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Tamaqua grinds out Victory over Saucon Valley

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

| October 31, 2025

Hellertown-

Tamaqua traveled to Hellertown and pounds the rock, controls the clock, and grinds out a gutsy victory in a first time meeting between the teams thanks to a relentless rushing attack.  However, just getting to the start of the game was an adventure for Tamaqua, as the team bus on the way to the game was involved in an accident which luckily resulted in no injuries and then upon arrival to the stadium, a torrential downpour and thunderstorm cut short their warm up due to lightening in the area.

The Blue Raiders of Tamaqua won the opening coin toss and elected to receive the kick.  The plan of starting off the game with the ball was immediately ended when the Panther kick coverage team got a helmet on the ball and knocked the ball loose from the Raiders’ Terrance McDowell and Saucon’s Parker Skoda recovered the fumble which set up the Panthers deep in Tamaqua territory just seconds in to the game.

 

Two plays later, Saucon quarterback Braden Rohn scored from a yard out to put the Panthers up 7-0 just moments in to the game.

Tamaqua responded on the ensuing kick as they returned the kick all the way to the Saucon Valley 31 yard line.  The Blue Raiders then proceeded with a heavy dose of running back Terrance McDowell and 4 plays later he found himself in the end-zone on an 11 yard scoring run.  The 2 point attempt was successful and Tamaqua took the lead 8-7 with 9:47 remaining in the first quarter.

The teams then went on to trade punts back and forth after neither offense could get much going the rest of the first quarter. That was, until with just over a minute left in the opening quarter, the Blue Raiders offense, discovering the forward pass, caught the Panther defense napping and quarterback Chase Serfass found Brady McCabe over top the Saucon secondary for a 24 yard touchdown catch to put the visiting Blue Raiders up 16-7 after a successful 2 point try.

The Panther offense answered right back on their next possession with some trickeration via a wide receiver pass from Thomas Cahill to Taylor Rohn who took the reception all the way down to the Tamaqua 5 yardline.  The next play, Braden Rohn called his own number and scored on a 5 yard run.  The Panthers went for 2 and Eli Szlachtianshyn got the ball in to the end-zone for the extra 2 points.  With 10:49 remaining in the first half, it was Saucon Valley 15, Tamaqua 16.

In to the second half, Saucon received the kick and went on a lengthy drive however they were turned away by the Blue Raider defense as a field goal attempt after a 8 play drive missed wide left.  Tamaqua then went on a 12 play marathon drive of their own, all on the ground. The 12th play being a 7 yard score by Terrance McDowell to put the Blue Raiders up 22-16 after the Panther defense stuffed the 2 point try.

The Panther offense came back out on the field looking to level the score, however the Tamaqua defense put an end to that as a deep ball by Braden Rohn was picked off in the end-zone by the Blue Raiders’ Shawn Chen to end the Panther threat.  Now in to the 4th quarter, Tamaqua’s offense went back to what they do best, running the ball.  After 10 straight carries, Chase Serfass got another shot to throw downfield, however this attempt was picked off by Saucon’s Taylor Rohn to put an end to the Tamaqua Drive.

The momentum looked to be shifting back towards the Panthers, however only  a few plays in to the next Saucon Valley possession, the Tamaqua defense stripped the ball and recovered the fumble, getting the ball back for their offense to continue to chew up the clock.

The Blue Raiders then continued to pound the rock, run out the clock, and secure the victory over Saucon Valley 22-16.  After the game I was able to get a few words from Tamaqua running back Terrance McDowell about the game.

With the win, Tamaqua improves to 4-7 on the year and will face off against undefeated Notre Dame Green-Pond next week at Lafayette College’s Fisher Field.

With the defeat, Saucon’s season comes to an end with a 5-6 record.

 

STATS

Rushing:

(Tamaqua) Terrence McDowell 32-181, 2 TDs; Malachi Stewart 15-94; Chase Serfass 1-(-6); Ace Schrickram 1-(-1)

(Saucon Valley) Braden Rohn 14-19, 2 TDs; Taylor Rohn 11-78.

Passing:

(Tamaqua) Serfass 4-7-1, 63 yards

(Saucon Valley) Braden Rohn 4-10-2, 28 yards; Thomas Cahill 1-1-0, 43 yards.

Receiving:

(Tamaqua) Brady McCabe 2-42, TD; McDowell 1-4;

(Saucon Valley) Cahill 2-22; Taylor Rohn 3-49.

 

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