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Trinity fends off pesky Blue Raiders, loses Kuntz to knee injury
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Article RatingMIDDLETOWN – The way it was drawn up, Billy Phillipy was the one who should have made the always lasting first impression Saturday afternoon.
Problem was, Middletown had the 6-foot-2, 215-pound tight ended covered on the first play from scrimmage.
So instead of hitting Phillipy for a big gain, running-back-turned-quarterback Christian Kuntz, who took a handoff from quarterback Ted Spinelli, calmly looked to the other side of the field and found Spinelli wide open for an 80-yard touchdown.
It took all of 14 seconds for the Shamrocks to suck the wind out of Middletown via the pitch-and-catch in front of a large crowd on the Blue Raiders’ homecoming at War Memorial Field.
Despite not having his number called on the first play, Phillipy stayed the course and ended up making a very lasting impression with four catches for a game-high 104 yards and two receiving touchdowns as the Shamrocks held off a pesky Middletown side, 31-14, in a Mid-Penn crossover win.
“We practiced that one this week,” Spinelli said of the trick play. “The first option was Billy going deep and then the second one was to me. So I told Christian before the game that I knew I’d be wide open, just hit me with the ball and I’m going to score.
“We sort of planned on that being a touchdown on the first play.”
The Shamrocks (6-1) needed to jump on Middletown quickly. With the day not only serving as homecoming but also as the rededication of the 60-year-old field, Trinity coach Jeff Boger knew the Blue Raiders (5-2) would be psyched up.
“We wanted to do something to try and deflate them right off the bat,” Boger said. “It was a play we worked on all week. It was supposed to go to Billy but he was covered so we hit Teddy coming back. They executed it very well.”
The rest of the day it was Spinelli finding Phillipy in open space.
Trinity’s second drive was capped off on Spinelli’s 39-yard pass to his tight end, who showed his soft hands and nimble moves to stay in bounds down the home sideline for a 14-0 lead.
In the second quarter, Spinelli found Phillipy again, this time for a 15-yard gain on a third-and-6. The pass was the fifth of an eventual 14-play drive that ate up 6:18 and ended in an 8-yard Spinelli-to-Kuntz touchdown pass for a 21-0 lead.
“I was just waiting for a game like this,” said Phillipy, who had 10 catches for 184 yards and zero touchdowns through the first six weeks. “Ted and I practice (the waggle) a lot but never seem to use it. Today, it was the right day to use it.
“Teams aren’t expecting us to do that a lot because we’re a running team. It caught them off guard and it was working for us so we kept at it.”
After the first half, Middletown knew the Shamrocks would keep throwing to Phillipy but the linebackers simply couldn’t cover the big man with deceptive speed.
“We were playing man with a young kid (at linebacker) and he got beat three different times,” Middletown coach Roy O’Neill said. “There’s not much more you can say about that. We got beat by an older kid.”
After halftime Middletown was able to harness some momentum and marched 81 yards in 11 plays to cut the gap to 21-7 when Marcus Hile sprinted into the end zone from 10 yards out.
Following the kickoff, Spinelli fumbled the snap and Marcel Gonzalez recovered, giving the Raiders the ball at Trinity’s 20-yard line.
Four plays later running back Rodney Ramsey, lined up in the shotgun, rolled to his right and found Hile open in the end zone for a 10-yard touchdown and a seven-point deficit with 2:01 left in the quarter..
“They knew we played a miserable first half of football and didn’t look anything like the football team we’re capable of being,” O’Neill said. “They came out and battled.”
“(Middletown’s) kids got inspired when they started to drive the ball and started to have success,” Boger said. “When you score, it gets excitement flowing. It was a great job by them to put us in that position where we had better perform or they were going to roll.”
Trinity responded when Kuntz broke free down the visiting sideline but was caught by safety Matt Brinser. Kuntz fumbled, Middletown’s Ryan McClure recovered and the senior, who has verbally committed to play for Penn State University next year, remained on the turf.
Kuntz, who grabbed two first-half interceptions, didn’t return in the fourth quarter and exited the field on crutches with a bag of ice wrapped around his left knee.
Despite losing Kuntz, the Trinity defense stiffened, forced a punt and capped an 11-play drive with a 22-yard Breton Asken field goal for a 24-14 lead with 5:31 to play.
“That was big because it put us up by two scores,” Boger said. “In that situation, I like our chances with our defense.”
On Middletown’s next drive, Phillipy’s big day continued.
Facing fourth-and-5 from his own 32, Middletown quarterback Aaron Lupia was pressured and eventually sacked by defensive tackle Jeff Goyette and Phillipy, a defensive end, for a 9-yard loss.
Trinity finished off Middletown when Spinelli found Phillipy for a 20-yard touchdown to set the final with a mere 1:18 remaining.
“We had a lot of emotion going,” Phillipy said of the fourth-down stop. “I told the defense to show me some heart and we did. We got to the quarterback. That’s what the (defensive) line does. We love getting to the quarterback.”
NOTES: Trinity returns to Mid-Penn Patriot Division play next week at home against Steelton-Highspire (7-0) while Middletown travels to Camp Hill (6-1). Both games kick at 7 p.m. … Trinity now leads the all-time series, 2-1. It was the teams’ first meeting since Trinity won, 16-13, in 1983. … Middletown, which has lost six of its last seven homecoming games, drove to Trinity’s 4-yard line but failed to convert a fourth-and-goal pass as time expired. … Boger was unsure of the injury Kuntz suffered and declined to predict if he’ll be available Friday. “He’ll get looked at and we’ll see what’s wrong with him and we’ll go on,” Boger said. “He’s either in our lineup next week or he’s not. We’ll have 11 people ready to go play against Steel-High next week.”
Boiling Springs 47, Scotland 13
Bubblers quarterback Derek Behrenshausen scored five touchdowns — two passing, three rushing — ran for 41 yards and threw for 132 in his team’s 47-13 rout of the Scotland Cadets on the road Saturday. Boiling Springs scored 21 points in the first quarter and held a 27-7 lead at halftime.
Zane Frederick led the Bubblers in rushing yards with 67 on eight carries. The Boiling Springs defense held the Cadets to just 75 yards on 28 carries and intercepted three passes.
Camp Hill 62, Susquenita 21
The Lions scored 42 points in the first quarter alone, carrying a 55-7 lead into halftime and ultimately defeating the Blackhawks 62-21.
Susquenita quarterback Derec Sauve threw for two touchdowns but also committed three interceptions — one of which was returned by Camp Hill’s Tyler Freeman 40 yards for a touchdown in the first quarter.
Lions quarterback Tyler Shover rushed eight times for a game-high 89 yards and three touchdowns.
Blackhawks receiver Russell Hiddemen recorded a game-high 83 receiving yards on three receptions. Hiddemen scored both of his team’s second-half touchdowns — one rushing, one receiving.
