On the GEFA Trail: Hazleton Mustangs
Tagged under: Gameday Hub, GEFA, News
Guy Smith | April 29, 2024
For our sixth straight Saturday of spring football, we had five choices as per the GEFA schedule. That was cut to four as the Williamsport Wildcats home game became a forfeit win for the Wildcats as the Monroeville Titans have apparently folded. We give credit to the Titans. Despite having very low turnout of rostered players for their games, they played tough, some players having to go Ironman both ways, and won half the games they played. We saw them twice, their first win, and a very respectable performance against the powerhouse Dauphin County Comanche. Sorry we didn’t get to see them play at home, although it would have been the longest haul in the league for us.
We are trying to pair football and auto racing most Saturdays, and the football choice ended up being what would work best with the Saturday race choice. The race choice was the TQ Midgets at Bethel Motor Speedway, NY. The GEFA game that best worked in tandem was the Hazleton Mustangs.
The Mustangs don’t actually play in Hazleton, but at the Gene Della Croce Memorial Field in Freeland. After three of our GEFA visits so far this season at high school stadiums, this game was back to a park setting. A nice park setting. They had a working scoreboard, a refreshment stand with hot food such as burgers and dogs, and permanent restrooms.
Last year none of the four sites we visited for GEFA had working scoreboards. This season all five so far have them. That is quite a turnaround. The only slight drawback was the Comanche game at Koons Park, where the scoreboard worked for the game score but the game clock portion did not.
The main drawback at Croce Field is the parking. There is not a lot to begin with, and the lot is up on a hill overlooking the field. If you get a spot along the fence, you can watch the game from the top of the hill either from the car or standing by the fence. To go down to field level is a bit of a steep walk. The other drawback is that the actual field level seating is limited and not in the best of shape, a drawback mitigated for most fans by bringing lawn chairs.
Since our introduction to GEFA a year ago, we have been to nine games at seven different home team game sites (one neutral field and one location twice). In our personal experience, there have been no friendlier people than those associated with the Dauphin County Comanche. And that was proven yet again on Saturday. Pam currently has some knee and hip issues she is working through. Walking down to field level would have caused some discomfort. We arrived just a tad too late to get one of the parking spots along the fence. A Comanche fan traded spots with us so that Pam could watch from the car and not have to walk down the hill. Not only that, but later when Guy was down at field level taking pictures, he offered to buy the friendly Comanche fan anything she wanted from the refreshment stand, and deliver it to her seat. She declined, the nice deed done with no expectation or acceptance of a quid pro quo. The Dauphin County Comanche way. By the way, the visiting Comanche fans easily outnumbered the fans of the home team. The spot along the fence eventually came in extra handy as it rained rather steadily during the middle portion of the game.
The Comanche are one of the top teams in the league, and entered the game with a 2-1 record, winning their first two games before losing by one score on the road to the mighty Moshannon Valley Vikings. The Mustangs were 1-1, losing on the road and winning at home.
It looked like the Comanche would have a fairly easy time of it in the first half, jumping out to a 13-0 lead. They were driving again as it got close to halftime, but the Mustangs converted a turnover into a score, and trailed just 13-6 at the break.
The Mustangs then roared back in the second half, scoring twice to take the lead at 18-13, as the Comanche fumbled away possession twice with a first and goal.
The Comanche then scored to retake the lead, but the Mustangs answered and led by five, 24-19 as time wound down. A key first down in the final minutes looked like the nail in the Comanche coffin, but some clock management errors (running out of bounds to stop the clock for example) gave the Comanche life.
The Comanche had the ball in the final seconds but with no timeouts. When rushing to get the snap off as the clocked ticked under ten seconds, the ball was hiked past the quarterback who scrambled and fell on it, apparently sealing the deal for the Mustangs. Or did it?
The Comanche lined up to shake hands with the winners, but were told the game was not over, the clock had been stopped with two seconds left, and they would have one more chance. We could never get an official answer as to why the clock stopped on a sack with no timeouts. In asking three people after the game who we thought might know, we got three different answers: Injury, they were owed an extra play because the clock didn’t stop quickly enough on a previous play during the drive, and “who cares, we’ll take it”. The only thing we could think of that would make sense was if there was a defensive penalty on the play, but there was no offside and we didn’t notice a flag.
Thus, the Comanche lined up for one final play, needing a touchdown to win. And darned if they didn’t convert. Amazingly, all three Mustang defenders let the Comanche receiver get behind them (see collage photo). A beautiful throw and an even better catch later, the Comanche had pulled out a stunning 25-24 win. As great as was the catch, getting a foot down in bounds was an even better effort by the receiver (see collage again).
We felt a bit bad for the Mustangs who played their hearts out to come from down 13 and take the lead only to lose it on the last play, one that came even after the eventual winners thought the game was over. But the late game clock management, the defense on the last play when they still controlled their own destiny, and going zero for four in PATs means there was more that could have been done to secure the upset win. They were so close.
Overall, another good GEFA experience at the first time visit to see the Mustangs play at home. The evening forecast took a turn for the worse, and we switched race plans from Bethel, NY to the nearby Greenwood Valley Action Tracks. A good call, as Bethel rained out.
We had toyed with the idea of committing to football every spring Saturday, but decided on a less restrictive “most” Saturdays. Thus, if the weather is nice, next Saturday will end our six-week streak of spring football as we had to the Chemung Speedrome, NY. However, if the weather is bad or even questionable, we know football will be played while racing will be canceled. So, you never know. In any case, we hope to make it up the following week with an afternoon/evening football double. Feedback Welcome: rtryfbar@aol.com.
GUY & PAM 2024 GEFA SCORECARD
Week 0—Kickoff Classic (Central Columbia High School, Bloomsburg)
Week 1—Bedford County Buffaloes (Claysburg-Kimmel High School, Claysburg)
Week 2—Dauphin County Comanche (Koons Park, Linglestown)
Week 3—AIF Arena Football: Harrisburg Stampede (PA Farm Show Complex)
Week 4—Berks County Raptors (Exeter Township High School)
Week 5—Hazleton Mustangs (Gene Della Croce Memorial Field)
On the GEFA Radar: Coal County Nightmare, Indiana County Crusaders, Williamsport Wildcats, Wilkes Barre Warriors, Somerset County Miners, Moshannon Valley Vikings, Keystone Bowl, All-Star Game. WFA: Harrisburg Havoc. Folded: Monroeville Titans
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