A bus accident. A torrential rainstorm. A fumbled opening kickoff. Halftime darkness. And, eight penalties.
Tamaqua overcame it all, relying on the punishing 1-2 ground game of brothers Terrence McDowell and Malachi Stewart. The two combined for 275 yards on 47 carries and the Blue Raiders’ defense made it stand by generating a couple second-half turnovers to hold off Saucon Valley 22-15 in Thursday night’s District 11 Class 3A quarterfinal at Montford E. Illick Stadium.
It was Tamaqua’s first playoff win since 2019, when it won the district title and reached the PIAA Class 3A semifinals.
The Blue Raiders’ bus carrying the varsity players was hit. Though no one was hurt, the bus was not drivable.
“It took us about two hours to get here,” Blue Raiders coach Sam Bonner said. “We had to get the varsity players on the JV bus, put the JV kids on the varsity bus and then have them wait for another bus to pick them up.
“There were no lights on in our locker room at halftime. We have a rain delay. We overcame a lot. After all that, we give them the ball on the 13-yard line to start the game.
Saucon Valley scored on the game’s third play on Braden Rohn’s 1-yard touchdown plunge. It came after teammate Parker Skoda recovered a Tamaqua fumble on the kickoff at the Blue Raiders’ 13-yard line.
Tamaqua responded on its first offensive series. After Ace Schrickram’s 55-yard kick return, McDowell scored four plays later on an 11-yard touchdown run and added the two-point conversion run for an 8-7 lead less than three minutes into the game.
“The thing is after we gave that up,” Bonner said, “we put together an offensive drive. We had a feeling we were going to be able to run the ball tonight. I think that gave our kids some confidence, that first drive.”
Tamaqua never trailed again.
Leading 16-15 to start the second half, the Blue Raiders got a missed field goal on their first defensive series then put together a 12-play, 79-yard drive to extend the lead to seven on McDowell’s 7-yard TD run with 44 seconds left in the third quarter.
Tamaqua’s defense then made two big plays to protect the lead.
Teegan Phillips’ sack was followed by Shawn Chen interception in the end zone on the first play of the fourth quarter.
After a Blue Raiders’ drive stalled out thanks to a penalty, they got it back three plays later when Luke Frohnheiser forced a fumble and Schrickram recovered it at the Tamaqua 43 with 2:18 left.
The Blue Raiders picked up four first downs to run out the clock.
“This was huge,” McDowell said. “Even yesterday, we spent all practice soaking the ball getting ready for the rain. We came out strong after I fumbled the ball on that kickoff. We came right back and scored, then our defense had an amazing outing at the end.”
Saucon Valley moved the ball, but struggled to get big plays in the passing game like it had many times this season. It had just 71 passing yards, and the weather wasn’t to blame.
Tamaqua dropped eight back in coverage with a spy on Saucon quarterback Braden Rohn and the Blue Raiders’ defensive ends did a good job keeping containment on Rohn in the pocket.
“Tamaqua is physical,” Saucon Valley coach Anthony Brinkley said. “They are pretty well coached. They are tough, hard-nosed kids. It just came down to execution. We had a couple drives stall out. Execution in the red zone could have been a difference maker.
“But I’m really proud of the way our kids competed.”
A series of penalties and punts followed the two quicks scores to start the game. The Blue Raiders eventually extended their lead to 16-7 when Chase Serfass hit Brady McCabe for a 33-yard touchdown pass with 1:13 left in the first quarter. McDowell ran again for the two-point conversion.
Saucon Valley responded 70 seconds into the second quarter on Rohn’s 5-yard TD run. It was set up by Thomas Cahill’s 43-yard option pass to Taylor Rohn. Eli Szlachtianshyn’s two-point run pulled the Panthers within a point.
Tamaqua followed with a 14-play drive to the Saucon Valley 8-yard line, but was stopped by a holding call and a fourth-down incompletion.
Saucon Valley drove to the Tamaqua 17-yard line to start the third quarter, but a Flynn Coleman sack on third down forced a 38-yard field goal attempt that was wide left.
The Panthers had two more drives. The first was stopped by Chen’s interception at the Blue Raiders’ 20-yard line. The other was Schrickram’s fumble recovery with 2:18 left.
McDowell and Stewart made sure to run out the clock for Tamaqua.
“I tried my best to block for [McDowell],” Stewart said. “I tell him that if I go outside, to follow me outside. And the line blocked good for us all night.”
Up next
Tamaqua (4-7) plays No. 1 seed Notre Dame-Green Pond (11-0) at 7 p.m. Thursday at a site to be determined. Saucon Valley’s season ends at 5-6.
Senior writer Tom Housenick can be reached at thousenick@mcall.com
TAMAQUA 22, SAUCON VALLEY 15
Tamaqua; 16; 0; 6; 0 — 22
Saucon Valley; 7; 8; 0; 0 — 15
ORDER OF SCORING
First quarter
SV: Braden Rohn 1 run (A.J. Sanders kick), 11:39
T: Terrence McDowell 11 run (McDowell run), 9:47
T: Chase Serfass 33 pass to Brady McCabe (McDowell run), 1:13
Second quarter
SV: Rohn 5 run (Eli Szlachtianshyn run), 10:50
Third quarter
T: McDowell 7 run (run failed), 0:44
TEAM STATISTICSTam; SVFirst downs; 19; 7Rushes-yards; 49-268; 25-97Passing yards; 63; 61Comp-Att-INTs; 4-7-1; 4-11-2Punts-avg.; 1-46.0; 2-38.5Fumbles-lost; 1-1; 1-1Penalties-yards; 8-85; 5-50
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICSRushing: (Tamaqua) Terrence McDowell 32-181, 2 TDs; Malachi Stewart 15-94; Chase Serfass 1-(-6); Ace Schrickram 1-(-1); (Saucon Valley) Braden Rohn 14-19, 2 TDs; Taylor Rohn 11-78.
Passing: (Tamaqua) Serfass 4-7-1, 63 yards; (Saucon Valley) Braden Rohn 4-10-2, 28 yards; Thomas Cahill 1-1-0, 43 yards.
Receiving: (Tamaqua) Brady McCabe 2-42, TD; McDowell 1-4; (Saucon Valley) Cahill 2-22; Taylor Rohn 3-49.
