Late Touchdown Run Seals 35-28 win for Lewisburg over Midd-West

Written by: Matt Beltz on Sunday, October 4th, 2020. Follow Matt Beltz on Twitter.

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SELINSGROVE – The last time Max Moyers played a home game on a Saturday night at Selinsgrove last year, he tore his ACL, which ended his junior season.

This time, Lewisburg’s Saturday night home game at Harold Bollig Memorial Stadium ended much better for the senior back.

With the Green Dragons and Midd West tied 28-28 with 1:30 remaining and Lewisburg backed up at its own 17-yard line following a 39-yard punt by the Mustangs, Moyers took control. He hauled in a pass for seven yards, his only catch of the night, and had 15 yards added to the end of the play after a personal foul. Moyers then took off on back-to-back runs of 32 and 29 yards, with the second ending in the end zone with :47 remaining to help Lewisburg come away with its first win of the year, 35-28 over the Mustangs.

“That was Max literally saying ‘I’m not losing.’ Their defensive tackle had him by his chest and he just ran through it and shoved him off,” said Lewisburg coach Marc Persing. “I think it was good for his confidence that he can still break off those runs. When you’re playing us, you’re going to try to stop Max, but when things get rocking and rolling, that’s a three-headed monster with Ethan (Dominick) Max and Cam (Michaels). We just need to get rolling more consistently.”

That three-headed monster was in full force on Saturday. With his strong finish, Moyers finished with 131 yards on 21 carries and pair of touchdowns, while Michaels hauled in seven passes for 98 yards and a pair of touchdowns. He also ran for 35 yards on three carries, one going to a score. Dominick, who played running back his first two years but moved to quarterback out of necessity this year, completed 10-of-19 passes for 136 yards and a pair of touchdowns, including 7-for-12 for 103 in the second half.

“We put on film tonight that our quarterback can throw the ball. He’s another kid that just works and works and he’s a natural running back that’s committed to playing quarterback for this team because that’s what we need to do to be successful,” said Persing.

Prior to Lewisburg’s final drive, Moyers had been somewhat contained by Midd West, rushing for 70 yards on 19 carries. He scored the first touchdown of the game to give Lewisburg a 7-0 lead late in the first quarter, but from that point, it was a back-and-forth game, with neither team able to pull away.

“Moyers is a good back and we knew that, but I’m really pleased with our defensive front tonight. They did a good job containing their running game but they got those two plays and that was the killer for us,” said Midd West coach Bradley Hatter.

On Lewisburg’s next drive after Moyers’ initial touchdown, the Green Dragons put together a six-play, 43-yard drive capped by a Michaels’ 12-yard touchdown run on the first play of the second quarter, which was just the beginning of his night.

But from there, Midd West put together a long 15-play drive that took nearly seven minutes and was capped by Hunter Wolfley’s 13-yard touchdown catch in the corner of the end zone, which was the beginning of a standout night for the Mustang senior.

Wolfley would go on to score all four of the Mustangs’ touchdowns, running 22 times for 61 yards and a touchdown and hauling in four catches for 107 yards and three scores.

“He’s a really good player and does everything we ask of him. He battled through injury this week and came out and fought and competed and I’m sure he’s hurting right now,” said Hatter. “We challenged our guys and the one thing we wanted to see out of them was them competing and we did that, and I think we saw what we can do when we do that for four quarters. We just didn’t make enough plays.”

Wolfley’s next two catches went for 52 yards and 35 yards, both touchdowns in the third quarter, and both following a pair of Lewisburg turnovers, which gave the Mustangs a 21-14 lead.

But Lewisburg was able to answer with Michaels’ 20-yard touchdown reception, which came on a fourth-and-5 play with 3:17 left in the third to tie the game. Following a three-and-out by Midd West, Michaels keyed Lewisburg’s next drive with a 31-yard catch to flip field position, and then a 26-yard touchdown reception to put Lewisburg up 28-21 early in the fourth.

But Michaels committed a costly mistake later in the fourth when he allowed a punt to hit him despite trying to move away from it, and Midd West recovered the fumble at the Lewisburg 26, and six plays later, Wolfley ran it in from 10 yards on a third down play to tie the game with 4:17 remaining.

The teams exchanged punts on their next two drives, the latter of which by Midd West pinned the Green Dragons at their own 17, setting the stage for Moyers’ heroics.

“We could have folded at halftime or when we fumbled the ball on the punt, but these kids just wanted to win and deserved to win, and we’re just going to get ready for our three-game gauntlet now,” said Persing.

Lewisburg 35, Midd-West 28
Midd-West (0-4)    0  6 15  7 – 28
Lewisburg (1-3)     7  7  7 14 – 35

First-quarter
3:31 – (L) Max Moyers 12-yard run (Landis kick), 3-11, 1:30

Second-quarter
11:51 – (L) Cam Michaels 12-yard run (Landis kick), 6-43, 2:37
4:59 – (MW) Hunter Wolfley 13-yard pass from Christian Regester (kick blocked), 15-76, 6:52

Third-quarter
7:37 – (MW) Hunter Wolfley 52-yard pass from Christian Regester (Swan pass from Regester), 3-43, 1:08
5:29 – (MW) Hunter Wolfley 35-yard pass from CHristian Regester (Portzline kick), 4-34, 1:33
3:17 – (L) Cam Michaels 20-yard pass from Ethan Dominick (Landis kick), 6-67, 2:12

Fourth-quarter
11:45 – (L) Cam Michaels 26-yard pass from Ethan Dominick (Landis kick), 7-58, 2:23
4:17 – (MW) Hunter Wolfley 10-yard run (Portzline kick), 6-26, 2:44
:47 – (L) Max Moyers 29-yard run (Landis kick), 3-83, :43

Statistics
                                                    MW                          L    
First downs                                   13                          15
Rushes-net yards                      41-56                     34-173
Passing yardage                          137                        136
Passing                                     7-24-3-1               10-19-2-0
Fumbles-lost                                3-1                         4-3
Penalties-yards                           5-49                       6-74

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING: Midd-West: Hunter Wolfley (22-61-1), Trey Lauver (9-8), Christian Regester (9-(-6)), TEAM (1-(-7)); Lewisburg: Max Moyers (21-131-2), Ethan Dominick (9-11), Cam Michaels (3-35-1), TEAM (1-(-4))
PASSING: Midd-West: Christian Regester (7-23-137-3-1), TEAM (0-1-0-0-0) ; Lewisburg: Ethan Dominick (10-19-136-2-0)
RECEIVING: Midd-West: Hunter Wolfley (4-107-3), Corey Reinard (1-14), Eli Swan (1-11), James Troup (1-5); Lewisburg: Cam Michaels (7-98-2), Simeon Beiler (1-20), Jack Landis (1-18), Max Moyers (1-7)

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