If you like offensive firepower, this was the game for you.

Tamaqua hosted Notre Dame of Green Pond in the District 11 3A semifinals on Saturday night, and the game surely lived up to the hype.

In a game that featured well over 800 yards of total offense, Notre Dame was just one score better than the Raiders, topping Tamaqua in a thriller, 40-33.

Both teams have been scoring points at will this season, but both have extremely different philosophies.

Notre Dame likes to spread it out, running mostly four and five-receiver sets, while the Raiders had strength in the backfield, and an extremely efficient quarterback behind center.

And both teams “did what they do” on Saturday.

The game, which featured five lead changes, started in Tamaqua’s favor when Nate Boyle plunged in form a yard out with 4:52 left in the first quarter. Boyle visited the end zone five times in the game and racked up 189 rushing yards.

“The kid has done everything for us,” said Tamaqua head coach Sam Bonner. “He’s a hard-nosed kid, and I don’t think he even came off the field for one play all night. He does everything, he long-snaps, he kicks extra points ... he’s never off the field and he makes plays.”

Both teams had many opportunities, and the Raider let one slip away right before halftime. Holding a 21-13 lead with 2:14 left before intermission, Tamaqua started its drive with great field position on the Notre Dame 46 after a bad Crusaders’ punt. The Raiders drove down to the 14 yardline, but couldn’t cash in over the next five plays. The Crusaders eventually stuffed Boyle on fourth down from the ND two-yard line.

“I thought it was a little sloppy down there,” Bonner said. But we had a shot to score with about 20 seconds left before half and against a team like this, you don’t want to leave points on the field.”

The Crusaders struck on the opening drive after halftime on a Christian Greggo eight-yard run, which made the score 21-20 in favor of the Raiders. On the ensuing Raiders’ drive, Ethan Aquino picked off Brayden Knoblauch and went 40 yards the other way to put Notre Dame ahead.

“He’s a senior for us and he’s having an outstanding season,” said Notre Dame head coach Phil Stambaugh. “I believe that was either his first or second interception for us this year. He had about seven last year playing safety, we moved him to corner this year. I’m happy for the kid, he’s one of our captains, and he really swung the momentum early in the second half.”

On the next Tamaqua possession, the Raiders drove down to the Notre Dame 7-yard line, but couldn’t convert on fourth down. The ball went back to the Crusaders, but the Blue Flock went down swinging, as the Raiders forced a fumble and Nate Wickersham fell on the football.

With the ball back to the Raiders, again, Knoblauch hooked up with Boyle down the sideline for a 25-yard touchdown, to give Tamaqua its last lead (27-26) of the season.

“We knew how good Boyle was, we knew how good Breiner was, and we know the quarterback could throw the ball,” said Stambaugh. “Looking forward, I know some of those guys are coming back. Tamaqua played very tough, that was a 9-1 football team that only gave up eight touchdowns all year. We knew what we were getting coming up here.”

But the story of the game for Notre Dame was ultimately the play of quarterback Cole DeFranco, who threw for 326 yards. Notre Dame is one of the only teams in eastern Pennsylvania that you will see running a ton of spread offense that a lot of other programs aren’t accustom to seeing.

“It’s a shame that you have to go home on a night like this and the season is over,” said Bonner. “I think every team had a chance to make some noise beyond the districts. I thought we won some big games and we were in every game. I thought we made the hurdle around Week 6 when we beat a good Pottsville team … our two losses came against two 9-1 teams and were both by a touchdown.”

DOWN TO THE WIRE … Tamaqua had one last chance to tie the game. The Raiders had the ball with less than two minutes left, but had no timeouts. Trailing by the 40-33 tally, Tamaqua had one final heave to the end zone from the Notre Dame 35. Knoblauch showed off his big arm, and threw it up for grabs, but the ball was intercepted.

SENIORS … Bonner gave kudos to all of his seniors. “I can’t say enough about them,” Bonner said. “Matt Amodea was a three-year starter on both sides of the ball for us. Nick Breiner has pretty much been our go-to guy for the past three years. Pat Burns and John Franco, both those guys stepped in, James Benderawicz was our guard when we ran a lot of that power-I, and Mikey Smith has played good special teams for us.”