Dealing with adversity for the first time this season, Tamaqua responded like a champion.

Through their first six games, the Raiders had been dominant. So dominant in fact, that they hadn’t faced any real game pressure.

That changed on Friday night.

Facing a deficit against North Schuylkill, Tamaqua answered quickly and emphatically.

A four-play, 80-yard touchdown drive that featured the passing skills of Brayden Knoblauch and the receiving prowess of Nate Boyle reversed the Raiders’ initial deficit of the season.

Tamaqua never trailed again on its way to a 26-14 victory in the battle of Schuylkill League unbeatens.

“That was a big answer from our kids,” said Tamaqua coach Sam Bonner. “When North Schuylkill took the lead, no one hung their heads.

“We came out and it was bam, bam, bam ... right down the field.”

Knoblauch said the Tamaqua coaching staff noticed that North Schuylkill was really committing to stopping the run, especially on first down plays.

“Our coaches made some great calls,” said Knoblauch. “We ran a number of play-action passes on that touchdown drive. They were biting on the fakes and flying up. Nate did a nice job of running his routes, the line gave me time, and I was able to make the throws.”

Knoblauch was 4-for-4 on the drive with three of them going to Boyle, including the 33-yard touchdown pass with 3:36 left in the half that put Tamaqua ahead 13-6.

Boyle, who also scored the first Raider touchdown on a powerful eight-yard run and added his team’s third TD on a one-yard run, said whether he spreads out as a receiver or lines up in the backfield, his mindset is the same.

“Whatever it takes,” said Boyle. “Whether it’s running the ball, catching the ball, or blocking for a teammate, I just try to do anything I can to help the team.

“This was unbelievable tonight. With the great crowd and playing an unbeaten North Schuylkill team, this was probably the biggest game I’ve ever played in. I’m just really happy that we were able to play like we did and keep this (unbeaten season) going.”

If the late second quarter touchdown drive was Tamaqua’s biggest of the season to date, its scoring drive to open the third quarter might have been the second most important.

Taking the opening kickoff, the Raiders (7-0) once again relied primarily on their passing game, marching 66 yards in seven plays to make it 20-7 with 8:50 left in the third.

Knoblauch was once again perfect in the drive, hitting all four of his attempts for 54 yards. Boyle caught three of the passes for 44 yards, including a 16-yard strike that put the ball inside the one. He then carried it in himself on the next play.

“We thought the first possession of the second half was going to be big,” said Bonner. “We established some momentum with our score late in the first half and we knew that if we could tack on another one to open up the third quarter it could be huge.

“We had some things in our game plan that we hadn’t used in the first half. We talked it over at halftime, and thought some of those things could work. So we went to them in the opening drive and Brayden did a really nice job of executing them.”

North Schuylkill (6-1) used a long touchdown pass from Jordan Leiby to Brandon Rockwell that cut the Tamaqua lead to 20-14 and once again apply some game pressure on the Raiders.

But this time the Tamaqua defense responded. After forcing punts on the next two NS possessions following the score, they sacked Leiby and forced a fumble that Matt Amodea recovered at the Spartan 22.

A couple of plays later, Nick Breiner raced 20 yards for the clinching score with just over four minutes remaining.

WHITE OUT ... Tamaqua showed up in force for the school encouraged “White Out.” Mike Hromyak said the paid attendance of 2,783 was biggest crowd he can remember in his 25 years as the school’s Athletic Director. “It was an awesome experience,” said Bonner. “The crowd and community support was unbelievable tonight and has been all year.”

BIG PICKS ... Tamaqua got interceptions from both Boyle and Pat Burns. Boyle’s pick deep in Spartan territory set up the first Raider TD, while Burns’ pick came in the end zone to stop a NS threat.

GETTING HOT ... After missing on his first three pass attempts, Knoblauch completed 12 of his next 15. He finished 12-for-18 for 154 yards. Boyle caught seven of those for 121 yards.