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HUGHESVILLE - In a penalty-filled and chippy contest between two teams searching for momentum, Hughesville rode a dominant fourth-quarter rushing attack to a 22-13 victory over Midd-West on Friday night at Harold L. Schaefer Memorial Stadium.
The Spartans erased an early deficit and leaned on senior running back Chase Shrawder late, scoring the game’s final 13 points in the Heartland Conference Division III battle.
Midd-West (1-5, 0-4) struck first after forcing a three-and-out on Hughesville’s opening possession. Following a fourth-down conversion, quarterback Witten Carter connected with D’Angelo Drumheller along the left sideline. Drumheller secured a juggling catch and raced 63 yards for a touchdown, giving the Mustangs a 7-0 lead just under four minutes in.
The Spartans (2-4, 1-2) gained a couple of first downs on their ensuing drive but ultimately couldn’t capitalize despite a long drive, and Midd-West carried its seven-point advantage into the second quarter.
The Hughesville offense gained some life to start the second quarter after the defense forced a three-and-out. Starting with good field position at their own 36, Nicholas Stubbs found an open Connor Anstadt, who caught it and shaked, baked and juked his way to the end zone for a nifty 45-yard score. Anstadt's extra point was blocked to keep Hughesville trailing by one at 7-6 with 7:48 until half.
Later in the quarter, the Spartans pinned Midd-West deep with a strong punt from Anstadt. The defense forced a three-and-out, setting Hughesville up with favorable field position.
Although the drive stalled, Anstadt converted a 30-yard field goal with 1:05 left in the half, giving the Spartans their first lead at 9-7.
Both teams traded punts and tempers throughout the third quarter. Midd-West capitalized on a facemask penalty and an unsportsmanlike conduct call against the Hughesville sideline to move deep into Spartan territory.
With 2:21 left in the quarter, Mason Fultz took a direct snap and burst for a 21-yard touchdown. The two-point try failed, but the Mustangs regained the lead at 13-9.
Hughesville responded by turning to Shrawder.
The senior workhorse powered the Spartans downfield early in the fourth quarter, then finished the drive with a 3-yard touchdown run. After another penalty moved the extra-point attempt back, Anstadt still converted, giving Hughesville a 16-13 advantage with 7:35 remaining.
"Our running back's tough," Hughesville head coach Howard Rainey said. "He's been running hard the last two games. The first couple of games, he didn't seem like himself yet this year. But these last two games, he's been coming back acting like he was last year."
The Spartans put the game away after getting the ball back with just over five minutes to go. They controlled the ball for over three minutes before Shrawder ran untouched to the end zone for a 17-yard score with 2:12 remaining.
"It felt good (to get the offense going). Our offense has been struggling this year," Rainey said. "Last week at Northwest, we started to move the ball in the fourth quarter, and it seemed like that's what we waited until in this game to actually push the ball hard in the fourth quarter."
Any remaining hopes of a Mustangs comeback ended less than a minute later when Levi Green intercepted Carter.
"I hope that made us all relax a little bit better," Rainey said of the interception. "They would have had to get nine points...but it's great to end it with that."
Rainey credited Hughesville’s defense for keeping the Spartans in position to win despite the game’s ups and downs.
“We have a really good defense most of the time,” he said. “Every now and then we’ll give up a long play and have a little brain fart or something, but normally it’s our defense. I can’t say anything but good.”
As for the game’s physical nature, Rainey wasn’t surprised.
“Both teams were 1-5; both are hungry for a win,” he said. “You’ve got to expect a little bit of that. It’s the same as undefeated teams playing. You just want that one more win.”