MUNCY-The word gamble is defined as taking risky action in the hope of a desired result. Montgomery coach Christian Diggs felt the spirited effort his team put forth as an feisty underdog against Muncy was worthy of such a venture. Following a touchdown that cut the Muncy lead to 14-13 with 1:07 left in the game, Diggs decided to go for the win. Quarterback Logan Almedia rolled to his right under heavy pressure, and his pass sailed incomplete out of the back-right corner of the end zone.

The all-or-nothing defensive stop enabled Muncy to survive by the narrowest of margins after Ty Nixon recovered the ensuing onsides kick, 14-13, on Saturday. Muncy (10-1) will advance to the District 4 Class A championship game on Friday night against undefeated Canton at Towanda’s Endless Mountain Athletic Complex.

“I knew we could have made that extra point, but I wanted to go for two,” Diggs said. “We were playing the number one team in the state on their home field. We weren’t moving the ball like we wanted to offensively, so we thought that gave us the best odds. I let it up to these guys out here, our seniors. They’re the guys who were playing. I asked them what we wanted to do. They were all in, and that’s what we did.”

Montgomery (5-6) put together a gutsy 15-play, 85-yard drive that saw the Red Raiders convert two third-and-long situations, as well as two fourth downs. The second fourth-down conversion resulted in Almedia finding a wide-open Weston Pick for a 25-yard touchdown pass. Almeida was 7 of 10 on the drive, and was helped out by a nifty one-handed grab from Maurice Walters that went for a 25-yard gain.

“The last two weeks, we’ve been doing a lot of situational stuff,” Diggs said. “I was giving them crazy situations, and it was perfect. They replicated so much of that stuff under pressure. I would make fake bad calls in practice and put their backs against the wall. They fought until the very end.”

Had it not been for the Muncy defense making big plays throughout the first half, the Indians may not have been in a position to win the game down the stretch. Montgomery was inside the Muncy 30-yard line twice – including two drives that moved inside the 10. The trio of Branson Eyer, Elijah Weikle and Ross Eyer all came through with interceptions that ended scoring threats to keep the game scoreless.

“It feels good to come out of here with a win,” Muncy coach Sean Tetreault said. “It wasn’t how we wanted it, but a win is a win at this point in the season. We have to go 1-0 every week the rest of the season, and we’ll be OK.”

The scoreless tie was quickly broken after halftime. Maurice Walters took initially bobbled the second-half kickoff, worked his way through some traffic, and took off for a 78-yard touchdown on a fabulous return. The big play on special teams gave the Red Raiders a huge lift after the earlier missed opportunities.

“That was amazing, we couldn’t have asked for anything better,” Diggs said. “One of our coaches told Mo that we need something big here. He said ‘Coach, I got you.’ Then he came through and broke one for a long touchdown.”

Finding itself in an unfamiliar position, Muncy got an equalizer from its big-play combination. Branson Eyer had time to throw, and hit Ross Eyer, who had beaten man coverage, in stride for a 50-yard touchdown pass that tied the score with 3:40 left in the third quarter. The quarterback-receiver duo only tallied 57 yards on the day, but the long pass gave the Indians some much needed momentum.

“It’s great to have some big play threats on offensive side,” Tetreault said. “When they go man coverage like that, we have to be able to exploit it a little bit better than we did today, but it’s good to get win number one (of the postseason.)”

Late in the third and early in the fourth quarter, Muncy put together a 75-yard drive that resulted in the go-ahead touchdown. Austin Johnson and Nixon combined to touch the ball on nine of the eleven plays, and it was Nixon that finally capped it off. The senior found just enough room up the middle to get across the goal line from three yards out on fourth down, as he finished with 40 yards on 10 carries.

“This group up front is where we have some great seniors,” Tetreault said. “Kenneth Hampe is a freshman and Eli Harris is a sophomore. We have three seniors on that line for a reason. They’ve been in these big games. They know what it takes, and it’s great to see everybody put everything together.”

Despite ultimately falling short, Montgomery made it an entirely different game than the first time two teams met three weeks ago, when Muncy pulled away for a 40-12 win. Long after Muncy had departed for the locker room, Montgomery broke the team huddle and received a nice ovation from parents who were standing on the sidelines. The Red Raiders overcame injuries and a five-game losing streak to rally for two wins to close out the regular season, and a nearly pulled off a significant upset against one of the state’s Class A heavyweights.

“I wouldn’t trade these kids for the world,” Diggs said. “From these seniors, all the way down to the freshmen. These guys put the time in. From 5:30 am lifts during school, to two-a-days, to conditioning and none of these guys quit on me. They had my back from day one, and I’ll have their back for the rest of their lives. We lost to the number one team in the state by one point on their field. We gave everything we had.”

Montgomery 0 0 7 6-13

Muncy 0 0 7 7-14

Third quarter

MTG-Maurice Walters 78 kickoff return (Hayden Wilt kick) 11:44

MUN-Ross Eyer 50 pass from Branson Eyer (Loudon Boring kick) 3:40

Fourth Quarter

MUN-Ty Nixon 3 run (Boring kick) 6:53

MTG-Weston Pick 25 pass from Logan Almedia (pass failed) 1:07

TEAM STATISTICS

MTG MUN

First downs 13 10

Rushes-yds 37-116 31-100

C-A-I 13-26-3 8-14-0

Passing yds 114 119

Total yds 230 219

Fumbles-lost 1-0 2-1

Penalties-yds 5-40 7-35

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING-Montgomery: Colby Springman 23-88; Logan Almedia 9-17; Devon Deem 4-10; Weston Pick 1-1. Muncy: Austin Johnson 12-43; Ty Nixon 10-40, TD; Branson Eyer 5-21; Kaleb Meyer 2-(-2); Team 2-(-2).

PASSING-Montgomery: Almedia 13-26-3, 114 yds., TD. Muncy: B. Eyer 8-14-0, 119 yds., TD.

RECEIVING-Montgomery: Deem 6-51; Maurice Walters 3-30; Coltin Hans 3-8; Pick 1-25, TD. Muncy: Chase Crawley 5-34; Ross Eyer 2-57, TD; Johnson 1-28.