Midway through the third quarter of Friday night’s Clash of 61, it was anyone’s game. But in the end, Blue Mountain had too many answers for Pottsville’s questions.
The Eagles pulled away with 34 points in the second half to take the rivalry trophy, 44-14, at the Eagles Nest.
Blue Mountain head coach Chuck Kutz said his team really needed to dig in at halftime to get past Pottsville Friday night.
“They were blitzing and catching us off guard,” he said. “They were moving the ball offensively on us, too.”
Kutz said he realizes every team the Eagles face this year is likely going to be the game they circle on their schedule. And he needs to get his team ready for that each week, especially tough when they’re facing rivals on back-to-back weeks. Last week, Blue Mountain topped Schuylkill Haven in the Backyard Brawl game.
While the Eagles took a big lead into the half last week, that was not the case on Friday night against the Tide.
Pottsville’s Donovann Durham had just flown past the Blue Mountain defense for 70 yards and pulled the Crimson Tide within 2 points, 16-14, with a little more than 6 minutes remaining in the third.
The game had gone into halftime with Blue Mountain up 10-7 and the Eagles came out after the break and expanded their lead with a 10-play, 75-yard drive that ended with a Brody Foose 6-yard touchdown run.
Durham answered on the first play from scrimmage after Foose’s touchdown to keep the game close but the Eagles had a quick answer of their own and then they kept answering.
MORE: Blue Mountain Takes Backyard Brawl with Convincing Win Over Schuylkill Haven
Cohen Kirby hit Sonny Amato on a 62-yard pass on the Eagles’ next play and Amato capped the 2-play drive by running it in from yards out to put the Eagles ahead 23-14.
The Tide looked as if they were going to keep pace with their rivals on the next drive, marching into Blue Mountain territory, but Landon Daubert intercepted a Tommy Welsh pass and took it back 64 yards for a score to create some distance on the scoreboard.
It was all Blue Mountain after that.
“I said people are going to want to play hard against you,” Kutz told his players. “I thought (Pottsville) played an excellent ball game.”
Eventually, Kutz said, it was his side that won the “battle of attrition” and emerged victorious.
“I think we wore them down a bit and got in open space and our people in space do really good things,” Kutz added.
Foose scored on the first Blue Mountain drive of the fourth quarter to provide the exclamation point while Dominic Carestia underlined the win with another late score.
For the game, Foose carried the ball 19 times for 181 yards and 3 touchdowns on the ground. Amato racked up 125 yards on just 9 rushes. Kirby was 9-for-16 through the air for 136 yards. Chase Guers and Frank Russo each had 3 catches for 34 yards apiece.
Durham finished with 138 yards on a dozen carries on the ground for the Tide. He put Pottsville on the board in the first half with a 22-yard run. Max Clews had 63 yards on 6 runs.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | F | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PVL | 7 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 14 |
| BMT | 3 | 7 | 20 | 14 | 44 |
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