MC football wins fifth in a row; clinched playoff berth

By Kenny Varner Jr.
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Updated: October 20, 2018

By BRIAN CARSON

GREENCASTLE – The Mifflin County football team clinched a playoff berth for the first time since 2013 with a 33-14 Mid-Penn Colonial conference victory Friday night over Greencastle-Antrim for their fifth straight win, a program record.

“Coming into the season that (the win streak) really wasn’t a goal. We are not focused on that, we want to win each game and hopefully next week we can come out hard and win the league,” Mifflin County coach Scot Sechler said.

The Huskies (5-4, 4-1) can capture their first conference title in program history if they defeat West Perry (7-2, 3-2) next Friday at Mitchell Field.

Mifflin County advances to the District 6 playoffs for the third time in school history and faces top seed State College at Memorial Field on November 2.

“We are so excited to be in this position,” Sechler said. “We’re very thankful for our administration. I’m thankful for my coaches. Those guys do a great job and the effort they put into it and the hours upon hours of film and preparation is great. I’m blessed to be here as a head coach and I’m loving it.”

After a close first half, the Huskies turned up the pressure and their power running game wore down the Blue Devils (2-7, 0-6). Mifflin County, riding the legs of Gage Schaeffer and Nathan Poche, out-pointed Greencastle-Antrim 21-7 in the second half.

Mifflin County pounded out 285 yards on the ground as the Husky offensive line wore down the Blue Devil defense. Gage Schaeffer finished the game with 145 yards and a score, while Nathan Poche gained 91 yards with three second-half touchdowns.

But it was Zach Bickhart who provided the spark for the Huskies. Bickhart took the opening kickoff of the second half 67 yards to the Greencastle 13. On the first play from scrimmage in the second half, Poche ran 13 yards to daylight. Jacob Krepps passed to Isaiah Collins for the two-point conversion giving Mifflin County the 20-8 lead just 47-seconds into the third quarter.

“We said at halftime that we have to come out and make a statement and I thought we did that,” Sechler said. “We came out in our heavy set (three fullbacks) right away. A long kick return helped out. We got up-tempo and tried to wear them down some. I’ve got to give credit to our offensive line.”

The Blue Devils answered when quarterback Max McDowell capitalized on a Husky turnover and ran it in from 13-yards out for the TD to make it 20-14 with 9:35 to go in the quarter. That was a close as Greencastle would get.

Mifflin County answered with a 9-play, 75-yard drive, all runs, that ended on a Poche 3-yard bull rush up the gut. The conversion pass failed to give the Huskies the 26-14 advantage.

The Huskies put the game away with a dagger in the fourth quarter on a massive 14-play drive ending with Poche’s third touchdown.

Mifflin County started the game sluggishly – allowing Greencastle to hang around. The Huskies scored on a 31-yard run from Schaeffer, who had 113 yards rushing in the first half, and a seven-yard scamper from Brock Copouillez to give the visitors the 12-8 lead at halftime.

The Husky defense limited the Blue Devils to only 186 total yards. Mifflin County ended with 339 yards of total offense.

Mifflin County hosts the Mustangs in the regular season finale Friday at 7 p.m.