H.S. FOOTBALL: Schickram’s 55-yard run leads Tamaqua past North Schuylkill

FOUNTAIN SPRINGS — Schuylkill League football.

It’s gritty. It’s physical. It’s unforgiving.

If you’re looking for pretty football, look elsewhere.

On Friday night, the Tamaqua Blue Raiders and North Schuylkill Spartans checked every box.

In a game decided by razor-thin margins and stout defense, the Blue Raiders left Fountain Springs with their third win of the season, edging North Schuylkill 12-7.

The deciding play?

A 55-yard touchdown run up the middle by Blue Raiders quarterback Ace Schickram on what was originally intended to be a short quarterback sneak to pick up the first down on third-and-2. Instead, in one of the few explosive plays from either side, Schickram broke through the middle of a stout Spartans defensive line and took it all the way.

It wasn’t drawn up to work like that, but Schickram, the Blue Raiders and head coach Sam Bonner will gladly take it.

“Our longest play of the game was a quarterback sneak,” Bonner said. “But, hey, it was a touchdown. Ace did a hell of a job keeping his feet pumping. Our line did a hell of a job keeping the pile moving. He bounced out of it. I didn’t even see it until he was about 10 yards down the field.”

The touchdown gave Tamaqua a 12-7 lead with 4:13 remaining in the third quarter, and from there, the Blue Raiders’ defense was tasked with closing it out.

They got the job done, but not before surviving multiple late-game penalties, including a defensive pass interference call on fourth down with under 20 seconds remaining that gave North Schuylkill a second chance to win the game.

“It doesn’t matter,” Tamaqua’s Flynn Coleman said of the Blue Raiders’ late-game mentality following the flag. “Every fourth down they got, we were just like, ‘All right, let’s do it again. Here we go.'”

That mentality paid off.

On the Spartans’ final snap from the 6-yard line, the Blue Raiders’ front — led by Coleman, Damian Jazowski and Carter Trotman — flushed quarterback Brock Holmes from the pocket, forcing a desperation heave toward the end zone. The pass sailed incomplete out of bounds, sealing the victory.

Before the hectic finish, Friday’s game was classic three-yards-and-a-cloud-of-dust football.

Neither offense found much room on the ground early, as the two defenses traded blow after blow and the offenses traded punt after punt.

Tamaqua opened the scoring on Friday evening. After forcing North Schuylkill to punt on its opening possession, the Blue Raiders took over at the Spartans’ 42-yard line.

Facing an early third-and-12 at the North Schuylkill 44-yard line, Tamaqua generated its first explosive play of the night: a 20-yard strike from Schickram to Terrence McDowell.

One play later, McDowell got the ball again on the ground, ripping off 12 more yards. After a run for no gain from Camden Walker on first-and-10 from the Spartans’ 12-yard line, the Blue Raiders went right back to McDowell to finish off the march. The junior tailback rattled off consecutive carries of 7 and 5 yards, with the latter resulting in the game’s opening touchdown.

Tamaqua attempted a two-point conversion following the score, but the try was unsuccessful.

It wasn’t McDowell’s biggest night, but the junior running back, still not fully healthy, got the job done. He finished the game with 19 carries for 65 yards and a touchdown.

In the second quarter, North Schuylkill’s defense came up with its biggest play of the evening, an interception by Holmes on third-and-12, giving the Spartans’ the ball at the Blue Raiders’ 39-yard line.

Facing a second-and-6 from the Tamaqua 21, the Spartans utilized an inside handoff reverse to sophomore Daniel Brake, who cut outside along the left side of the offensive line before taking it down the sideline for a 21-yard touchdown. Brake finished the day with five catches for 25 yards and six receptions for 36 yards.

With the extra point, North Schuylkill took a 7-6 lead with 6:15 remaining in the half, one that would hold heading into halftime.

Often, in tight and physical matchups, games can hinge on a single moment — a key block, a broken tackle, a single cutback by a ball carrier.

On Friday night, that key moment belonged to Schickram.

Looking for just two yards and the first down, Schickram put his head down, ran into the middle of the line of scrimmage and kept churning his legs.

And then, daylight.

The Blue Raiders’ took the 12-7 lead and never looked back. The 55-yard scamper from Schickram made up almost nearly all of his rushing yards for the day, as he tallied just six yards on his eight other carries.

It was a play that the Blue Raiders couldn’t replicate the rest of the night and a score that the Spartans couldn’t match.

In the win, Tamaqua kept North Schuylkill to less than 150 yards in the game. Quarterback Brock Holmes led North Schuylkill with 48 rushing yards in the win on 16 carries while also completing 11-of-21 passing attempts for 74 yards. The Blue Raiders’ offense didn’t muster up too much more offense of their own either with just 159 total yards in the game including 131 rushing yards, but it was enough to pick up the crucial week seven win.

For Tamaqua, the win is a big one as it looks to make a run towards the District 11 playoffs. The Blue Raiders now have a 3-4 record with three games remaining starting next Friday night against Panther Valley before taking on Pine Grove and Selinsgrove.

For the Spartans, it snaps a two-game winning streak, setting them back to 2-4 on the year. A district playoff berth will remain an uphill battle, especially with a tough stretch against Blue Mountain, Pottsville and Panther Valley to end the year.

Source link