Somewhere along the trail, the Tamaqua football team lost its mojo, lost its momentum, and ended up losing a heartbreaking opener to a fortuitous Pen Argyl team, 14-6, Friday night.

The Green Knights scored a touchdown to open the fourth quarter to tie the game, and in a sudden-death-like scenario, the visitors delivered the dagger with 1:47 to play, dropping the Blue Raiders to their knees.

Lineman Jakob Pietraszkiewicz was in the right place at the right time. On a Tamaqua screen pass attempt, the charging Pietraszkiewicz suddenly found the ball in his arms — a lineman’s dream come true — and raced 54 yards uncontested to the end zone to seal the outcome.

“Jakob was in the right place,” Pen Argyl coach Brady Mutton said. “It’s what you try and teach linemen to do when a screen is coming.”

Had the play gone the other way, who knows what the result might have been.

Now Tamaqua will have to regroup before a road trip to North Schuylkill in six days. No one expected the opener to end on such a sour note for the Blue Raiders, who seemed to be in control until a questionable horse-collar penalty turned the tide. The call derailed a strong defensive series and gave Pen Argyl new life.

“We lost so much momentum because of a few calls,” Tamaqua coach Sam Bonner said. “We had a pretty good half, then all of a sudden we got a few breaks go against us.”

For most of the night, Pen Argyl’s offense was stuck in the mud. But late in the third quarter, a short Tamaqua punt gave the Green Knights the ball at the 33. Six plays later, Caiden Faust powered into the end zone from six yards out, capping a drive keyed by a determined 14-yard run from Terrel Estes.

“That was so big for us,” Mutton said of the touchdown and Estes’ run. “We have a lot of first-year players, and they’ve got a lot of first-year players, too. We just caught a few breaks, mainly because we hung in there. We kept battling.”

Tamaqua opened the scoring in the first half when sophomore running back Terrence McDowell (19 carries, 64 yards) capped a 52-yard drive with a 1-yard plunge. The 12-play march gave the Blue Raiders a 6-0 lead.

“I know we’re a pretty young team and it’s going to take some time before we get used to playing together,” Bonner said.

That inexperience showed again in the fourth quarter. After Pen Argyl’s tying score, McDowell returned the ensuing kickoff 62 yards to the Knights’ 21. But a penalty pushed Tamaqua back, and though quarterback Chase Serfas connected with Ace Schickram for gains of 7 and 22 yards, the drive stalled at the 15.

Tamaqua’s defense was asked to do plenty throughout the game.

“It was hard getting off the field,” Bonner said of the time his defense spent on the turf.

The challenge will only grow, as the Raiders now head to face a loaded North Schuylkill team on the road Thursday.

TOUGH NIGHT IN STRIPES … Officials had a rugged outing. A horse-collar penalty required a three-minute discussion before a flag was thrown. In the first half, all three penalties were on Pen Argyl. In the second half, nine flags were tossed for 90 yards, delaying the game nearly 75 minutes.

DEFENSIVE GEMS … Linebackers Luke Frohnheiser and Brady McCabe led Tamaqua’s defense. Schickram, Shawn Chen, Malachi Stewart, McDowell, Quinn Coleman and Teegan Phillips also had key plays.

THEY DID IT … Pen Argyl stayed aggressive despite its struggles on offense, leaning on Faust, Estes, quarterback Mason Soos and two-way standout Rocco DeCesare.

Pen Argyl 14, Tamaqua 6

Pen Argyl 0 0 0 14 - 14

Tamaqua 6 0 0 0 - 6

T – McDowell 1 run (kick failed)

PA – Faust 6 run (kick failed)

PA – Pietraszkiewicz 54 interception return (Estes run)