Tomahawks show heart but fall to Cyclones

By rscaife
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Updated: June 25, 2017

SHIPPENSBURG – After meeting last year in the GEFA championship game, the Mount Joy Cyclones and Mifflin County Tomahawks started to build its rivalry which culminated this chapter in the rematch of last year’s contest, Saturday night in the second consecutive title tilt visits at Shippensburg high school Saturday night.
Both teams came into the contest undefeated as Mifflin County sported a 12-0 record while Mount Joy came in 11-0.
After Saturday’s title tilt some will say the rivalry just got a whole lot bigger as the two two team battled from beginning to end.
Though the Tomahawks kept the scrambling quarterback Greg Medina in check for the most part in the Tomahawks still found themselves trailing at the end of the first half.
When the final buzzer sounded it was the Mount Joy team that came out with the 48-36 win.
Along with the Cyclone win came some controversial penalties and no-calls that went against the Tomahawks with a 9-1 deficit in call discrepancies between the two teams.
Mount joy took its first possession deep into Mc territory to start things out.
Defensively, Mc temporally drove the Cyclones back early from one yard to two on third down.
However, Medina called his number for the 3-yard TD run pat.
Mount Joy snuffed out Mifflin County’s first drive be intercepting a Lashawn Bell pass.
On its second drive, Mt. Joy was helped on a two consecutive questionable pass interference calls.
But the Tomahawks got one back as the Cyclones were called On a holding penalty taking them back to the 18.
Running back Rod Scheffler scored on the 3rd run 1:44, making it14-0.l with the successful PAT.
The Tomahawks Timmy Back got the charge going on the kick off combined with a late hit, setting things up for running back Harrr Lowbar.
Lowbar put Mifflin County on the scoreboard punching in a touchdown with 1:26 showing in the opening quarter. The PAT was good, cutting the Cyclones lead to 14-8.
3rd possession
Mifflin County’s Defense picked it up a safety sacking the quarterback as he threw the ball going down, cutting it 14-10.
After the ensuing kick the Tomahawks got the ball on their five after kick.
However, the drive was stalled as the Cyclones notched its second Interception.
However, the defense of Mifflin County forced a punt but had the ball deep in their end, starting at the 3-yard line.
Forced a third down
Mount Joy revved up their defense and got their offense the ball back.
Medina extended the Cyclones lead on designed run for the score. The PAT was good upping the lead to 22-10, 3:53 left in the second.
Neither team was able to punch in a score before intermission.
But the Tomahawks were still within striking distance.
In the third, Mount Joy added to its lead when Medina found Jason Nyhart on a fluke pass that went through a teammates hands and back to Nyhart, with an unsuccessful PAT, the Cyclones increased its advantage to 28-10 with 3:29 left in the third.
The game proved to be a shoot out in the final stanza as both teams went back up and down the field successfully. It would be the Tomahawks time to shine as they were able to erase a 34-10 deficit and in a span of just seconds got themselves back in the game.
The defense forced the Mount Joy offense back into its own end zone and notched a saftey, making 34-12.
On the free kick to follow, Shaquan Wright ran the kick off all the way from goal line to line with 8:17 left, making it 34-18.
Mount Joy wasn’t about to give up the lead that easy as Medina hooked up once again with Nyhart scoring a touchdown at the 7:01 mark. With the successful PAT, the Cyclones were up 42-18.
Mc outscored Mount Joy the rest of the way, outscoring them 18-6 in the final minutes to cut things to 48-36.
But time ran out on the Tomahawks momentum, despite the team leaving everything out on the field and never giving up.
The Tomahawks finished as GEFA runner ups. But look out for next year as this rivalry will just get bigger as another chapter was wrote Saturday night.