SAINT CLAIR – Minersville quarterback Dante Carr connected with receiver Paiten LaPoint for three touchdowns in the first half, and Justin Cutler had two interceptions on defense for the Miners. Both of those things helped the Battlin’ Miners defeat Nativity 34-0 at Saint Clair Veterans Memorial Stadium on Friday night in the 8th annual “Battle in the Backyard.”
On the opening drive of the game, Carr hit LaPoint for a 21 yard touchdown to make the score 7-0 in favor of the Miners. On the next Battlin’ Miner drive, Carr once again finds LaPoint open downfield for a 68 yard touchdown to increase the lead to 14 points. Moving to the middle of the second quarter, Cutler picked off his first pass of the season on a ball thrown by Colt Mason of the Green Wave. The score gets to 20-0 with 6:15 left in the 2nd quarter as Carr finds Ty Atkinson, who made a great catch right by the pylon for 6 more points. The PAT by Jordan Bowers was blocked. “Paiten did what Paiten did, runs by kids” Carr said, and that is what happened on this next score. With less than a minute left in the half, Carr hits LaPoint who juked out two defenders for a 22 yard touchdown to make the scoreboard show 27-0.
The 2nd half was pretty quiet, but Adam Eckert ran 2 yards into the end zone for a Minersville touchdown in the 3rd quarter. Cutler picked off a long ball thrown by Mason in the closing minutes of the 4th quarter.
Cutler said he was happy to get his first interception of the season in this game. He gives a lot of credit to the Miners line.
Each team gets an MVP award voted on by media members present at the game. LaPoint won the Brian Laudeman Award (Minersville MVP award). Mason won the John Lieberman Award (Nativity MVP award).
Overall, Minersville improves their record to 6-2 as they face off with the Bulldogs from Tri-Valley next week. Nativity falls to 4-4 on the season as they get ready to play the Schuylkill Haven Hurricanes, the best AA team in the state.
