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Huskies valient effort on emotional night comes up short, Altoona wins with last minute td (FULL PREGAME TRIBUTE VIDEO INCLUDED)

Tagged under: District 6, Gameday Hub, News, Playoffs

| November 5, 2022

Joshua Cruz hands Tamara Sechler a flower during the teams pregame tribute to their fallen coach.

It was an emotional night for the Mifflin County football team, coaches and fans. Their former coach, Scot Sechler, passed away early this morning after a battle with cancer. Head coach Shane Breon had some concern before the game, naturally so, as to how his team would respond. They responded resiliantly, battling an Altoona team that thumped them earlier in the season 38-0, to a 24-24 tie late in the game. Altoona had the last drive of the game and scored on a 13 yard run by Alexander Yost to get the 31-24 win to advance and play State College for the District 6 title.

“Was a good game. Hats off to them, they came out here and had a lot of adversity with everything that happened with them this morning. Prayers to them and all the people in Mifflin County” said Altoona Head coach Vince Nedimyr. “Credit to our guys too. In the end we executed when we needed to.”

The night started out on a happy/somber note as the team lined up on the field after warmups and awaited the arrival of Sechler’s wife, Tamara, and when she arrived they one by one handed her a flower in memory and honor of their former coach. Then, after the whistle blew, the Huskies went out and fought for their team, school and town. FIght they did as they put up the first points of the game on the first drive of the game. Starting at their 45, the Huskies used up 10 plays to get on the board. Landen Eichorn his Isaac Wilson for a 7 yard td with 8:13 remaining in the first quarter.

Likely still riding on emotion, the Husky defense held the Mt. Lions to a three and out on their first possession. Both teams traded possessions until, with 52 seconds left on the board, Altoona found the endzone on a 11 yard run by Tyson Ried to tie the game at 7. Altoona put together another nice series, getting to the Husky 23 but a big tackle for loss ended that drive. Two plays later Josh Cruz was off to the races, galloping 67 yards to put the Huskies back on top 14-7 with 6:40 remaining in the half.

Altoona battled right back and used a sweep play to Julian Hazlewood that gained 30 yards and eventually put the Mt Lions on the Huskies 2, but the defense stood tall and stuffed the 4th down run at the one. It was a short lived reprieve. The Altoona defense turned it up a notch and nearly got the safety, eventually forcing a punt that only got to the 37. Hazlewood punched it in from 14 yards out to make it a 14-14 game with 1:12 left in the half.


Then, for the Huskies, a mental lapse. On the ensuing kick, Altoona “pooched kicked” the ball and it rolled down field. The Husky recieving team must have thought it was a dead ball and Altoona picked it up, taking possession at the 6. Alexander Yost carried the ball in from the 2 giving Altoona their first lead of the game.

“With the circumstances today, the way these kids battled tonight, I’m just so proud of this program” said Breon of his teams efforts. “We win as a team and we lose as a team. I just can’t be more proud of the kids.”

With momentum on their side, Altoona took the second half kick and drove to the 5 but a 22 yard field goal attempt never came close. Just one play later Mifflin County took the momentum back. Eichorn tossed a pitch over the middle and 80 yards later we were tied at 21.

The swing in momentum seemed to spark the Husky defense and after a huge sack by Hunter Tipton forced a punt, the Huskies offense went back on the attack. Isacc Parks-Gill hammered a 42 yard field goal to put the Huskies back on top. But as the game wore on, so did the energy of the night for Mifflin County. Altoona went on a long, time consuming 70 yard drive using 16 plays and nearly 8 minutes, eating into the game clock and sapping the energy from the Huskies defensive line.

On thier next drive, Eichorn was picked off by Mark Harrington. The Mt Lions ate up the rest of the clock and with just 32 seconds left, Yost got the game winner. “First half, we were battling, we lost a couple guys to injury. We expected to come here and punch them in the mouth but that didn’t happen. We folded a little” said DE Manny Miller. “We went in a halftime, had a good talk, and came out in the second half and players stepped up.”

Pictures via Alan Kratzer

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