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Mifflinburg Prevails in Defensive Battle Over Montoursville on Senior Night 21-7

 
Tagged under: District 4, Gameday Hub, News, pfn

| October 24, 2026

MIFFLINBURG – The Wildcats entered their final home game of the 2026 regular season chasing a feat that they hadn’t achieved since 2011, that being winning six consecutive games. Mifflinburg entered senior night riding high on a five game win streak, and ultimately they did find that sixth win in a row, taking down Montoursville 21-7 in a low scoring District 4 3A slugfest.

Mifflinburg and Montoursville have really gotten to know each other quite well over the past couple of seasons, with this game marking the fifth time in the past three seasons that these two sides have gone head to head. In 2025 for the Wildcats, defense played a huge role in both games that they played against the Warriors, allowing just 19 points over two games. In fact those two games were the lowest totals of the season in both points and yards for Montoursville.

Early on in the game, Mifflinburg’s defense made some very important plays that really shifted momentum in their favor. After going three and out on their opening drive, the Wildcats lined up to punt the ball away, however before Snyder could kick it away, Montoursville’s Brayden Burkett got through and blocked the punt, giving the Warriors possession at the Mifflinburg 23 yard line.

However the Wildcats’ defense stepped up to the challenge, forcing quick three and out and a turnover on downs after a pitch to Bryson Fillman on 4th and 7 went absolutely nowhere and was stuffed for a four yard loss.

Montoursville’s defense then forced a second straight three and out, but this time Snyder was able to boot it away cleanly, setting the Warriors up on their own side of midfield. Then Montoursville began to drive, marching into Wildcat territory and down into the red zone, before being faced with another fourth and long situation. Once again Mifflinburg’s defense came through, as Elijah Eck led his receiver Jay Houseknecht a little too far, and the pass ultimately fell to the ground for an incompletion.

“The defense took a really big step tonight, we weren’t sure what that step was going to look like based off getting guys back and trying new things,” Mifflinburg head coach Cody Botts said about the defensive performance. “People kept telling us that the strength of our schedule would be a big factor tonight, not that we care what anyone else thinks, but our defense proved that they have gotten better down the stretch.”

Similarly to Mifflinburg’s defense, Montoursville’s played a big role early on in the game containing the Wildcats’ offense that has been extremely effective up to this point in the season. Specifically, the Warriors did a terrific job containing Mifflinburg’s star running back Landon Moser, who came into the game fresh off of a 260 yard performance against Midd-West last week. In the first half, Montoursville held Moser to just 23 yards on 14 carries.

“It’s a physical game, you hope that your guys are the aggressors and that we can dominate the line, but it’s a credit to [Montoursville], they’re a physical team,” coach Botts said about their struggles in the ground game. “They challenged our guys and did some different stuff than what we’ve seen on film, crowded the box more than we were anticipating, so we felt that the best thing to do was to spread them out, get the ball to the edge as fast as possible.”

With Montoursville stuffing Mifflinburg’s usual point of attack in the ground game, quarterback Brennen Snyder decided to take matters into his own hands, as he had some big time runs for the Wildcats in a game where the run game was almost nonexistent. He even opened up the game’s scoring with a 34 yard run where he darted to the right side of the field and sprinted past the defense on his way to the end zone.

“He’s done a great job managing the offense as our quarterback and managing the passing game, getting different guys involved,” coach Botts said about Brennen Snyder. “But he’s dangerous with his legs, we wanted to give him an opportunity to run the ball as well, and he obviously came up big tonight.”

While Moser did struggle to get into a rhythm for most of the game, he did manage to find the end zone late in the first half, taking a goal line carry right into the end zone, giving the Wildcats a 14-0 lead with just 58 seconds left until halftime.

Mifflinburg’s defense came up big once more in the first half, closing it out with a third fourth down stop with their backs against their own end zone. After a completion on third and goal from Eck to Jacob Schon came up just a yard shy of the end zone, Montoursville opted to go for it on fourth down from the one yard line. Eck took the snap and rolled out to his left and hit James Williams right on the edge of the end zone, however the officials ruled the pass incomplete, keeping Montoursville off the scoreboard heading into halftime.

The Wildcats held onto the momentum that they gained in the first half all the way through the third quarter, keeping their shutout bid through the first 36 minutes of game time. However Mifflinburg’s defense wasn’t able to keep Montoursville off the scoreboard forever, as the Warriors finally broke through on a 5 yard touchdown run from Mason Lapinski, pulling Montoursville back within a score with 7:19 remaining.

However on the ensuing kickoff, a squib kick ended up in the arms of Seth Hartman who returned it up past midfield and was shoved out of bounds at the 35 yard line of Montoursville, setting the Wildcats back up with excellent field position. Then on the very first play of the drive, Snyder took a designed run all 35 yards untouched to the end zone, giving Mifflinburg their two score lead back just 18 seconds after Montoursville got within a score.

That second touchdown run from Snyder essentially took all the wind out of Montoursville’s sails, and the Warriors struggled to move the ball the rest of the game, gaining just 13 more yards of offense on their final two drives. Mifflinburg sealed the win with one final fourth down stop at the Warriors’ 25 yard line, leading to one kneel down by Snyder to close it out for the Wildcats.

“Right now we have a lot of confidence,” coach Botts said about his team heading into final week of the regular season. “That goes a long way, but obviously that doesn’t play the game for you on the field. I think during these last six games we’ve learned a lot of things, and we’ve gotten a lot more experience that we didn’t obviously have.”

Mifflinburg improves to 7-2 on the year, the win marks their sixth straight win since starting the season 1-2, and they will look to close out the regular season with a seventh straight win on the road against Lewisburg. Montoursville falls to 5-4 on the season following the loss, and next week they will head home for their final game of the regular season, facing Loyalsock.

SCORING SUMMARY

1st Quarter

None

2nd Quarter

Mifflinburg – 7-0 (11:50) – Brennen Snyder 34 yard run (Jaden Boyer kick)
Mifflinburg – 14-0 (0:58) – Landon Moser 1 yard run (Jaden Boyer kick)

3rd Quarter

None

4th Quarter

Montoursville – 14-7 (7:19) – Mason Lapinski 5 yard run (Brent Crawford kick)
Mifflinburg – 21-7 (7:01) – Brennen Snyder 35 yard run (Jaden Boyer kick)

PLAYER STATS

MONTOURSVILLE

Elijah Eck – 16/34, 203 YDS

Kaden Kleinman – 17 CAR, 49 YDS
Mason Lapinski – 4 CAR, 23 YDS, 1 TD
Bryson Fillman – 2 CAR, 12 YDS
Elijah Eck – 3 CAR, 4 YDS
Colton Conklin – 1 CAR, 3 YDS

Brayden Burkett – 7 REC, 84 YDS
Jay Houseknecht – 3 REC, 42 YDS
Jacob Schon – 2 REC, 38 YDS
Colby Ulmer – 1 REC, 18 YDS
Bryson Fillman – 1 REC, 13 YDS
James Williams – 2 REC, 8 YDS

MIFFLINBURG

Brennen Snyder – 5/10, 123 YDS

Landon Moser – 22 CAR, 80 YDS
Brennen Snyder – 9 CAR, 79 YDS, 2 TD
Seth Hartman – 2 CAR, 9 YDS

Jackson Marr – 4 REC, 102 YDS
Brady Threet – 1 REC, 21 YDS

 
 
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