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Blue Mtn. stymies Tamaqua

ORWIGSBURG - Every football coach can draw up plays with X's and O's.

But the name of the game is execution.During Blue Mountain's 29-7 Schuylkill Football League victory over Tamaqua on Friday, the winners executed and the visiting Raiders did not.After a scoreless first quarter, it appeared that Blue Mountain and Tamaqua would live up to their selection as the Times News Game of the Week.However, the Eagles began to drive the ball against the young Raiders in the second period. Blue Mountain used a bevy of running backs and carefully called passes for its inexperienced quarterback David Krewson, who was starting his second game.Blue Mountain eventually scored on a four-play, 71-yard drive later in that second quarter. Connor Kerstetter broke through a hole off left tackle and scampered 25 yards to put his Eagles up 7-0.Five minutes later, Krewson hit Ben Kramer on a swing pass for a 76-yard score after a few broken tackles at the line of scrimmage.Just as it appeared that the Eagles would take control of the game, Raiders' linebacker Josh Gordon intercepted a pass deep in Blue Mountain territory and returned the ball to the 14 yard-line.On the very next play, Tamaqua's Thad Zuber found Zeke Wassell in the right corner of the end zone to cut Blue Mountain's deficit to 14-7 at the half.The entire second half belonged to Blue Mountain, as its defense held the Raiders to only 55 yards of total offense"We obviously failed to move the ball with any consistency, " said Tamaqua coach Sam Bonner. A missed block here, and a dropped pass there made it tough to get any offensive rhythm going."The Raiders fell down by two scores when Krewson hit Dan Greenawalt over the middle for a 33-yard TD. Tamaqua could not answer back."We had poor field position during the entire second half," said Bonner. "They are a very good team and our young players made too many mental mistakes."Blue Mountain would score again in the fourth quarter, set up by a 26-yard punt return by Spencer Welsh. Four plays later, Kerstetter plunged in from one yard out to make the score 27-7."Right now we are a borderline team," said Bonner. "If we don't fix our game, it will continue to be a rough go for us."ONE DRIVE AND DONE... Tamaqua put together just one extensive drive in the game. The Raiders' 51-yard series of plays in the first quarter ended with an incomplete pass at the Blue Mountain 33 yard-line.PRESSURED PUNT... Tamaqua punter Eddie Titus chased down a bad snap near his goal line in the third quarter. Under tremendous pressure, he side-kicked the ball out to the 34 yard-line.BACK AND FRONT... Blue Mountain was flagged for 14 penalties in the game, several of them being illegal procedures. Moving back five yards so many times didn't deter the Eagles' offense, as they still rolled up 382 total yards.