10/1/2011 Weekend Recap
October 4, 2011Rainy Saturday for Kutztown
by Rachael Hill, Tim Cronrath, Dan Faust, and Laura Miller
Rookie Mighty Mite QB Cole Galing Gets the Snap from Clayton Cadwallader
The thirty eight miles to the Twin Valley Middle School field felt like a trip to the beach on a beautiful sunny weekend except it wasn’t beautiful and it wasn’t sunny. The roads were jammed with traffic on 422 on the way to Morgantown because it was another day of qualifying for the Auto-Plus National Hot Rod Association at nearby Maple Grove Raceway in Mohnton, PA. Grey skies were brighter in the early afternoon but by early evening the sky opened up pouring relentlessly on the crowd of spectators, players and cheerleaders under the Saturday night lights of the Twin Valley turf field.
It would be easy to blame the pouring rain as a major factor in the losses the Cougars suffered, but that wouldn’t be true. Twin Valley Raiders have been a force on the field with all of their teams from Knee Highs to Midgets being undefeated coming into these match ups. The Cougar Mites were the only undefeated Kutztown team but they lost 31-0 to the Raiders in the tirade of heavy rain. The Mites missed starters Jake Aston and “Big Ben”, Benny Seyler. Rookie quarterbacks Logan Bachman, Lewis Weaver and Johnny Harrison were unable to get past the Raider defense while the Twin Valley offense was able to score on almost every possession.
On the Twin Valley field, the Junior Varsity (JV) Cougar Mighty Mites held their own against Spring Ford Blue who has already defeated Central Catholic 26-0, Pottsgrove 13-0 and Blue Mountain 19-0 losing only to Coventry 18-14. With a scoreless first half, the Knee High Rams faced the Kutztown defensive wall. The lead went to Kutztown when quarterback Dylan Miller with protection from his line especially Trenton Delp and Spence Morris, was able to make a 27 yard touchdown run. With little time left on the clock, the Rams were able to make a 65 yard run on their own possession leaving the score tied 6-6 at the buzzer. Coach Tim Cronrath was proud of his team, “They did a stellar job holding Spring-Ford to one touchdown. We were only one play away from victory.”
The Varsity Cougar and Raider Mighty Mites did not allow much movement of the ball in their match up either. Spared rain during their game until the final three minutes, the Cougar defensive line with Ethan Groff, Matthew Hill, Mason Kleinsmith, and Spence Morris stood strong. Lineman Carson Sheetz had an excellent game making several key tackles but Twin Valley broke through in the last two minutes of the game. According to Cougar Mighty Mite Coach Dan Faust, “Our defense has turned around. They had given up three or more touchdowns per game in the last three weeks, but they held Twin Valley, the top ranked team in the league to only one, last minute touchdown.” (Twin Valley’s Mighty Mites toppled Fleetwood 7-0, Penn Alscace 34-0 and Oley 19-0.)
The evening ended with the Cougar Midgets suffering with more player injuries requiring the game to be called at half time with Twin Valley up 31-0. This ended Twin Valley’s busy day hosting different teams. According to one of their coaches, they have been hosting football games for two other schools whose fields were flooded with all the continued rain.
Meanwhile, the Kutztown Blue and White Flag teams combined forces to pounce on the Hamburg Hawks at the Hamburg field under the lights on Saturday, October 1, 2011 at 6 pm. Each time the Cougars scored, the Hawks answered with a touchdown of their own. Mitchell Miller scored with two long run touchdowns. Wyatt Slostad scored with a 75 yard touchdown with wing man Mitchell Miller blocking for him. Daniel Franzone had an impressive 7 defensive flag pulls for the game. Both teams played awesome as the game came to a close. Hamburg held Kutztown as the clock ran down and the Cougars gave one last effort to score but to no avail.
