Carestia’s 7 TDs help Haven outlast Minersville
Schuylkill Haven's Niko Carestia breaks free for one of his seven touchdowns in Thursday's 72-52 win over Minersville (Photo by Kelly Wiley)
MINERSVILLE — Niko Carestia’s jersey was more brown than white, his pants coated in dirt, his hair slicked back, his arms glistening with sweat.
The Schuylkill Haven junior running back had just given a performance for the ages, yet he looked ready for more.
Carestia excelled on both sides of the ball Thursday night, leading the Hurricanes to a wild 72-52 victory over Minersville in a Schuylkill/Colonial Blue Division clash at Veterans Memorial Stadium.
Carestia rushed 22 times for 274 yards and seven touchdowns, scored six times on two-point conversion runs, had a big sack, recovered a fumble and made the big defensive stop on a key fourth-and-2 play midway through the fourth quarter.
His Herculean effort proved to be the difference as the Hurricanes (4-1, 4-0 Blue) scored the game’s final 22 points en route to their fourth straight victory and the 600th in program history.
“This is definitely one of the highest scoring games I’ve ever played in,” said Carestia, who scored on runs of 17, 52, 27, 7, 10, 9 and 58 yards. “I played in a lot of midget games where we throttled teams, but we never scored this many points.”
Carestia’s effort was part of a wild first half that saw the teams combine for 30 first downs, 756 total yards, no punts and 87 points. Jordan Bowers’ 42-yard field goal as time expired in the second quarter gave Minersville a 45-42 halftime lead.
Minersville (3-2, 2-2 Blue) recovered three onside kick-like squib kicks in the first quarter to score five times. The Miners led 13-0 before Haven had the ball, as Dante Carr scored on a 1-yard run five plays into the game and then hit Logan Hutsko for a 50-yard TD two plays later.
“We saw something on film that we thought that we could get,” Minersville coach Justin Frantz said. “Honestly, we didn’t call for all three. But it worked out really well for us there.”
Haven answered with Carestia’s first TD and a 17-yard run by Niko Castillo after Carestia recovered a fumble, taking a 14-13 lead.
Minersville countered with another Carr TD run, then a 48-yard pass from Carr to Paiten LaPoint after Bowers recovered his own squib kick. With 4:06 left in the first quarter, it was 28-14 Miners.
Carestia’s 52-yard run sliced it to 28-20, but a 71-yard pass from Carr to LaPoint made it 35-20 after one frame. In the first quarter alone, the teams combined for 17 first downs and 453 total yards.
Two plays into the second quarter, Carestia scored on a 27-yard TD run. Carr answered with a 17-yard TD run to put the Miners up 42-26.
Haven then tied it on touchdown runs of 7 and 10 yards and a pair of two-point conversion runs by Carestia sandwiched around a Castillo interception and ensuing 52-yard return.
A 55-yard run by Carr then set up Bowers’ field goal, which came after Carestia sacked Carr on a third-and-10 play from the Haven 14.
In the first half, Carr completed 13-of-18 passes for 353 yards and three touchdowns while running for three more touchdowns.
“He was unreal with what he was doing,” Frantz said. “When he gets in the zone, he knows what he wants to run, he knows how he’s going to throw it. He was fitting the ball in everywhere, putting the ball deep, throwing it on a line, then pulling it down and running. I’m glad he’s on our side.”
Schuylkill Haven controlled things for most of the second half. The Hurricanes got a defensive stop, taking advantage of a bad punt snap that put the ball at the Miners 12. Carestia scored two plays later, and his two-point conversion run made it 50-45.
Minersville took its final lead at 52-50 with an 11-play, 77-yard drive that ended with a 10-yard TD run by Carr.
The lead was short-lived, as Carestia bolted 58 yards two plays later to put Haven back on top 56-52.
“We knew that once we had the ball, they couldn’t stop us,” Carestia said. “All we had to do was get the ball back. Once we did, we kept pounding the rock and just outscored them.”
The game changed dramatically when Carr suffered an injury on Minersville’s next possession. Backup Derek Derenzo came in and didn’t skip a beat, completing 6-of-7 passes for 49 yards to get the Miners to the Haven 6. On a fourth-and-2 play, however, Carestia broke through the line and tackled Easton Schultz for a 1-yard loss.
Minersville didn’t threaten the rest of the game.
“I heard Coach Farr yelling, ‘It’s a run, it’s run,’ ” Carestia said. “As soon as I saw Schultz get the ball I just fired and I got him.”
Without Carr, Minersville’s offense ground to a halt as the Miners battled several injuries and cramps. Derenzo also got hurt, leaving Schultz to run the offense out of the wildcat.
Haven, meanwhile, kept firing on all cylinders, scoring two more touchdowns on a 91-yard run by Castillo and a 32-yard run by Colton Reber to take control.
“This was one of the most exciting football games in a long time,” Frantz said. “They’re too good … you’re not going to stop them, you just try to match them touchdown for touchdown. We were doing that for a while until a couple of things went wrong and kids got hurt.”
