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MUNCY -- Canton was hoping for one dramatic drive at Stanley T. Schuyler Memorial Stadium on Friday night. And, starting on their own 10 yard line with 6:01 remaining in the game, that drive started to turn into reality.
Two big pass plays got Canton to around midfield. Then on a fourth-and-3, Owen Moore found Jaiden Ortiz for a huge four-yard gain for a first down to keep the drive going.
Time was ticking down but the Warriors were to the Muncy 40 and had a huge third-down coming up.
With less than a minute to go, it was Nate Rogers who came up with the play of the game with a huge interception in the red zone to all but seal Muncy's win in front of the homecoming court and Muncy faithful.
A few players later, Rogers had a first-down run and Muncy won a thriller at home over visiting Canton, 14-6, in Week 7.
"We were in deep quarters and I knew, I just had a feeling they were going to go for something there. I saw him instantly released, I back-pedaled, saw the ball in the air and I just went and got it," Rogers said of his interception.
"We say it every week and it sounds like a broken record, but it's the reality. He shows up every game, every practice. It doesn't just happen on Friday night, it's because he preps himself all week long," Muncy coach Chris Persing said of Rogers. "I don't wanna say it’s surprising, because he does it all the time, but he puts himself in the right spot and does it through hard work. To see him get that play, one of our senior leaders, it was great. … For Nate to step up in that moment, it was great for the team to see that."
Canton twice reached the red zone and both times Muncy's defense came up with a stop. Canton used a six-play drive to get down to the Indians' 5 to begin the second quarter, but Muncy held strong and stopped them on fourth down.
Early in the third quarter, Muncy had an interception on a fourth-and-12 after a sack got Canton out of the red zone and prevented a possible game-tying score.
"It's a whole different ball game (if they score on those possessions). You have to change your mindset for everything. You got to finish the drive and they did a great job finishing the drive," Persing said. "We came out, got down to 45 on punts, holding them then change the position a little bit. I thought that was a huge turning point in the second half. It made it hard for them and they had to play catch-up to get those points back and it gets hard with how our defense played."
Muncy's defense was the key to their success, as was special teams. In addition to fantastic punting which helped prevent Canton from having great starting position on drives, Muncy went for an onside kick late in the second quarter and it worked out.
Jermain Morgan recovered the onside kick and the Indians then proceeded to use four plays to drive 45 yards to score and go into the half up, 14-6.
"That was huge. Jermain Morgan, he was one who recovered that, that was huge," Rogers said. "It kept the momentum going and it got us down the field and got us to score the next drive."
Muncy had a four-play, 62-yard drive the possession before that to score when Layken Harris scored on a 17-yard touchdown run with 1:14 to go. After the onside kick, Muncy needed just four plays again, this time as Noah Weikle found Kynton Fish on a slant near the goal line for a 12-yard touchdown pass.
Within the span of roughly 50 seconds, Muncy went from down 6-0 to leading 14-6.
And from there, Muncy never allowed Canton to score again.
Canton scored its only touchdown on its third possession. After an opening possession went 10 plays with a failed fourth-down conversion, Muncy held the Warriors to a three-and-out. After that, Canton found success and Owen Moore had a 24-yard pass to Brayden Tucker for a touchdown and a 6-0 lead with 1:15 to go after a failed two-point conversion run.
In the second quarter, Canton's offense sputtered. The Warriors had just 13 yards of offense on three possessions in the second quarter after gaining 110 yards in the first quarter alone.
Canton would out-gain Muncy in total yardage, 273-197, but Muncy had a bend-but-don't-break mindset that held on.
Chase Boozer and Rogers both had interceptions for the Indians. Cullen Reed, Nasir Miller, Nixon Lamper and Jackson Guardini all recorded a sack as well to constantly put pressure on Moore, who went 14 for 28 for 149 with two interceptions for Canton.
"That initial drive where they took it took us a little bit, our guys settled down a little bit. Once we settled in, we did a lot of good things. A couple of screen plays we gave up with some yardage, but overall we made it difficult for them after that first drive," Persing said. "Our offense wasn't quite clicking so to be able to do that and (Noah Walters) did a great job punting the ball and changing the field position for us in the second half, that was big too knowing how our defense was playing."
Weikle ended the game going 5 for 13 for 64 passing yards. On the ground, the Indians were led by Rogers' 32 on four carries and Harris' 30 yards on nine attempts. While the offense wasn't able to put huge drives together -- Muncy had just two drives all night go six or more plays -- the defense helped fuel the offense and instill confidence and motivation.
And the onside kick which led to the back-to-back touchdown helped as well spark the team and bring up the level at halftime.
"I think it changed the whole mindset. Even winning 7-6 is great, but you know you have a big special teams play which really turns momentum which carries into touchdown. You go into halftime, which was a little longer with homecoming, energy was big in that locker room," Persing said. "Hoping to put a good drive (to start the third quarter), which we didn't do, but the whole vibe is different after a situation like that. Hoping to ride it a little more, but defensively we certainly did."
"We were hot coming into the half. Two back-to-back touchdowns? We just tried to keep that same energy coming back," Rogers said. "We knew we were receiving the ball and wanted to punch one in coming out of the half. Didn't happen, but we just wanted to keep that same energy."
Canton only had two drives in the second half go further than 35 yards, one of which was the final one which resulted in Rogers' huge interception.
Moore played well at quarterback for the Warriors, going 14 for 28 for 149 yards and was able to also make plays with his feet as he ran it 16 times for 38 yards. Bailey Gardner had a team-high 67 rushing yards for Canton on 13 carries.