Receiver McKeague carries Knights to win
As RB, he convinces, then converts game-winner in Slate Belt rivalry game
Collin McKeague has been hounding first-year Pen Argyl coach Brady Mutton about getting a chance to play running back.
The Green Knights’ leading receiver this season finally got his wish in the team’s biggest game of this and every year.
McKeague delivered, scoring the game-winning touchdown on a 5-yard run around right end with 17 seconds left Saturday afternoon to give Pen Argyl a 28-21 victory at Alumni Stadium.
“When it came down to it, when it was [last] Saturday, I said, ‘What do we do?’” Mutton said. “That was the first thing I thought of. If Collin is going to have that kind of attitude, let’s make it happen.
“He repped out all week. It worked out.”
McKeague ran for 79 yards and two scores and returned an interception 70 yards for a TD. He was the Pen Argyl MVP.
“I’ve been receiver all year, a position I’ve been playing basically my whole life,” McKeague said. “Definitely having in this game, being more of an X factor means a lot.
“It was Sweep right and I knew my linemen were going to make their blocks. I just had to read their blocks andmakeithappen.”
McKeague’s outstretched right arm reaching the pylon at
the goal sent out a huge cheer from the Pen Argyl faithful in the 101st meeting between the two teams.
Pen Argyl senior Reese Karp was named the game’s Charles Sampson Outstanding Lineman Award winner.
Senior Jared Reto, who had six catches for 113 yards, was Bangor’s team MVP.
Ups and downs
Bangor senior Joe Genteel missed time early this season and had 292 passing yards entering Saturday. He threw for a career-high 281 and one TD. He also had his first rushing score of 2020.
Genteel also threw three interceptions under heavy pressure for large parts of the game.
“We had moments when we were consistent and moments when we had drives shut down,”
Bangor coach Paul Reduzzi said. “It mostly came from getting behind [in down and distance], when we got behind in the chains.
“The last [interception], I thought it was a safe route, but the receiver got caught up underneath and we got in second-and-19. They are tough downs. They are passing downs. The other one near the end zone [in the first quarter], we got ourselves stuck in passing downs instead of ones when we can do one or the other.”
First blood
Dylan Ashenfalder’s first interception of the season was a big one, a 37-yard return for a touchdown to give Pen Argyl a 7-0 lead midway through the first quarter.
Genteel was hit as he threw it. Ashenfalder had time to jump in front of the Slaters receiver and break the grasp before going the rest of the way untouched.
Early turning points
Leading 7-0 late in the first quarter, Pen Argyl had a firstand-goal at the Bangor 10. On third-and-1, the Green Knights’ Gavin Amerman fumbled the snap and Genteel recovered.
With Pen Argyl driving, Amerman intercepted a Genteel pass and returned it 90 yards for an apparent score. However, the Green Knights were called for an illegal block in the back and sideline interference. So instead of being up 14-0, it had the ballatits15.
Following a three-and-out, Bangor drove 49 yards in five plays, scoring onKael Godshalk’s fourth-downrunfromthe1-yard line. It was Godshalk’s first score of the season.
Pen Argyl then failed to grab the kickoff and Erik Striba recovered for Bangor. The Green Knights were then hit with an unsportsmanlike penalty.
The Slaters missed a 38-yard field goal with 25 seconds left to keep the game tied at half, but scored on their first series of the second half.
Up next
Pen Argyl will be on the road in the District 11 Class 2A quarterfinals. Bangor needed to win after Wilson lost earlier Saturday to qualify for the 4Atournament.
Reduzzi said the Slaters are going to find a contingency game for next weekend.