Stream Pennsylvania High School Football on the NFHS Network
 
 

Mifflinburg triumphs with 48-20 victory over Mount Carmel

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

| September 6, 2025

MOUNT CARMEL – Last year’s contest between these two teams was certainly a treat, as the game was decided by merely a point 35-34. This time around, the Wildcats came into the matchup as the stronger team, and proved why they were the stronger team. Powered by a school record 625 total yards of offense, Mifflinburg (3-0) ran away with the game in the second half en route to a 48-20 road victory over Mount Carmel (1-2).

Early on in the game it seemed like a shootout was in the works as we had three straight touchdowns early, all of them basically back-to-back. The first of these touchdowns was a 48 yard strike from the connection of Chad Martin and Landen Murray, capping off the Wildcats opening drive with a score. Directly after that, Michael Kimsal took the kickoff return from the 15 yard line, broke a couple tackles, and spun free all the way to the end zone, tying the game right back up at 7-7 just 4 minutes in. The Wildcats couldn’t answer with their own kickoff return touchdown, however it only took one play on offense to jump right back in front on a second connection between Chad Martin and Landen Murray, this time from 78 yards out. That strike put Mifflinburg up 14-7 only 5 and a half minutes into the game.

Another good kickoff return put Mount Carmel at the 44 yard line of the wildcats and in excellent position to strike again, however we finally saw a break from all the scoring as Mifflinburg’s defense held strong, forcing a turnover on downs after Mount Carmel’s attempt on 4th and 7 ultimately failed. Mifflinburg’s offense took the field once again and now is when we truly started to see what was Mount Carmel’s biggest problem all night, and that was broken tackles. It seemed like every play, the Red Tornadoes defense just couldn’t bring the opposing players down the first time. Mifflinburg needed just 7 plays to capitalize on this drive, finishing it off with a 15 yard touchdown run by Seth Hartman, followed by blocked extra point that kept the score at 20-7 with 4 minutes left in the first quarter.

Both offenses entered a bit of a standstill for majority of the second quarter, until Mifflinburg finally broke through once again, this time on an 8 yard carry from Landon Moser, which increased the Wildcats lead to 26-7 after the failed two point conversion. Mount Carmel was beginning to find themselves in trouble, and this was even more true after Mifflinburg recovered a fumble on the ensuing kickoff, putting the Wildcat offense right back on the field with just over 3 minutes left in the half. It seemed like we might have been heading straight for a blowout, luckily for Mount Carmel, the defense started to make the necessary plays. With Mifflinburg driving once again inside the 40 yard line, Chad Martin fired a pass over the middle that was intercepted by Michael Higgins and returned 66 yards to the house, cutting the lead down to 12. The defense continued to step up on the following drive as well, forcing a three and out for the Wildcats and a punt. This punt was grabbed at the 47 yard line by Jaylen Delaney and returned down the sideline all the way to the end zone for a 53 yard punt return touchdown, and just like that this game was turned on its head.

Mifflinburg gave it one last shot to try to drive at the end of the half and did end up making inside the 25 yard line. Mount Carmel lucked out as a third touchdown pass to Landen Murray was called back due to offsetting penalties. This did give Mifflinburg one more untimed down, however but Chad Martin’s final pass of the half to Cole Reibsome fell incomplete in the end zone, keeping our score at 26-20 heading into halftime, and all the sudden, the team who got out gained 403 to 41 in total yards in the first half, had seemingly turned the tide and had all of the momentum.

“I think we’re in a very lucky position, we had some plays we could have made on the table,” Mount Carmel head coach John Darrah said at halftime. “We’re not playing very well offensively, but we’re only down six and we’re getting the ball [in the second half], so we’re lucky to be where we’re at right now.

“Obviously we liked the offense [in the first half] but we just have to regroup, honestly that’s what we talked about,” Mifflinburg head coach Cody Botts said at halftime. “And obviously we forgot about the special teams component but we just have to finish the game. We’re letting them hang around for far too long, and just gotta put it away in the second half.”

The second half began with Mount Carmel on the offensive side and for the first time all game, it seemed like the Red Tornadoes finally found their stride as they drove all the way down inside the red zone and were on the cusp of tying the game or even taking the lead. Unfourtunately for Mount Carmel, their 39 yard drive stalled at the 14 yard line on the 9th play as on 4th and 5, Gavin Marshalek’s pass intended for Jaylen Delaney fell incomplete, resulting in a turnover on downs and keeping our score at 26-20.

Mifflinburg after that huge stop on fourth down was looking to take the wind out of Mount Carmel’s sails, and that’s exactly what they did on their next drive. The Wildcats drove 86 yards down the field in 13 plays taking up over 6 minutes of game time, capping off the drive with a 14 yard touchdown run by Landen Murray and a two point conversion on a quarterback sneak by Chad Martin. The lead was now 34-20 with just over a minute left in the third, and Mifflinburg had siezed the momentum back once again. More disaster followed for Mount Carmel as Mifflinburg recovered their second fumble of the game, and not too long after they capitalized again as Landen Murray added his fourth and final touchdown to his spectacular night, this time from 63 yards out putting Mifflinburg back ahead by three touchdowns as the final seconds of the third quarter ticked away.

The fourth quarter was much of the same, including an interception and another fumble recovery for the Mifflinburg defense, while Mount Carmel’s offense could not generate any sort of momentum. The final nail in the coffin was a 1 yard touchdown run by John Parker Marr, which put Mifflinburg ahead 48-20 with 5:53 left in the game. The rest of the fourth quarter was uneventful, and by the end of the game Mifflinburg had racked up well over 600 yards of total offense compared to Mount Carmel’s 128. The Wildcats offense was driven by Chad Martin who threw for 305 yards and 2 touchdowns on just 15 completions, and Landen Murray who finished his night with 80 yards rushing and 2 touchdowns on the ground along with 167 receiving yards and two receiving touchdowns.

“Halftime obviously we had a real moment with the kids, and we brought our captains aside right before everyone went in and said you guys have to make sure that everyone’s back on the same page,” Mifflinburg head coach Cody Botts said after the game when asked about what changed at halftime. “Captains have to make sure all heads are up, there’s no finger pointing, and just get back to our plan.”

With the win tonight, Mifflinburg moves to 3-0 for the first time since 2022, and they’ll be on the road again next week to face Montoursville (3-0). Mount Carmel with the loss falls to 1-2, their worst start to a season since 2016. Next week they’ll be on the road to face Southern Columbia (2-1).

Follow PA Football News on Twitter @PaFootballNews

 
 
PA Football News Scoreboard presented by NFHS Network
 
GoRout
 
Showcase by Circle W Sports
 
Football Legends board game
 
 
x