FOUNTAIN SPRINGS — Big plays decide big games.
When push came to shove in Friday’s Anthracite Football League showdown between Blue Mountain and North Schuylkill, the Eagles made more of them.
Spencer Welsh had a game-changing catch, Mike Kalyan ran for two touchdowns and Mark Chelius returned an interception 65 yards to paydirt as Blue Mountain upended North Schuylkill 24-20 at Ghosh Orthodontics Field at Spartan Stadium.
The victory is the 10th straight for Blue Mountain (2-0, 2-0 AFL) dating back to last year and ends a 14-game regular-season win streak for North Schuylkill (1-1, 1-1).
“This is huge,” Blue Mountain coach Cory Mabry said. “We replaced nine players on offense and nine players on defense. ... This is a tribute to how hard our kids worked in the offseason, how great our coaches focused on increasing their talents and making them better every day.
“Every (big) play that we had
tonight was made big a kid, that for the most part, didn’t play a lot last year. It’s a serious team effort that just feels awesome.”
Welsh, a 6-foot-1 junior wide receiver/defensive back, was the first Eagle to step to the fore.
North Schuylkill dominated most of the first half, taking a 7-0 lead on a trick play, a 12-yard jump pass from Richie Zahodnick to Tevin Murray on a fourth-and-1 early in the second quarter.
Zahodnick took the handoff and appeared to head into the middle of the line, only to stop, jump up and throw the ball to a wide-open Murray in the end zone. It would be Murray’s only catch of the game, but more on that later.
“We came out in something they weren’t used to, and it was tough for them to adjust,” North Schuylkill coach Wally Hall said. “We capitalized offensively, but then we started to stall.”
Blue Mountain went three-and-out on its first four possessions and had just 13 total yards and no first downs before Alex Zimmerman recovered a Pat Gownley fumble at the North Schuylkill 32 with 6:08 left in the first half.
Three plays later, with the Eagles facing fourth-and-9 from the 31, Blue Mountain quarterback Mason Freed lobbed a ball down the sideline for Welsh, who outleaped North Schuylkill’s Scotty Grigas to make the catch at the Spartans’ 1.
Mike Kalyan plunged in from the 1-yard line on the next play to tie the game at 7.
“I was just trying to get open. We have a good quarterback in Mason Freed, and we just tell him to get us the ball,” Welsh said. “We just needed one big play. We know we can run with any team out here.”
Welsh’s play changed the momentum of the game.
Blue Mountain forced a quick three-and-out and scored again on a three-play, 52-yard drive. Freed found Danny Greenawalt and Welsh on passes of 8 and 9 yards before Mike Kalyan broke free for a 31-yard run that gave the Eagles a 14-7 halftime lead.
The six-minute spurt by Blue Mountain to end the first half was boosted by a couple of factors.
One, the Eagles stuffed the Spartans’ running game that had controlled the game early. Playing a 3-5-3 defense, the front line of Zimmerman, Brayden Lewis and Jon Ege and the linebacking corps of Mike Kalyan, Matt Kalyan, Lucas Forbes, Greenawalt and Connor Kerstetter filled the gaps, took control of the line of scrimmage and put pressure on Bobby Grigas when he tried to throw.
North Schuylkill rushed for minus-7 yards in the second half and the Eagles recorded five sacks of Grigas.
Kerstetter, a 6-2, 210-pound junior, played physical bump-and-run coverage on Murray on the outside and essentially took him out of the Spartans’ passing attack. Welsh, playing cornerback, provided help on deep balls, twice knocking the ball away from Murray on key plays in the second half.
“We had a great scheme. Coach (Harry) Myers came up with an awesome scheme to take Murray out of the game,” Mabry said. “We felt like if we stayed focused and did our assignments, we could slow them down a little bit.”
Second, the Eagles found their running game.
After using a series of backs for most of the first half, the Eagles went to Mike Kalyan, who finished with 61 yards on 13 carries. After Welsh’s catch, Blue Mountain rushed for 126 yards on 33 carries, almost 4 yards a carry.
“They were doing a very good job of taking our outside game away,” Mabry said. “We just decided to just go at them. We thought we could handle them up front. The kids just played their hearts out.”
North Schuylkill tied the game on its first possession of the second half, going 67 yards in seven plays. A 47-yard bomb by Bobby Grigas to Bobby Wagner got the ball to the 1-yard line, where Major Jordan plowed in to tie the score.
Blue Mountain answered midway through the fourth quarter with a 55-yard, seven-play drive that featured a 24-yard run by Matt Kalyan and a key North Schuylkill penalty.
Christian Puzzi’s 20-yard field goal put Blue Mountain ahead 17-14 with 5:10 left.
That’s when Chelius delivered his big play.
Four plays after Puzzi’s field goal, the senior safety picked off a Grigas deep ball and returned it for a touchdown to give the Eagles a 24-14 lead. The play before that, Grayson Umbenhaur had a 6-yard sack of Grigas to make it fourth-and-16 and force the Spartans to go long.
North Schuylkill did answer with an 11-play touchdown drive to slice the deficit to 24-20 on a 2-yard TD pass from Grigas to Jordan Marlow with 1:07 left, but Blue Mountain’s Jack McKivigan recovered the onside kick attempt and the Eagles ran out the clock.
“I just needed to make a play,” Chelius said. “We wanted to win this game. We want to be Anthracite League champions.
“This is amazing. It feels great to come out on top.”
Game Summary
BM (2-0, 2-0) 0 14 0 10 — 24
NS (1-1, 1-1) 0 7 7 6 — 20
NS — Murray 12 pass from Zahodnick (Murray kick)
BM — Mi. Kalyan 1 run (Puzzi kick)
BM — Mi. Kalyan 31 run (Puzzi kick)
NS — Jordan 1 run (Murray kick)
BM — FG Puzzi 20
BM — Chelius 65 interception return (Puzzi kick)
NS — Marlow 2 pass from Grigas (kick failed)
BM NS
First Downs 11 12
Rushes-Yards 36-141 37-54
Passes 7-14-1 13-27-2
Passing Yards 77 172
Total Yards 218 226
Fumbles-Lost 0-0 2-1
Penalties 4-35 4-35
INDIVIDUAL LEADERS
RUSHING: Blue Mountain — Mi. Kalyan 13-61, Ma. Kalyan 4-42, Forbes 12-34, Greenawalt 1-8, Chelius 2-5, Freed 4-(-9). North Schuylkill — Gownley 14-61, Zahodnick 6-14, Jordan 2-9, B. Grigas 5-(-30).
PASSING: Blue Mountain — Freed 7-14-1, 77. North Schuylkill — B. Grigas 12-26-2, 160; Zahodnick 1-1-0, 12.
RECEIVING: Blue Mountain — Welsh 3-47, Ma. Kalyan 1-14, Forbes 1-9, Greenawalt 1-8, Mi. Kalyan 1-(-1). North Schuylkill — Zahodnick 5-67, B. Wagner 1-47, Marlow 6-46, Murray 1-12.
INTERCEPTIONS: Blue Mountain — Welsh, Chelius. North Schuylkill — Jordan