HS Football: Blue Mountain cruises by Pottsville, regains Clash of 61 trophy
Blue Mountain's Brody Foose plows into the end zone for a touchdown in the Eagles' 49-14 win over Pottsville on Friday night (Photo by Brook Koch-Guers).
POTTSVILLE — Brody Foose was fooled the first time Pottsville tried a pass to a running back out in the flat.
The second time, the Blue Mountain sophomore linebacker saw it coming and made the play of the game in Friday’s 14th Clash of 61 rivalry game at Veterans Memorial Stadium.
Foose’s pick-6 touchdown right before halftime was one of his three touchdowns as the Eagles cruised to a 49-14 victory over the Crimson Tide in a Schuylkill-Colonial Red Division contest.
The victory returned the Clash of 61 trophy to Orwigsburg and evened the rivalry series at 7-7.
“It was huge,” Foose said of his interception return with 22 seconds left in the second quarter that gave Blue Mountain a 21-0 halftime lead.
“A couple of plays before they hit that back out and got a couple of yards on it. We had a timeout and my defensive coach told me that I had to watch that back out. I saw him flow and I flowed with him. He threw the ball right to me and I had to make a play. I made the play and scored.
“If you’re up three scores, they want to dig their heads down and not get out of that tunnel. That really brought the energy up, then our offense got going. Going into halftime we were pumped up.”
Foose’s defensive play was just one of several big positives for Blue Mountain (5-4, 4-3 Red), which bounced back from last week’s loss at North Schuylkill in impressive fashion.
Defensively, the Eagles held Pottsville to 11 yards rushing, three first downs and 46 total yards in the first half. Will Shaner finished with two sacks, Brady Strause had a key fourth-down sack, Dylan Foose had a sack and a fumble recovery and the Eagles won the turnover battle 2-0.
Pottsville finished with just 67 yards rushing, with 28 of that coming on the Tide’s final possession against the Blue Mountain JV defense.
“The biggest thing was we couldn’t handle their speed on the perimeter up front,” Pottsville coach Mike Brennan said. “(Dylan) Foose and Shaner gave us problems all night long and everything blew up from there.
“We had a hard time with some protection issues. From a physicality standpoint we had a hard time running the ball against them and subsequently had a hard time stopping them once they started getting momentum in the second quarter.”
Offensively, sophomore quarterback Cohen Kirby was spectacular, hitting 10-of-16 passes for 246 yards and three touchdowns.
Named the Phoenix Physical Therapy Blue Mountain MVP, Kirby overcame some first-quarter struggles to engineer six straight scoring drives.
After nearly slipping and falling as he dropped back, Kirby hit Frankie Russo for an 18-yard touchdown to cap a 10-play, 62-yard drive to put the Eagles up 7-0.
“It was definitely a slow start,” Kirby said. “After the first touchdown I felt great. We just kept rolling.
“Our wide receivers did their job and got open for me and they gave me some space to get them the ball.”
After a quick three-and-out, Blue Mountain went 68 yards in 10 plays to score on a 3-yard run by Brody Foose with 52.7 seconds left in the half.
Brody Foose, who has been hampered by injury for most of the season, gave the Eagles a spark when he came in on offense to start Blue Mountain’s third possession. He finished with 62 yards rushing on eight carries.
“He has great patience,” Blue Mountain coach Chuck Kutz said. “He’s a slasher with great leverage. He reads things well and doesn’t get tackled very easily.”
After Brody Foose’s defensive score made it 21-0 at intermission, the Eagles scored three plays into the third quarter on an 82-yard bomb from Kirby to Kole Luckenbill.
Pottsville (3-6, 2-5 Red) got on the board with a 32-yard pass from Andrew Allen to Shay Strencosky that was set up by a pair of long runs by Max Clews. Clews, who finished with 93 yards rushing, was named the Phoenix Physical Therapy Pottsville MVP.
But Blue Mountain kept pouring it on offensively, as Kirby connected with Carter Smith for a 14-yard TD and Brody Foose scored on a 1-yard run. A 35-yard pass from Kirby to Josh Hoover set up that score.
In the second half alone, Kirby was 4-of-5 for 168 yards and two scores.
“The game slows down for you with the more experience you have,” Kutz said of Kirby. “I think he sees that now. He has multiple receivers to throw to and he goes through his checkdowns and finds the open guy. He’s going to be a special player for sure.”
The Blue Mountain victory spoiled a big night at Veterans Memorial Stadium, which included a 20th anniversary celebration of Pottsville’s 2005 PIAA Class 3A state runner-up team, an appearance by the Pottsville Alumni Band and the crowning of Billy Davis and Jes Siminitus as Homecoming King and Queen.
A win next Friday over Tamaqua would guarantee the Eagles a quarterfinal-round home game in the District 11 Class 4A playoffs.
“After last week we needed to come together and rebound if we could,” Kutz said. “The first series or two we were kind of feeling our way. I thought we established the line of scrimmage and good things happened from that point on. We could run or pass.
“This is always a playoff atmosphere … it was good that we came with some fire and energy and played tough. You want to control your destiny. You win these two, hopefully get wins and see where it lays in the playoffs and hopefully get a home game.”
