Mahanoy Area goes aerial on the Green Wave on Senior Night, win 34 to 0 ! Video and Photos

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Daniel Reed | October 22, 2022

Mahanoy Area goes aerial on the Green Wave on Senior Night, win 34 to 0 !

On this cool, beautiful fall evening in Mahanoy City, the Golden Bears opened up an aerial assault on the Green Wave to balance out the running attack, something I for one, was not prepared for. Usually Mahanoy Area pounds the ground with their powerful running game and Nativity throws through the air, but not on this night at Mahanoy Alumni Stadium. Not to be overshadowed, the Golden Bears were still able to run the ball racking up just under 200 yards led by Jr.-Colm McGroarty, who finished the game with 144 yards on 21 carries, scoring 4 touchdowns in the process. McGroarty becomes the 4th running back in the area(Schuylkill League) this season to go over 1000 yards after last night’s game, 1049 now by my calculation. His 4 touchdowns gives him 18 on the season.

The Golden Bears aren’t usually a passing team but tonight, Mahanoy Area piled up 161 yards on 7 of 14 passing, with a touchdown pass thrown to Jr.-Kadin Styka for 21 yards on a 2nd and 15 play as time expired in the first half putting the Bears up 12 to 0 at halftime.

Before the game, the Golden Bears HC-Paul Babinsky said “we gotta get pressure on him”, referring to the Green Wave quarterback Ben Kreitzer, who has passed for almost 1200 yards. They have a very good receiver in Noah Dolbin as well, so, “we gotta figure out how to bracket him” Coach Babinsky continued. The defense stepped up and accepted the challenge as they Bears defense gave up just 57 yards through the air for Nativity, and 161 in total yards. Mahanoy Area picked off the Green Wave quarterback twice, the first coming late in the first half when guess who, McGroarty would grab the pass in the endzone and return it to the Bears 19 setting up a nice 9 play 81 yard drive, finished off with that Styka pass reception in the endzone ending the half.

Things didn’t far much better for the Green Wave in the second half of the game as Mahanoy Area would score twice more in the quarter, the first on a 10 play, 77 yard drive, taking almost 5:30 off the clock in the process, capped off by a  two yard plunge by my Player of the Game McGroarty. He wasn’t finished in the quarter however, when on the Bears next offensive possession, he would take the handoff and run 43 yards on the first play, for the 3rd of his 4 total touchdowns, extending the lead to 28 to 0 with 3:39 to play in the third quarter.

There would be one more score in the final quarter when yes, you guessed it… the Golden Bear, McGroarty taking the handoff six yards to paydirt for his 4th and final touchdown of the evening, giving Mahanoy Area a 34 to 0 victory over Nativity BVM. With the win, the Golden Bears improved to 5-4, and hold position at #4 in the District XI Class 1A rankings. With the loss, the Green Wave have officially been eliminated from playoff contention with a record of 3-6 now. Mahanoy Area will finish the regular season on the road when they travel to (1-8)Shenandoah Valley. After the game, HC-Babinsky had this to say about his teams win…..

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