Millersburg’s option too much for East Juniata

Written by: Josh Funk on Sunday, October 11th, 2009. Follow Josh Funk on Twitter.

BEAVER SPRINGS, Pa. – The Saturday night sunset over Beaver Springs was one to behold.

So was Millersburg’s defensive performance against East Juniata, which entered the game riding four consecutive victories.

Millersburg (3-3) outrushed East Juniata (4-2) 312-84 in a convincing 27-6 victory at West Snyder Middle School. The Indians outgained the Tigers 384-200 in total offensive yards and finished with 21 first downs to EJ’s nine.

The Indians’ option attack wasted little time in getting things going. On its third offensive play, Millersburg’s Jared Wolfgang darted in from four yards out, and Millersburg had a quick 7-0 lead.

Millersburg pushed that advantage to 14-0 on its next possession. An 11-play, 98-yard drive was highlighted by runs of 19 and 17 yards by James Miller and Nolan Allman, then Wolfgang found a wide open Jacob Haddock on a 33 yard scoring pass on a seam rout. Millersburg led, 14-0.

East Juniata got its lone score of the night off of a trick play in the second quarter. After intercepting Wolfgang, halfback Wade Truitt hit a streaking Dexter Herman down the Tiger sideline for a 64-yard touchdown pass, slicing the Millersburg lead to 14-6.

EJ had earlier tried a halfback option pass in the first quarter, but Truitt’s pass sailed well over Herman’s head. On that play, Herman was wide open and probably would have scored a touchdown.

Tigers’ coach Tom Feltman said after the game that his team probably could have had 21 points in the first half, but failed to take advantage of some opportunities.

Millersburg wasted little time in salting the game away in the second half. The Indians opened things up with a 12-play, 58-yard drive that ate over six minutes off of the clock, and Allman’s 14-yard run pushed the lead to 20-6.

Miller capped the scoring with 10:04 left in the fourth quarter on a 25-yard sweep down the home sideline. That score also capped a 12-play drive, this one spanning 78 yards.

Millersburg saw two of its running backs finish with more than 100 yards rushing. Andrew Acker had 23 carries for 114 yards, while Miller finished with 114 yards and a score on 11 carries. Allman added 69 yards on seven totes, and Wolfgang, in addition to 72 passing yards, added 13 carries for five yards for the Indians.

EJ’s Wing-T scheme never quite got going on this night. Feature back Wade Truitt was held to 54 yards on 14 carries. The touchdown pass gave the senior 120 total yards of offense for the game. Kyle Pannebaker finished 4-of-10 for 46 yards with two picks. Running back Nick Krazter added 11 carries for 41 yards. Herman finished with four catches for 96 yards.

Millersburg returns home next Friday to host Tri-Valley, while EJ looks for its fifth win of the season against Newport.

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