TodayBubblers can't hold lead on Spartans
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Article RatingHERSHEY — Milton Hershey played opossum through most of its football game against Boiling Springs — something easy to avoid for the most part, but not something you want to back into a corner.
The Bubblers may have found the latter quality out the hard way.
At Henry Hershey Field on Friday, Boiling Springs piled up big plays to reach the red zone five times but scored on just one trip in a 21-14 loss to the Spartans.
“I just think there’s maybe a little more state of urgency in the red zone,” Milton Hershey head coach Robert Guyer said of his defense. “I really thought, at the line of scrimmage, I thought our kids in the red zone came out of their stances hard and got the penetration we needed on other parts of the field.”
On 12 total plays in the Milton Hershey red zone, the Bubblers rushed or passed for a gain just twice, including halfback Zane Frederick’s 20-yard touchdown run on his team’s first trip inside the 20 12:08 into the game.
Fellow Bubblers offensive back Joe Spisak (4 carries, negative-5 yards) suffered an apparent leg injury late in the first quarter, leaving much of the rushing duties to Frederick.
And the senior did not disappoint, rushing for 158 yards on 35 carries — including three 20-plus-yard gains — and taking a pass from quarterback Derek Behrenshausen 62 yards to the Spartans 5-yard line with 4:19 left in the first half.
“Spisak really helps us out a lot and when he went down, it was really tough for us,” Frederick said. “Our team was ready to step up ... it wasn’t that bad.
“It was our line, pretty much. Every time I touched the ball, there was a big hole for me.”
That’s where the Bubblers’ red-zone struggles began. On second-and-goal from the 6-yard line, Behrenshausen’s pass attempt to the left was tipped by Milton Hershey linebacker Jorge Castro and intercepted by 6-foot-6 defensive end Garry Gilliam.
The Spartans scored on the ensuing series on running back Thomas Walker’s 79-yard run — Walker broke through the right guard, stiff-armed a Bubblers linebacker at midfield, and took off for the third of three Spartans touchdowns in the second quarter. Milton Hershey had scored on a 43-yard run through the right guard by quarterback Maurice Miller on the team’s first possession of the quarter and, on the ensuing Boiling Springs offensive series, reached pay dirt again when Bubblers reciever Matt Smith (4 receptions, 65 yards) caught a pass from Behrenshausen on the right sideline, turned, took a step and had the ball stripped right into the waiting arms of Milton Hershey defensive back Joshua Nyarko.
Nyarko took the fumble recovery 26 yards for the tie-breaking score.
In the Bubblers’ very next offensive series following Walker’s 79-yarder, Boiling Springs split end Brandon Barber hauled in a 32-yard pass from Behrenshausen to move Boiling Springs from the Milton Hershey 46-yard line to the 14. However, a fumbled snap on the team’s next play turned possession back over to the Spartans.
“We were making mistakes,” Boiling Springs head coach Matt Heiser said. “The kids played well, there’s not much else you can say.
“(Gilliam) is tough, he’s such a solid corner, so we tried to get around him ... (the Spartans) may not be the biggest kids, but they play with everything they have.”
Still trailing by seven in the fourth quarter, the Bubblers earned two more attempts to conquer their red-zone struggles, but couldn’t score the game-tying touchdown on either. Eleven seconds into the fourth quarter, a fourth-and-goal screen pass by Behrenshausen from the Milton Hershey 15-yard line fell incomplete.
The Bubblers, with 1:04 left in the game, fourth-and-11 from the Milton Hershey 18-yard line, another pass attempt missed its mark, giving Miller the chance to run the game clock down with a pair of kneels.
Behrenshausen, who completed 6-of-9 passes for 159 yards in the first half, was 0-for-7 in the final 24 minutes. In fact, aside from a 1-yard gain by fullback Dakota Kuhn, Frederick gained all 110 yards of offense for the Bubblers in the second half.
For Guyer, his team’s red-zone stands in what became a close victory was a testiment to what his team could accomplish if the Spartans limit their mistakes. The host scored all 21 of their points in a second quarter where it committed six of its game-total 16 penalties.
“Tonight, I really thought for the first time that we had good chemistry,” Guyer said. “We overcame some big plays that Boiling Springs created.
“Somehow, we survived.”
NOTES: The Bubblers were 3-for-4 on third and fourth downs in the first quarter, but converted just 1-of-7 attempts thereafter ... the Spartans were 0-for-3 on fourth down, including two attempts in Bubblers territory during the third quarter ... a pair of short Milton Hershey punts in the fourth gave Boiling Springs good field position — starting on its own 48 and 43, respectively ... the Bubblers defense tackled Spartans for a loss seven times, including two sacks.
