A typical warfare strategy on the battlefield is to employ a strong vanguard unit up front to physically push the opposition out of its game plan. The hope is to eventually overwhelm the opponent and take command of the field.

Blue Mountain's approach resembled exactly that and the strategy proved effective, producing a 35-6 win over Tamaqua."We have a good group of kids that work extremely hard and it's just a matter of executing the game plan," Blue Mountain head coach Cory Mabry said. "The kids knew they would have a battle tonight because Tamaqua is a great football team."For three quarters, the game's outcome remained hanging in the balance. But the Eagle trench-workers wore down the Blue Raiders and provided the offense with plenty of maneuverability to pull away for the victory."No doubt, they are big and physical up front," Tamaqua head coach Sam Bonner reiterated. "We knew we would have some difficulties because they have some nice-sized kids and they're physical."Senior running back Lucas Forbes, along with the twin tandem of Mike and Matt Kalyan, proved to be a high-powered offensive corps on the ground as the Eagle rushing attack accounted for four of their five scores.The winners rattled off 21 unanswered points to finish the game and move to 7-1 overall and 6-1 in the AFL."Tamaqua's a great team that's well-coached, and they have a great running back and strong kids all over, so we knew we had to execute the game plan as best we could," Mabry said. "I thought we played as physical as we could and put some pressure on their quarterback."Out of intermission, Tamaqua was forced into a 4th-and-long and punted the ball to senior speedster Spencer Welsh, who returned the ball 42 yards to the Tamaqua 13-yard line to set up a Forbes TD that made the score 21-6.The Eagle defense held on consecutive Raider possessions and when the winners' Ian Donovan intercepted a pass it sparked another score. It took 65 yards and 11 plays for Matt Kalyan to plunge up the middle for a five-yard score making it 28-6 early in the final session.BLUE RAIDED ... Tamaqua's top wide receiver, junior Daylon Barron left the game midway through the second quarter in the back of an ambulance, following a collision. Post-game reports showed all positives in reference to the his recovery. Teammate Aaron Rega, who was filling in at nose guard exited the stadium on the back of golf cart earlier.DOWN THE ROAD ... Both teams have a tough test next week as Blue Mountain will host Jim Thorpe, while Tamaqua will face off with Lehighton.NOT BUD'S NIGHT ... Needing 40 yards to top 1,000-yards rushing this season, Tamaqua's Bud Moyer seemed poised to eclipse the mark in the contest. However, the senior talent was held in check. He finished the game with 17 carries for 24 yards.