Scranton Prep Survives Mifflinburg 28-21 (VIDEO RECAP)

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Davin Ridall | November 15, 2025

MILTON – After falling behind 14-0 early in the first quarter and going into halftime down 21-14, the red hot Scranton Prep Cavaliers looked to be in major trouble. That all changed in the second half, as the Cavaliers defense held the Wildcats off the scoreboard entirely in the second half, allowing their offense control all the momentum in the second half. After the first quarter, Scranton Prep outscored Mifflinburg 28-7 the rest of the way to pull out a 28-21 victory in the first round of the PIAA Class 3A playoffs.

All season long, Mifflinburg has rode their strong passing attack on offense, and it really showed early on. The Wildcats’ first two plays from scrimmage were two deep balls to senior wide receiver Landen Murray, both of which were hauled in for 88 yard and 76 yard scores respectively, giving the Wildcats an early 14-0 lead. “This is obviously a plus on my own kid but I haven’t seen a better athlete in the state of Pennsylvania than Landen [Murray]” Mifflinburg head coach Cody Botts had to say about Landen Murray.

Scranton Prep after getting a touchdown drive of their own, was in need of a big play. With Mifflinburg driving into Cavalier territory, Chad Martin dropped back to pass and had the ball stripped out of his hands and picked up by Ricky Dewey all the way back for a score, tying it up at 14 a piece. “We didn’t plan for us to go down 14-0 obviously, but we knew that we had to keep continuing to fight,” is what Scranton Prep’s Kaleb Pagnotti had to say about going down 14-0 early.

Toward the end of the half, Chad Martin found Landen Murray for a third time in the back corner of the end zone, putting the Wildcats back ahead 21-14 in the final stages of the first half. Martin ended up finishing the first half alone with 266 passing yards and 3 touchdowns. “We’re in control of this game, this is our game to win or lose and they’re going to make a choice right now of what they want to do,” coach Botts said at halftime.

Scranton Prep up to this point had never seen a team like Mifflinburg, one with such a high powered passing offense. In the first half of this game, the Cavaliers struggled to defend the passing game, allowing Chad Martin to throw for 266 passing yards in the first half, but in the second half, the Cavaliers defense held Martin to just 21 passing yards. “31 was a heck of a player and he burned us early, we weren’t used to that speed really, so we just had to adjust at halftime,” Will McPartland said about the defense playing against Landen Murray. “Once we adjusted, our coaches came up with a scheme to stop him and after that, we played really well and just played together.

The second half was all ball control football and strong defensive play for Scranton Prep. That Mifflinburg offense that had five drives in the first half that all made it into enemy territory, went three and out on their first three drives of the second half. The Cavaliers took full advantage of this, taking their first two drives the full length of the field and scoring, giving them a 28-21 lead with eight minutes to go in the fourth.

Towards the end of the game Mifflinburg’s defense seemed out of gas, as they failed to make stops on multiple third and long opportunities, which allowed the Cavaliers to wind the clock all the way down inside a minute and a half before missing a field goal. Sadly for the Wildcats it was too little too late, as their final drive made it close to midfield before eventually stalling. Star receiver Landen Murray unfortunately went down with an injury on the second to last play for the Wildcats, taking away any hope they had and bringing an end to their season.

“I feel like this was the best season in our program’s history I really do, and it’s because of those guys and the work they put in,” coach Botts said after the game. “I would say they put this program back on the map, and I think the seniors are going to leave a good trail for the underclassmen. It’s always cliche but now it’s back to work, and the success is there for the next class to take.”

“We have to clean up the mistakes offensively, I can’t throw interceptions, we can’t fumble the ball, and up front those guys played a really good game but we just gotta go back and work on everything in practice and I think we will be alright,” Will McPartland said about going into next week.

With the win, Scranton Prep moves to 8-5 and keeps their season alive, they will be facing 13-0 Northwestern Lehigh next week in the state quarterfinals. For Mifflinburg, their season will come to a close, with a final record of 10-3.

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