York Tech outlast Rockets in tight season opener
Tagged under: District 3, Gameday Hub, News
Billy Splain | August 26, 2023
The Spartans of York Tech didn’t get off to a great start. Not at all. As a matter of fact, neither team seemed ready for football. But as often happens, mistakes make for a happy opposition. Mistakes by James Buchanan helped the Spartans eek out a 14-7 win in the York Rose Bowl Kickoff Classic.
What looked like a promising start for the Rockets, an 80 yard return of the opening kickoff, took a while to show it’s promise. The Rockets stalled after going for a fourth down on the 11, but the Spartans didn’t must much either and were forced to punt. Again, it looked like the Spartans were primed to score when Hunter Elgi returned the ball to the Tech 19, but that drive also failed.
During a drive that saw Tech move backwards, a mistake finally made someone happy. Jimmy McDowell pounced on a fumble at the one and Elgi took the rock in for the first score of the game.
Fumble recovery on the one give @JBrocketathlete the lead on this 1 yard run by Hunter Elgi. 7-0 10 seconds left in first pic.twitter.com/dBYBWLoWjp
— Pennsylvania Football News (@PaFootballNews) August 25, 2023
Neither team managed much offense in the second quarter. Then in the third, Matai King Zion returned a Rocket punt 38 yards for a score. The kick failed keeping it a 7-6 lead for the Rockets. A few series later Tech got a safety to get a 9-7 lead with 30 seconds left in the third quarter. They put the game away when Nafe Colton went in from ten yards out early in the fourth quarter.
York Tech’s new head coach, Scott Mathena, was excited to get his first win in Pennsylvania. “We went in at halftime and I put together a package for our offense that we knew would work, and we turned loose our defense. Tonight was all about our defense. Turnovers were huge for us. We fought and never gave up”.
For the Rockets head coach, Cliff Pine, it was also about the turnovers, but they worked against his team. “We just have to learn from this and grow.”
Buchanan looks to rebound at Clear Spring MD while Tech hopes to hold the momentum with Kutztown next week.
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