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Schuylkill Haven Storms Past Minersville 48-38

Tagged under: District 11, Gameday Hub, News, pfn

| September 19, 2025

One week ago, the Hurricanes of Schuylkill Haven were dealing with the loss of one of their top running backs in Niko Carestia. This week, they rebounded in fantastic fashion, as Colton Reber teamed up with Nico Castillo to put up numerous lopsided numbers. Reber’s 66-yard dash to the end zone on the fourth Schuylkill Haven play from scrimmage set a tone that lasted the entire evening in a 48-38 victory.

Minersville scored the first points of the contest, chewing up the first seven minutes of the ballgame. Quarterback and UCF commit Dante Carr converted an early 4th & 1 on a keeper, but the Battlin’ Miners’ drive stalled inside the red zone. They settled for a 23-yard field goal and took the 3-0 lead.

 

 

Four plays later, Colton Reber was off to the races for a quick 7-3 Hurricanes lead. The Schuylkill Haven offense line opened up a hole over the right side that he accelerated through for the quick score.

 


Paiten LaPoint, one of the fastest players in the state of Pennsylvania, took the ensuing kickoff back to the end zone, pulling the Miners back in front 10-7 with 2:48 to play in the opening quarter. Both teams showed no signs of slowing down from here, as the back-and-forth continued.

 

Colton Reber got going again on the next drive, exploding for a 34-yard gain before scoring from six yards out. It took three plays and the Hurricanes were back on top 14-10 with 1:06 to play in the first.

 

After a 45-yard pickup through the air put Minersville on the Haven 7-yard line, a holding call backed them up to the 17. Dante Carr scrambled and nearly hit the end zone, but Reber came through with a hard hit that knocked the ball out on the 1-yard line, forcing the turnover and allowing the Hurricanes a chance to go up by two scores.

 

The ground game came to life once again for Haven, as gains of 16, 14, and 21 yards helped them drive 99 yards over the next eight plays. Nico Castillo capped the drive with his 20-yard touchdown run, again driving through a hole opened up by his line.

 

Minersville fell behind 21-10 with 6:35 to go in the half, but returned serve one more time. Three plays into their drive, Dante Carr found Ty Atkinson for a 27-yard score to pull within 21-17.

 

The highlight reel kept moving along. Castillo returned the ensuing kickoff to his ow n44 and five plays later, powered his way through the middle of the line one more time for a 35-yard touchdown. With 3:15 to go in the second quarter, the Hurricanes were back up 27-17.

 

But, as you guessed, the scoring was far from over in this half. Dante Carr was running for his life two plays later, when he turned it up the field and ended up going 46 yards to bring the deficit to 27-24 with 2:19 left in the half.

 

Haven got the ball back near midfield and ran the 2-minute offense flawlessly. On a deflected pass, Max Heim hit Castillo for a 7-yard touchdown, moving the Hurricanes back in front 34-24 with :15 left.

 

With eight seconds left, Minersville did not choose to kneel on the ball. Carr put the ball in the air, and it was picked off by Aaron Gilbert, giving Schuylkill Haven one more play. Fortunately for the Miners, this did not come back to bite them, and the half ended with the Hurricanes on top 34-24.

 

By halftime, Schuylkill Haven had run for over 300 yards, 246 of which came from Reber. Also working in their favor was the fact that they received the ball in the third quarter with a chance to go up by three scores for the first time all night.

They made the most of the opportunity. Castillo picked up 30 yards, moving the ball to midfield and setting up Reber from 27 yards out three plays later.

 

Minersville then went on their second longest drive of the night, holding the ball for the next 6:28. Dante Carr capped the ten play drive on a beautiful fake handoff, keeping the rock for a 7-yard touchdown. That score put the Miners’ deficit at 41-31 with 4:03 left in the third quarter.

 

But the Hurricanes slammed the door, as Reber took his 25th handoff of the night into the end zone from 29 yards out for his fourth touchdown, pushing the lead to an insurmountable 48-31 with under a minute to play in the third.

 

Haven had a chance to salt away nearly all of the final nine minutes of the fourth quarter after forcing the first and only punt of the night by the Battlin’ Miners. On a 3rd & 2 play, Castillo kept running tough, converting and picking up 12 yards. However, the ball was fumbled away, and Brandon Adams jumped on theb all to give his team one more chance on offense with 2:05 to play.

 

Showing no quit, Dante Carr hit a wide open Matt Dube for a 33-yard touchdown with 42 seconds to play, cutting the deficit to 48-38. They would get no closer and Haven finally closed out the wild contest.

On the night, Colton Reber carried 31 times for 353 yards and four scores. Nico Castillo carried 14 times for 169 yards and two scores, also catching two passes for 29 yards and a touchdown.

On the night, Minersville’s Paiten LaPoint became the school’s all-time leading receiver, eclipsing the mark previously held by Gabe Davis.

PAFootballNews’ staff spoke to Nico Castillo and Colton Reber after the game.

 

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