By Kenny Varner

LEWISTOWN – It was an emotional night for the MIfflin County Huskies football team as it celebrated senior night and honored one of its own, former Huskies head coach Scot Sechler.

Sechler, who is battling an illness, was present to escort his son Josiah Sechler during the senior night celebration. Former players and coaches lined up to honor their former leader.

“We were ready to go. Coach Sechler being here helped a little bit. It put some fire in us,” said MIfflin County coach Shane Breon We were ready to go. We hit some big plays early and that really helped settle things down it was really emotional. This kids played hard and I knew they’d be ready to go.”

On the field, the Huskies came out focused and driven to pick up the win as their former coaches watched on the sidelines.

In the end, the Huskies would dominate Red Land and send their seniors out of the regular season with a 41-7 victory.

Deakon Schaeffer added some rushing history for the Huskies as well as he eclipsed the 1,000 yard rushing mark.

With his 66-yard touchdown run on the first play from scrimmage, Schaeffer reached the milestone.

He wouldn’t be the only Husky with a strong performance. Mifflin County quarterback Landen Eichhorn threw for 247 yards on 10-of-16 passing. He notched four TD passes on the night as well.

Receiving wise, Isaac Wilson finished with three catches good for 100 yards while Schaeffer had 93 en route to the victory.

After holding the Patriots in their first possession, MIfflin County went right to work. Eichhorn hit a 60-yard TD strike  Schaeffer, culminating a 4-play drive. Isaac Parks-Gill’s PAT made it 7-0 with 6:13 left in the first.

On the next Huskies possession, Eichhorn was at it again, hitting a 64-yard TD pass Wilson this time to up the lead to 14 at 1:08.

The Huskies would not take the foot off the gas in this one as they scored again in the second quarter. The drive started after an interception by Brody Rishel, putting the ball on the Huskies 12.

Starting from the 12, the Huskies would on a long time consuming drive of 14.

Facing a 4th down on their own 48, Eichhorn found Wilson on a long pass, keeping the drive alive.

The Huskies would muscle their way down to the thirty. Eichhorn would send another by air mail, hitting Dupree Reed on a short pass. Reed took the ball and blazed his way into the end zone for the 30-yard TD pass, ending the first half with MIfflin County in control 20-0.

In the third quarter, the Huskies got the kick off to start the second half.

Facing a first at their own 34, Schaeffer got the nod and he broke through the line and scored on a 66-yard scamper, upping the lead to 27-0.

Red Land would follow the Huskies drive with its only score of the game. Quarterback Quinlan Shearer tossed a 25-yard pass to Josh Patrick in the end zone, cutting it to 27-7.

The night belonged to Eichhorn as he got MIfflin County on the board once again as he threw a 10-yard TD strike to Wilson with 4:10 left in the third.

In the fourth, it was time for some backups to show their talents.

As the final stanza wound down, the Huskies would find the end zone once again when Logan Parks tossed a 37-yard TD pass to Tylor Drukemiller to end the scoring.

With the win, the Huskies end the season with a record of 6-4.

They will play Altoona next weekend in the opening  game of District 6 playoffs.

Red Land.           0 0    7 0 –  7

Mifflin County 14  6  14 7 – 41

MC – Landen Eichhorn 60-yard TD pass to Deakon Schaeffer (Isaac Parks-Gill PAT), 6:13.

MC – Eichhorn 64-yard TD pass to Isaac Wilson (Park-Gill PAT), 1:08.

Second Quarter

MC -Eichhorn 30-yard TD pass to Dupree Reed (Kick failed) 18.7

Third Quarter

MC – Deakon Schaeffer 66-yard run (Parks-Gill), 11:38

RL – Quinlan Shearer 25-yard pass to Josh Patrick (Brody McClure kick) 7:25.

MC – Eichhorn 10-yard TD pass to Wilson (Parks -Gill Kick), 4:10.

Fourth Quarter

MC – Logan Parks TD 37-yard pass to Tylor Drukemiller(Parks -Gill kick), 1:36.

TEAM STATISTICS      RL MC   

First downs                   9    14

Total Yards                  227 415

Rushes-yards.            98 104

Yards passing            129 311

Passing (comp.-att.-int.) 14-30-1 11-20-2

Fumbles-lost              2-0 1-0

Penalties-yards       8-92 4-37

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING: RL -Colton Hoffman 13-81, Brady Seyler 1-2, Quinlan Shearer 9-(-2), Josh Patrick 1-12. MC  – Deakon Schaeffer 11-116, Landen Eichhorn 2-(-17), Dupree Reed 1-(-1), Josh Cruz 6-13, Reagan Ettinger 1-(-5), Brice Rishel 2-(-2).

PASSING: RL -Shearer 14-30 129-1. MC  – Eichhorn 10-16 247, Logan Parks 1-4 37.

RECEIVING : RL  – Hoffman 2-15, Seyler 1-6, Anthony Mattick 1-6, Anthony Shay 6-47, Joesph Sersch 2-27, Patrick 1-25, AJ Rogers 1-3.

MC  –  Schaeffer 2-93, Isaac Wilson 3-100, Reed 1-30, Parker Kearns 2-44, Josiah Sechler 2-7, Drukemiller 1-3.