After the nightmare the Pottsville High football team endured in losing to last year to Tamaqua, it was probably best not to ask the Crimson Tide their thoughts on the bus ride home Friday night from Tamaqua Sports Stadium.

Let’s just Tamaqua’s 21-19 victory stung the Tide even more than last year’s 24-21 gut punch that came as the result of two long pass completions in the final minute.

This time, Pottsville led through three quarters and appeared to be building momentum in the Schuylkill-Colonial Red Division after last week’s opening league 16-7 victory at Jim Thorpe.

Instead, the Blue Raiders had other ideas as they shredded the Tide’s defense with a pair of fourth-quarter touchdowns.

Pottsville hurt itself, and Tamaqua benefited, with incomplete and dropped passes and the inability to crack into the end zone on a fourth-and-one try from the one late in the half.

The Tide led 7-0 at the half on an 18-yard touchdown pass from Andrew Allen to Nick Huda, and Allen’s point-after kick in the second quarter.

In the third quarter momentum began to shift as the Raiders began to control the line of scrimmage.

Sophomore running back Terrence McDowell broke free for an 8-yard touchdown run in the third quarter, but the Tide hung on to a 7-6 advantage when the extra-point kick failed.

McDowell, however, was just getting started, finishing with 35 carries for 135 yards to nearly match his two-game totals of 40 carries for 170 yards and one touchdown coming into the game.

With 11:33 remaining ,McDowell scored on a 4-yard run, and the Raiders went ahead 14-7 when Brady McCabe caught a conversion pass from Chase Serfass.

Pottsville responded, but still couldn’t pull even because of a missed kick after Christian Alvarez caught an 8-yard touchdown pass from Allen.

McDowell then ran eight times on an 11-play, 56-yard drive that he ended with a 13-yard touchdown run.

That gave the Raiders a 21-13 lead with 2:54 remaining.

Allen then directed a 58-yard scoring drive, completing passes of 14 yards to Donovan Durham and 31 yards to Colin Kline.

With 68 seconds remaining, Allen scrambled seven yards for a touchdown, but the Blue Raiders forward wall stopped the run for the two-point conversion.

In addition to McDowell, sophomore Ace Schickram came up big for the Raiders. He had four carries for 40 yards and three receptions for 25.

JuJu Bainbridge had 17 carries for 48 yards to lead the Tide.

Tamaqua 21, Pottsville 19

Pottsville 0 7 0 12 - 19

Tamaqua 0 0 6 15 - 21

P – Huda 18 pass from Allen (Allen kick)

T – McDowell 8 run (kick failed)

T – McDowell 4 run (McCabe pass from Serfass)

P –Alvarez 8 pass from Allen (kick failed)

T – McDowell 13 run (McCabe kick)

P – Allen 7 run (run failed)