And when Muncy intercepted Hughesville quarterback Nick Stubbs just a few plays after Nate Rogers recorded a pick-six, it looked like Muncy was about to turn an 18-point deficit into a lead in less than five minutes.

That’s when Hughesville running back Chase Shrawder made the play of the game.

Shrawder chased down Roman Maioriana following the interception, forced a fumble and teammate Connor Anstadt fell on the football. Just as suddenly as the momentum flipped to Muncy, Hughesville had it back, and they rode that wave of momentum to a 24-21 upset victory to clinch a playoff berth.

“I saw the interception and I was like, ‘I gotta get him’ And I got to him. I wasn’t expecting to cause a fumble, but I did, and I’m proud of myself for doing that,” Shrawder said.

MARK NANCE/Sun-Gazette Correspondent Muncy's football team charges onto the field before their game against Hughesville Friday night.

It was a gritty-not-pretty performance for the Spartans. They capitalized on two massive special teams errors by Muncy in the punt game for touchdowns in the first half, the first of which set up the first score of the game.

A snap over the head of the Muncy punter set up Hughesville with first and goal at the 4-yard line. On the next play, Shrawder scored, and Hughesville was up 7-0.

A Hughesville defensive line that terrorized Muncy quarterback Andrew Walters in the backfield all night was able to keep the Indians off the scoreboard until midway through the second quarter. A 28-yard reception by Dom Guardini followed by a 25-yard run by Nate Rogers set up Muncy with 1st and goal from the 8. Two plays later, Andrew Walter kept it on a read option and snuck around the left side for a walk-in touchdown.

On the ensuing drive, Muncy had a chance to stop Hughesville on a 4th and 1 from their own 43. Hughesville quarterback Nick Stubbs had other ideas. Stubbs’ number was called on a quarterback sneak. But, when bottled up at the line of scrimmage, Stubbs kept the play alive, escaped the pile left, and popped out of the pile with nothing but green grass ahead of him for a huge 57-yard touchdown run that put Hughesville up 13-6.

“The call was to run up the middle. I looked at the box, box was stacked. They put all their linebackers inside. I was saying,’I’m not getting through that middle. And I know that it’s 1v1 on the outside. My receivers can block.’ So I figured if I just go up the middle, bump a little bit and come out on the end, I’ll be free. And, I just ran,” Stubbs said.

MARK NANCE/Sun-Gazette Correspondent Muncy's Nathan Rogers(11) stiff-arms Hughesville's Carson Stackhouse (0) on a kick-off return in the second quarter.

A few plays later, after the Spartan defense forced a punt, the special teams woes struck Muncy again. Another poor snap on a punt gave Hughesville the ball at the 1-yard line. And, on 3rd down, Stubbs was able to score on a much more conventional quarterback sneak. Connor Anstadt scored on a two-point gadget play, and Hughesville was up, 21-6 With 2:48 to play in the first half.

Hughesville had one more big play left in them in the first half. After forcing a Muncy punt, Stubbs hit Carson Stackhouse with a gorgeous pass for 45 yard on a post pattern that, if Stackhouse had been able to keep his feet on, would have scored. Two plays later, Avery Puderbaugh — fresh off a district quarterfinal win for the Hughesville girls soccer team on Thursday night — booted a 33-yard field goal with plenty of room to spare to give Hughesville a 24-6 halftime lead.

Muncy came out of halftime with their best stretch of football in the game. It took just 100 seconds for Walters to hit Carter Feagles for a 39-yard touchdown pass. Less than a minute later, Nate Rogers jumped a pass, took it into the end zone, and after a Walters run for a two-point conversion, it was 24-21.

After the aforementioned forced fumble by Shrawder to stop the Muncy momentum, the Hughesville defensive line got back to controlling the game. They sacked Walters five times, and rushed throws all night.

“We saw the weak points in the film. We found some pretty good tells that led us to make the tackles and the sacks we made,” Hughesville’s Cameron Walker said.

MARK NANCE/Sun-Gazette Correspondent Hughesville's Carson Stackhouse (0) makes a reception in front of Muny's Carter Feigles (9) for a gain setting up a touchdown in the second quarter.

After the Spartans defense forced a turnover on downs with just over nine minutes left remaining in the game, the Hughesville offense went to work trying to burn as much time as possible. To do that, they relied on Cam Shrawder. Shrawder six carries for 38 yards on the drive helped burn over seven minutes on the clock. Had a touchdown not been called back for a controversial chop block penalty, Hughesville would’ve put the game away. Nevertheless, they left Muncy with just 2:03 remaining and one timeout to try to tie or win the game.

“When we saw that (Shrawder) was hitting the right side and getting four or five or six yards every time we thought that’s what we’re going to keep doing.”

Once again, it was the Hughesville defensive line making a huge impact on Muncy’s last-gasp drive. They forced a holding call on second down to back Muncy up to 2nd and 15. Then, Jerry Barton pressured Walters on the next play, and Walters was intercepted by Chase Fowler to clinch the game.

“I think the feeling of catching the basically game-clinching interception, it’s an honor to be a senior to beat Muncy,” Fowler said.

Hughesville entered Week 9 2-6 with slim chances to make the District 4 playoffs. But they’ve stuck with it, and bought in.

MARK NANCE/Sun-Gazette Correspondent Muncy's Nixon Lamper (76) gets a hand on the ball to block the extra point in the second quarter.

“We had a tough time, earlier in the season. We didn’t have the workouts over the summer like I usually like to have, but I told them, ‘second half of the season, we have a shot at doing something if you guys keep working together,’ and they’ve been working hard, and the last two games were nice,” Rainey said.

MARK NANCE/Sun-Gazette Correspondent Hughesville's Nicholas Stubbs (12) finds an opening and runs for 56 yards for a touchdown on a 4th and 1 in the second quarter.

MARK NANCE/Sun-Gazette Correspondent Muncy's Jaxson Thomas (44) splits the defense between Hughesville's Maliki Emmil (25) and Jedidiah Abernatha (31) in the first quarter.

MARK NANCE/Sun-Gazette Correspondent Muncy's Carter Feigles(9) dives for a pass in the second quarter.

MARK NANCE/Sun-Gazette Correspondent Hughesville's Josiah Abernatha (6) tackles Muncy's Nolan Trostle (25) on a bad snap for a punt in the first quarter.

MARK NANCE/Sun-Gazette Correspondent Hughesville's Landen Puderbauch (15) fields a fumbled ball then runs for a gain in the first quarter.

MARK NANCE/Sun-Gazette Correspondent Hughesville's Josiah Abernatha (6) tackles Muncy's Nolan Trostle (25) on a bad snap for a punt in the first quarter.

MARK NANCE/Sun-Gazette Correspondent Hughesville's Jace Moore (21) can only watch after losing the ball on a fumble Friday night. The ball was recovered by Landen Puderbach (15) and run for an additional gain.

MARK NANCE/Sun-Gazette Correspondent Hughesville's team charges onto the field before their game against Muncy Friday night.