McVeytown Pee Wees win over Juniata!

By Kenny Varner Jr.
- Tweet
- Pin It
Updated: October 8, 2023

By Joshua Yoder
MCVEYTOWN – Like the old saying, it takes all three phases of the game to win and McVeytown did just that in their 46-31 victory over Juniata in Peewee football action Sunday afternoon.
At first, it appeared as though the game was going to be a shootout as throughout the first half, both Juniata and McVeytown were trading shots with one another.
The Indians struck first with just under eight minutes to play in the first quarter as Carson Kirk motored his way into the endzone for a seven yard touchdown.
About three minutes later, the Eagles responded as Calvin Napikoski muscled his way in for the score with a six yard run to even the score at six apiece.
But a few minutes after that, Juniata made a monstrous play as Kirk flew down the sideline for a 62 yard run to give the Indians back the lead 12-6 to end the opening period.
The Eagles answered in the second quarter as Napikoski found the endzone again with a seven yard run to even the game at 12.
But once again Juniata was able to pull off a big time offensively as this time it was Brady Hartland who broke loose and hustled his way into the endzone for a 42 yard touchdown run to make it 18-12. The Indians went with a pass play for the extra point but the pass was tipped and landed into the arms of Alexander Weaver.
That interception gave McVeytown a lot of momentum and the Eagles capitalized as for the third time in the game, Napikoski ran into the endzone for the score as well as the extra point to give the Eagles a 19-18 lead.
The McVeytown defense made another big play late in the first half as Jayse Snyder scored another interception to keep the lead at 19-18 heading into the break.
However, it became all Eagles throughout the second half with the lone score of the third quarter came from Carter Smith who managed to get to the outside for a nine yard touchdown run before Napikoski scored the extra point to go up 26-18.
During the fourth quarter, Napikoski scored his fourth rushing touchdown of the day and Lincoln Knable added the extra point.
Then Knable took his turn as he found the outside and hustled his way into the endzone with a 27 yard run to give McVeytown a 39-18 lead.
Special teams played a major role in the quarter as the Eagles took advantage of Juniata mishaps as the Indians fumbled the ball twice on back-to-back kickoffs in which both times the ball was recovered by Cole Laughlin.
But despite the issues, Juniata continued to battle hard and finally got on the board in the second half as Kirk burst through the McVeytown defense with a 52 yard run into the endzone as well as getting the extra point to make it a 39-25 ballgame.
Napikoski then scored his fifth and final rushing touchdown of the day this time going 33 yards before Weaver fought his way in for the extra point.
The Indians were not going away quietly as Hartland threw a rocket downfield into the hands of Mason Delancey for a 57 yard receiving touchdown.
Juniata came out victorious in a close battle with McVeytown in the Mighty Nots game by the final of 6-4.
McVeytown will hit the road next Sunday as the Eagles will compete against the Kish Indians while Juniata will also be traveling as the Indians will go up against the Burnham Bulldogs.