored for a 20-yard gain and most importantly a first down.

Juniata used that early momentum to bust on to the scoreboard.

Summers again got the nod and scored on a 13-yard TD scamper that resulted in the touchdown.

The Indians went to their kicking for an extra point.

Kicker Landry Becker was automatic and Juniata held a 7-0 lead.

Though the Eagles got strong runs by Colt Bratton and Blake Specht, the Eagles had a tough time breaking through on the scoreboard and get any long established drives together. But the Eagles never gave up and continued battling throughout.

“I’m super proud of this team. I couldn’t have hand picked a better team. These guys played awesome,” said McVeytown coach Mike Bratton. “They never quit once. They played every down. We are really super proud of them.”

McVeytown held Juniata the rest of quarter with the Indians leading 7-0.

But just minutes in the second quarter, the Indians went back to its ground game.

With 7:00 left in the half, Zakary Blessing muscled his way in from 5-yards out, upping the score to 13-0.

Defensively, the Indians stopped the Eagles on their third drive of the game and put the ball in the hands of a sizzling “Big Red” offense.

For the second time in the contest, the ball was handed off to Summers.

Summers blazed his way down field as he broke loose on a 42-yard jaunt, putting the Indians in a comfortable position after another PAT by Becker, making it a 20-0 lead.

Juniata scored one last time before the end of the first half.

Jaxon Dowling anticipated an Eagle pass and intercepted the ball and scooted up the left side lines for the final touchdown of the game.

In the second half, McVeytown’s defense stiffened and refused to give up any more points and they were successful.

Unfortunately for the Eagles, the Juniata defense were just as determined, closing out the championship game.

But the two walked out as the top two Pee Wee teams in the Central Keystone League and added their names to the League’s history.