MIFFLINBURG – None of the players on this year’s Mifflinburg team were born the last time the program played in a district championship game, much less won a district title.
In fact, despite having one previous district championship, the Wildcats had never won a district championship game entering Friday’s District 4 Class 3A championship game against Montoursville.
That’s because back in 2002, there were no district playoffs, so the Wildcats shared a district title that year with Shamokin and advanced directly into the state tournament.
So, while they may not have been technically playing for their first district title on Friday, Mifflinburg was looking for its first outright title and its first victory in a district championship game.
Thanks to what may be its two strongest units in the same season – offense and defense – since going 10-0 in the regular season in 2002, Mifflinburg has now reached a first in program history. The Wildcats forced three Montoursville turnovers and held its opponent to 14 points or less for the ninth time in 12 games, and that resulted in a 35-12 victory over Montoursville.
“These kids deserve this, they worked their butts off to be here. Everyone put in the work to be here, and I’m proud to be their coach and I think this is a big indication of what is to come in the future,” said Mifflinburg coach Cody Botts. “We’re going to enjoy this tonight and tomorrow, and I can’t say enough about the group of kids these are. I love them to death, and I’m looking forward to being their coach for a long time.”
While it is Mifflinburg’s offense that has received much of the accolades this season – scoring 40 points in seven of your first 11 games entering Friday will do that – it was largely its defense that was the difference on Friday.
“I really believe our front seven and our defense as a whole hasn’t gotten the love our offense has,” said Botts. “Our offense is explosive and scores a lot of points, but I just really think our defense has been an anchor for us all year. They’ve done a good job against run heavy and pass heavy teams and they continue to play for each other week in and week out.”
The Wildcats, who had handed Montoursville one of its two losses on the season with a 35-7 defeat back in Week 4, held Montoursville to 243 total yards, but of that total, 138 came on the Warriors’ two scoring drives of the game, one of which came late in the fourth quarter when the Wildcats had taken a 35-6 lead.
“Not enough is probably written about their defense. Their offense always gets the headlines but I thought they were very physical up front and they fly to the football,” said Montoursville coach Joe Hanna. “They make it tough to run the football anytime and when they get you into second and third-and-long, it makes it tough on your offense.”
Christian Banks, Montoursville star out of its offensive backfield, was held to just 53 rushing yards on 16 carries. His longest run prior to a 13-yard pickup late in the fourth quarter was just for six yards. Elijah Eck threw for 155 yards, but 48 of those came on a single scoring play, and he was also picked off three times by the Wildcats.
“We weren’t able to run the ball efficiently enough and we had them starting to sit on some stuff,” said Hanna. “There’s only so many things you can throw before teams start reading different things that you’re doing. Besides a few big plays, they really didn’t do a lot throwing the ball either consistently.
Chad Martin’s one-yard touchdown run at the 8:18 mark of the fourth quarter gave the Wildcats the 35-6 lead and it capped a 15-play, 68-yard drive that took 8:44 off the clock. It was the last of three rushing touchdowns on the night for Martin, who led Mifflinburg on the ground with 67 yards on 13 carries and also completed 8-of-13 passes for 156 yards and a touchdown.
Martin’s lone touchdown pass of the game broke an early stalemate and drew first blood late in the first quarter. He found Landen Murray in stride for a 70-yard touchdown pass after Murray had slipped behind the Montoursville secondary. That was the biggest play in a big night for Murray, who hauled in six passes for 138 yards.
Montoursville answered on its ensuing possession as Eck found Jay Houseknecht in stride as well for a 48-yard touchdown pass. It was nearly a carbon copy of Martin’s toss to Murray as Houseknecht beat his defender and got behind Mifflinburg’s secondary. The PAT was blocked by Mifflinburg, however, leaving the Wildcats with the lead.
Mifflinburg extended that lead with two more scores before halftime. The Wildcats took advantage of a short field after Jackson Griffith picked off Eck and set up Mifflinburg at the Montoursville 33. The Wildcats needed just five plays to find the end zone again on a five-yard run by Martin at the 4:26 mark of the second quarter.
The Wildcats then just beat the clock going into the half, as Martin capped a six-play, 69-yard drive with a one-yard plunge with :20 to go in the half to give Mifflinburg a 21-6 lead heading into the break.
That lead was extended to 28-6 midway through the third quarter when Jackson Marr stepped in front of a Montoursville receiver and picked off Eck and returned it 34 yards for a touchdown. Marr read the play the entire way and easily jumped the receiver’s route.
With Mifflinburg playing softer coverage up by 29 points in the fourth quarter, the Warriors put together a 12-play, 79-yard drive capped by an Eck five-yard touchdown pass to Kingston Fisher to cap the scoring with 3:31 left in the game.
For Montoursville, the game marks an end to an otherwise successful season, and a bounce back campaign following a 6-6 season last year.
“These seniors had it in their minds that they were going to change the trajectory of the program. Last year, obviously we finished .500 and that wasn’t good enough, so we worked really hard from January on and did all of the stuff you need to do to be a good football team and the seniors led,” said Montoursville coach Joe Hanna. “The conditions weren’t great, but both teams had to play on it. It certainly didn’t help us but I don’t know how much of a factor that was. Give them credit, they have a heck of a football team.”
The win advances the Wildcats to meet Scranton Prep, the District 2 champion, next week at a District 4 location to be announced.
Mifflinburg 35, Montoursville 12
Montoursville (9-3) 0 6 0 6 – 12
Mifflinburg (10-2) 7 14 7 7 – 35
First quarter
:43 – (MI) Landen Murray 70-yard pass from Chad Martin (Boyer kick), 7-91, 3:24
Second quarter
10:17 – (MO) Jay Houseknecht 48-yard pass from Elijah Eick (kick blocked), 5-59, 2:26
4:26 – (MI) Chad Martin 5-yard run (Boyer kick), 5-33, 2:24
:20 – (MI) Chad Martin 1-yard run (Boyer kick), 6-69, 2:11
Third quarter
6:41 – (MI) Jackson Marr 34-yard interception return (Boyer kick)
Fourth quarter
8:18 – (MI) Chad Martin 1-yard run (Boyer kick), 15-68, 8:44
3:31 – (MO) Kingston Fisher 5-yard pass from Elijah Eck (run failed), 12-79, 4:47
Statistics
Mo Mi
First downs 14 18
Rushes-net yards 28-88 40-153
Passing yardage 155 170
Passing 10-20-2-3 10-15-1-1
Fumbles-lost 2-0 1-0
Penalties-yards 4-38 3-25
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING: Montoursville: Christian Banks (16-53), Elijah Eck (9-36), Kaden Kleinman (2-(-2)), Chase Jones (1-1); Mifflinburg: Chad Martin (13-67-3), Landon Moser (10-39), Seth Hartman (7-36), Landen Murray (5-(-5)), John Parker Marr (3-13), Kaiden Kmett (2-4)
PASSING: Montoursville: Elijah Eck (10-20-155-2-3); Mifflinburg: Chad Martin (8-13-156-1-1), John Parker Marr (2-2-14-0-0)
RECEIVING: Montoursville: Kane Moore (3-32), Christian Banks (3-29), Jay Houseknecht (2-78-1), Chase Jones (1-11), Kingston Fisher (1-5-1); Mifflinburg: Landen Murray (6-138-1), Seth Hartman (1-13), Luke Brubaker (1-10), Cole Reibsome (1-7), Jackson Griffith (1-2)