Mustangs spoil Indians’ home opener, 21-0
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MIFFLINTOWN — Making their return home, the Juniata football team on Friday night made it to Klingensmith Stadium as they battled against West Perry.
After a season-opening loss to a solid Selinsgrove team, the Indians went into the Week 2 game with an 0-1 record while the Mustangs came in at 1-0 with a 30-12 win over York Suburban.
After a scoreless first quarter, the Mustangs exploded for 21-unanswered points in the second period en route to a 21-0 victory.
The second quarter would be the only one that the Mustangs would score in as the Indians defense kept West Perry off the board in the second half.
"I just told the team that you sometimes just got to count the little victories, and coming out of the second half, playing an even game with them. That was a small victory," said Juniata coach Kurt Condo. "We just got to keep on focusing on just doing little things right and get better each week,” Condo added.
"We know the front end of our schedule is a little bit lopsided. There are some good teams down the road, too. It’s just gonna take a little bit to get the momentum going. So we play better overall than what we did last week, so that’s an improvement for this week."
Juniata opened with the ball to start the game and moved the ball downfield on handoffs to running back Ty Rowles and Colton Hutchinson. They would sprinkle in a couple quarterback keepers from Jason Condo.
Rowles led the Indians on the ground with 19 rushes for 76 yards.
The Indians started with the ball on their own 36 and grinded the ball down to the West Perry four.
However, West Perry held the Indians on four downs and thwarted the Juniata drive, taking over possession at their own two.
But the Mustangs had a strong ground game as well as they proceeded to a 14-play drive that culminated in a Hayden Fleisher 5-yard keeper for the game's first score. With a Drew Grant kick, West Perry led 7-0 at the 8:33 mark of the second quarter. Fleisher finished his night with a 8-for-15 completion performance good for 140 yards and two TD passes. On the ground the QB1 finished with nine yards on four carries with one rushing TD.
After holding the Indians in check on their second possession of the game, the Mustangs went to the air on the following possession.
Fleisher found an open Mason Page on 71-yard TD pass. Grant was again successful at 6:15.
Special teams came into play on the following Juniata punt as West Perry blocked an Indians punt and recovered the ball on the Juniata 12
Fleisher finished off a 3-play drive that ended on a 5-yard TD pass from Fleisher to Kolton Keller at 2:42.
When the buzzer sounded to end the first half, the Mustangs led 21-0.
Coming out of the half, West Perry started the final half with the ball.
Juniata's defense came out fired up and forced West Perry to a 3-and-out.
The Juniata offense came alive as they were able to push the ball to the nine-yard line of West Perry before Perry pulled down an interception.
Late in the game, the Indians would get one back when Brian Kuhn picked off a Hayden Fleisher pass, giving his team back the ball in the final minutes.
However, the Indians ran out of time.
Next week, the Indians travel to Middletown.
West Perry 21, Juniata 0
WP 0-21-0-0–21
JU 0-0-0-0–0
First Quarter
None
Second Quarter
WP – Hayden Fleisher 5-yards run (Drew Grant kick) 8:33.
WP – Fleisher to Mason Page 71-yard TD pass (Grant kick), 6:15.
WP – Fleisher 5-yards TD pass Kolton Keller (Grant kick), 2:42.
Third Quarter
None
Fourth Quarter
None
TEAM STATISTICS WP JU
First downs 13 8
Total Yards 253 119
Rushes-yards. 113 101
Yards passing 140 19
Passing (comp.-att.-int.) 8-17-1
Fumbles-lost 3-0
Penalties-yards 7-55
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING: WP – Mason Sprecher 12-62, Hayden Fleisher 4-9, Landon Wilson 9-52, Kolton Keller 2-8. JU – Jason Condo 7-20, Colton Hutchinson 7-14, Ty Rowles 19-76, Jeremiah Alonso 2-2, Logan Troyes 2-13.
PASSING: WP – Fleisher 8-15 140 yards. JU – Jason Condo 2-8 9.
RECEIVING : WP – Sprecher 1-30, Etter 2-15, Mason Page 2-81, Drew Grant 2-10, Keller 2-10. JU – Zach Burkins 1-18, Brian Kuhn 1-1.