LEESPORT — When you have the “stud hoss,” you don’t keep him in the barn — you let him run.
Tamaqua let its stud running back, senior Collin “Bud” Moyer, run all night against Schuylkill Valley to a 37-14 victory, in what could easily have been a trap game for Tamaqua, which faces Jim Thorpe next week in a big Anthracite Football League contest.
Moyer scored five touchdowns, scoring in every quarter, and lugged the pigskin 38 times for 208 yards. He had rushing TDs of 6, 2, 1, 1 and 4 yards and accounted for all of the Blue Raiders’ points, except for Thorn Devlin’s five extra points and a safety from a punt snap that sailed out of the end zone.
“We said going in if we could ride Bud tonight, we were going to do that, and he showed tonight he could take on a big load,” Tamaqua head coach Sam Bonner said.
Moyer said this was his first game ever with five TDs, but he had run for more than 200 yards twice last season.
“It was a team effort. The line played great. I hit the holes. We all did our job and we got the win,” Moyer said.
While Moyer took care of the offense, the Blue Raider defense, particularly in the first half, shut down the Panthers, seemingly spending more time in the Schuylkill Valley backfield than the Panthers did.
In the first half, while Tamaqua racked up 23 points and 189 yards, the Raider D held the Panthers to minus-13 yards rushing and 18 yards passing, a net of 5 yards. Schuylkill Valley had no first downs (and didn’t get its first until 3:24 remained in the third quarter).
Other than that three and a half minute, third-quarter hiccup when the Raiders gave up two scores after amassing a 30-0 lead, it didn’t get much better for Schuylkill Valley in the second half.
The Panthers ended the game with 24 yards on the ground, and most of their 82 yards through the air came on a 60-yard catch-and-run TD on a Justin Nawrocki pass to Dalton Mohring.
The Panthers got their lone rushing touchdown on a 5-yard Brock Klahold run.
“In the first half, I thought our defense was probably our best offense,” Bonner said. “I thought our kids did a real good job of prepping for Schuylkill Valley’s zone read offense and they did a good job with it, especially in the first half.”
After the Panthers closed the gap to 30-14 at the end of the third quarter, Moyer delivered the coup de grace, running the ball on 10-of-10 plays and scoring on a 4-yard run.
Game Summary
Tam (1-1) 7 16 7 7 — 37
SV (0-2) 0 0 14 0 — 14
T — Moyer 6 run (Devlin kick)
T — Moyer 2 run (Devlin kick)
T — Safety, punt snap out of end zone
T — Moyer 1 run (Devlin kick)
T — Moyer 1 run (Devlin kick)
SV — Mohring 60 pass from Nawrocki (Strause kick)
SV — Klahold 5 run (Strause kick)
T — Moyer 4 run (Devlin kick)
Tam SchVal
First Downs 18 3
Rushes-Yards 55-311 26-24
Passes 3-9-0 4-7-0
Passing Yards 38 82
Total Yards 349 106
Fumbles-Lost 2-1 1-0
Penalties 4-25 7-66.5
INDIVIDUAL LEADERS
RUSHING: Tamaqua — Moyer 38-208, Schilling 4-38, Breiner 3-19, Dannenfelser 3-17, Zuber 3-14, Rega 3-8, Barron 1-7. Schuylkill Valley — Klahold 5-39, Polityka 5-4, Mohring 1-1, Austill 3-0, Glassmire 3-(-1), Worrell 1-(-2), Nawrocki 1-(-8), Robinson 7-(-9).
PASSING: Tamaqua — Zuber 3-9-0, 38. Schuylkill Valley — Nawrocki 4-7-0, 82.
RECEIVING: Tamaqua — Moyer 2-28, Dannenfelser 1-10. Schuylkill Valley — Mohring 2-67, Scarpaci 1-11, Worrell 1-4.
INTERCEPTIONS: None.