Gettysburg Times: "Governor Mifflin marches through Canner Country"

Governor Mifflin crushes Canners

BY SCOT ANDREW PITZER
Times Staff Writer

Normally, it’s the Biglerville Canner offense that’s lighting up the football scoreboard.
Monday night at Musselman Stadium in Biglerville though, the Governor Mifflin Mustangs were the team putting on an offensive clinic.
The Class-AAAA Mustangs torched the Canners for nine touchdowns — eight via the running game — in a lopsided 63-21 victory.
But Canner coach Tim Hibbs emphatically stressed that the blowout would not demoralize his squad.
“We’re not looking at this loss as a program setback,” Hibbs said. “There’s a reason Governor Mifflin (8-1) is ranked fourth in Quad-A. This was a learning experience for our kids. Governor Mifflin is an example of a program that we want to become.”
Biglerville, 5-4, travels Friday to Hanover seeking its first winning season in a half decade.
“Our next game is extremely important,” Hibbs said of the season finale at Hanover. “If we’re a mature team, we’ll get the job done Friday.”
Winning seasons have been few and far between in Canner Country.
Since posting back to back winning seasons in 2001 (6-4, 5-4 in 2000), Biglerville won seven games in 1992, its most since 1977 when the Black and Gold went 7-4.
“We need that win,” Hibbs said of his team’s upcoming game. “Our school needs that win. Our community needs that win.”
Dreams of an upset, even though Biglerville actually held an early 7-6 lead Monday, were quelled by the conclusion of the first quarter, with Governor Mifflin holding a comfortable 35-7 lead.
“I told the kids at that point, just go out there and have fun,” Hibbs said.
Biglerville was again victimized by a porous rushing defense, gouged by twelve Mustang runners for nearly 500 ground yards.
The Mustangs only threw the ball once.
“We knew who they were and what they could do,” Hibbs said, “and they did exactly what we knew they could do.”
Averaging almost 40 points a game, Governor Mifflin never punted. After the opening kickoff, senior quarterback Samuel Eagleson scampered 39 yards to begin the scoring fest.
Following a failed extra point kick, the Biglerville offense struck paydirt.
On Biglerville’s first play of the game, senior quarterback Kyle Whitmoyer, who finished 8-13 for 130 yards, launched a missile to receiver Tyrel Taughinbaugh for a 70 yard touchdown.
Biglerville, after a Dan Thomas extra point kick, suddenly led the heavily favored Mustangs, and the Senior Night crowd was rocking.
But the frenzy quickly quieted.
The ensuing kickoff was returned 91 yards for a touchdown by Governor Mifflin senior George Schmidt, and after a two point conversion, the Mustangs led 14-7.
They never looked back.
Schmidt added another score, from one yard out, capitalizing on a Whitmoyer interception. The offensive fireworks continued with a 28 yard touchdown run by tailback Casey Casantini, with 3:31 remaining in the 1st quarter, and then a 52-yard rumble by Patrick Haggerty at the 2:33 mark.
Whitmoyer, under duress for most of the game, was picked off three times, and the Mustangs took advantage of every opportunity.
“They don’t leave points on the field,” Hibbs said of the Mustangs.
Two 2nd quarter scores lengthened Governor Mifflin’s lead to 49-7, and the Mercy Rule was in effect following the halftime break.
A 16-yard touchdown scramble by Whitmoyer in Biglerville’s opening drive of the second half, thanks to a long kickoff return by Parker Showers, made the score 49-14.
But the Canner defense had difficulty stopping Governor Mifflin’s second and third string units.
Sophomore Eric Wertz scored from three yards with 4:32 remaining in the third stanza.
To Biglerville’s credit, even when facing a 56-14 deficit, they didn’t quit, and put together one of their best offensive drives of the season.
Biglerville marched the ball 65 yards in 12 plays, punctuated by a half dozen bruising carries by senior running back Thomas McMaster. Parker Showers finished the drive, at the 8:30 mark in the 4th quarter, scoring from the Governor Mifflin two-yard-line.
Governor Mifflin answered with a sustained 10-play drive of its own. Sophomore Kyle Summers capped the evening’s fireworks with a seven-yard touchdown, with a half-minute to play.
“We just have to get this taste out of our mouths as soon as possible,” Hibbs said, as his seniors exchanged hugs with one another following their last game at Musselman Stadium. “We’ve worked too hard, and come too far, to have a letdown in our final game. We’ll give it everything we have.”
Scot Pitzer is a Times staff reporter.
Governor Mifflin 35 14 7 7
Biglerville 7 0 7 7
1st Quarter
GOV-Samuel Eagleson 39 yard run (extra point kick no good), 10:28
BIG-Kyle Whitmoyer 70 yard pass to Tyrel Taughinbaugh (Dan Thomas extra point), 10:13
GOV-George Schmidt 91yard kick off return (two point conversion, Eagleson pass to Casey Casantini good), 9:58
GOV-Schmidt 1 yard run (Zachary Ochs kick good), 8:53
GOV-Casantini 28 yard run, (Ochs kick good), 3:31GOV-Patrick Haggerty 52 yard run (Ochs kick good), 2:33
2nd Quarter
GOV-Casantini 29 yard run (Ochs kick good), 6:10
GOV-Brett Campbell 63 yard run (Ochs kick good), 3:27
3rd Quarter
BIG-Whitmoyer 16 yard run (Thomas kick good), 11:02
GOV-Eric Wertz 3 yard run (Ochs kick good), 4:32
4th Quarter
BIG-Parker Showers 2 yard run (Thomas kick good), 8:30
GOV-Kyle Summers 7 yard run (Ochs kick good), 0:35
Team Statistics
Gov. Big.
First Downs: 14 9
Rushing 39-494 30-92
Passing 0-1-0 8-17-3
Passing Yards 0 130
Total Yards 470 222
Individual Statistics
Rushing: GOV-George Schmidt 8-61 (1 yd TD), Samuel Eagleson 5-105 (39 yd TD), Casey Casantini 3-70 (28 yd TD, 29 yd TD), Patrick Haggerty 3-60 (52 yd TD), Brett Campbell 2-79 (63 yd TD), Joseph Apgar 1-3, Zachary Schmidt 6-29, Michael Nowotarski 3-24, Erick Wertz 1-3 (3 yd TD), Vincent Garipoli 5-43, MacLean Pearson 1-10, Kyle Summers 1-7 (7 yd TD); BIG-Kyle Whitmoyer 15-27 (16 yd TD), Tyrel Taughinbaugh 1-0, Parker Showers 6-27 (2 yd TD), Thomas McMaster 8-38
Passing: GOV-Eagleson 0-1-0-0; BIG-Whitmoyer 8-17-3 130
Receiving: BIG-Taughinbaugh 4-104 (70 yd TD), Tommy Kranias 2-14, Jared Picarelli 1-10, Zach Lieberum 1-2