Foul Night for the Indians

Tagged under: District 6, News, Scoreboard, Scores

Brad Strawser | October 5, 2018

A first half characterized by penalties was the focus of the night as the Juniata Indians fell 21-0 to the Upper Dauphin Trojans.

The Indians were not able to keep up their winning ways on Friday when they visited the Trojans. Juniata had trouble finding ways to stop the run and was ultimately their downfall.

Ask any of the fans who left the game Friday night however, they would say they felt they were cheated by the officials.

In the first half, the officials became the focal point of the game, throwing multiple flags on both teams on all of their drives. The timing of calls for the Indians is what made them feel more cheated than their opponents.

Multiple false start calls stalled out multiple drives for the Indians, as they spent the majority of their offensive possessions on the Trojans’ half of the field.

On the Trojans’ first touchdown pass of the night, QB Macklin Ayers shuffled a pass to his receiver to take a 6-0 lead. The Indian sideline went crazy as the pass was thrown close to the line of scrimmage. The Indians felt Ayers was past, but the officials stated he was behind the line. However, the biggest call came just at the end of the first half.

The Indians’ Steven Ranck was able to pick off a pass with 30 seconds left in the half, when an inadvertent whistle by the official stopped any kind of return the Indians may have attempted. This caused the Indian sideline to erupt with frustration and take a knee to end the half.

A rough night to be wearing black and white. A half characterized by penalties against both sides. An inadvertent whistle on an interception near the end of the half has the crowd fired up

— Brad (@BradStrawser) October 5, 2018

Turnovers also played a part in the Indians’ struggles. Twice the Indians were poised to score on the Trojans’ half of the field when they turned the ball over by either a fumble or an interception.

“We dropped a couple passes that were right in our hands. Dropping passes and getting some untimely penalties is big too. It had nothing to do with effort though,” said Indian coach Gary Klingensmith after the game. Klingensmith went on to say that he encourages the team to keep fighting for the rest of the season, “People have outscored us, but no one has beaten us up.”

The Indians (1-6) will look to bounce back as they host undefeated Tri-Valley League leader Halifax (8-0) in Week 8.

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