WAYNESBORO, Pa. – The Waynesboro Indians varsity football team came out with energy and enthusiasm against the Shippensburg Greyhounds during the annual Stars and Stripes game at Buchanan Automotive Stadium on Friday, and they took an early lead thanks in part to a nifty double reverse pass.
But the promising start eroded as the Mid-Penn Keystone Division game progressed, and Shippensburg returned home with a 24-13 win.
Playing with junior quarterback Brady Myers under center, Waynesboro pulled off a 30-yard pass play as Myers pitched the ball to sophomore running back Ronan Mencia, who lateraled the ball to sophomore wide receiver Dwayne Robinson. Robinson then threw a strike to sophomore Bryghton Naveja-Irish to give the Indians a first down at the Shippensburg 26-yard line.
The Indians (0-4, 0-3 Mid-Penn Keystone) called on bullish running back Anthony Ausherman (23 carries for 101 yards in the game), who picked up four yards on first down and six yards on second down. After runs of two yards by Gavin Starkey and three by Myers, Ausherman gained four yards on third and five. Then, on fourth down, Ausherman used his fullback body to push his way into the end zone for the score. Nick Carbaugh kicked the extra point to give Waynesboro a 7-0 lead with 8:26 left in the first quarter.
Myers started the game while sophomore quarterback Brayden Heimbuch is recovering from a concussion he sustained in last week’s game at Gettysburg.
The Indians’ roster is populated with 21 sophomores, most of whom are getting significant playing time. For his part, Naveja-Irish caught two passes for 36 yards and was a constant presence in the defensive secondary. He broke up two long passes that, had he not put a hand on them, would have been caught for touchdowns.
There were numerous highlight plays by Waynesboro. But on a night when the opposing team ran off 57 plays, it was the plays that the Indians couldn’t contain, a couple costly roughing the passer penalties, and a game-ending interception that proved to be the difference.
Starkey, a senior inside linebacker, and Aaron Fortney, a senior, imposed their aggressive will throughout the game. Myers also helped limit big plays from his outside linebacker position. Sophomore defensive back Jordan Geesaman made a potential touchdown-saving tackle midway in the second quarter. Three plays later, Naveja-Irish gave the Indians possession after his interception. Sophomore defensive end Baylon Pullin and junior defensive end Kaiden Barlow were in on tackles. Pullin tackled Shippensburg running back Mark Carothers Jr. for no gain, and on the next play, Barlow sacked Costolow for a 10-yard loss. Junior inside linebacker Rian Stull and Starkey combined to take down Carothers Jr. for a 1-yard loss, and Naveja-Irish forced a fourth-and-goal when he stepped in front of Stum in the end zone to knock down a pass.
The offensive line, comprised of seniors Kyle Albaugh, Brody Wile and Luke Gorzelsky, and sophomores Camdyn Strang and Lucas Mummert, faced a Shippensburg defense that stacked the so-called box, placing at times nine players across from Waynesboro’s offensive line and less than five yards from the line of scrimmage. With the Greyhounds outnumbering the offensive line, they seeped through to the Waynesboro backfield numerous times to stop running plays before they started and putting pressure on Myers before he could go through his progressions on pass plays. Myers was sacked five times for 34 yards.
Robinson hauled in four passes for 49 yards. Junior Jayden Updegraff caught one pass for 11 yards, while senior Trenton Urey had a reception for 13 yards. Myers finished with six completions for 78 yards and an interception.
On its first possession, Shippensburg – also playing with a sophomore quarterback, Mason Costolo, used a time-consuming drive and ended up with a Seth Taylor 32-yard field goal to cut the margin to 7-3 with 46.5 seconds remaining in the opening quarter of play.
Waynesboro punted on its next two possession, and Shippensburg also punted the ball away to the Indians. Naveja-Irish prevented the Greyhounds from scoring again when he intercepted a pass at the Waynesboro 21-yard line with 3:13 on the clock.
However, after their initial touchdown drive to open the game, the Indians’ offense stalled out. Facing a fourth-and-two from midfield, Waynesboro went for it and failed to gain the necessary yardage.
The Greyhounds (2-2, 2-1 Keystone) pounced on the opportunity just before halftime and marched 50 yards in six plays. Costolo threw a gem to Nick Kimple from the Waynesboro 10-yard line, and Taylor’s extra point gave Shippensburg a 10-7 lead at halftime.
The lead grew to 17-7 after the Greyhounds drove 49 yards on 11 plays. A touchdown was called back because of holding, but eight plays later, Costolo found Weston Stum open for a touchdown.
Waynesboro came right back to reduce the deficit to 17-13 after a nice possession that started on the Tribe’s 30-yard line and resulted in a 1-yard plunge by Ausherman, his second touchdown of the night.
Ausherman carried the ball eight of the 14 plays during the series for 40 yards. Urey had a nice catch and run for 13 yards to move the ball closer to midfield. Ausherman then accounted for the next 20 yards on three totes. Starkey picked up six yards on the next play, followed by six more by Ausherman, eight yards by Myers, nine yards by Ausherman and seven by Myers for a first down at the Shippensburg 2-yard line.
The Greyhounds all but iced the game when it scored with 1:56 left to play in the game on an 18-yard touchdown run by Ashton Johnson.
Waynesboro converted a fourth-down play on a five-yard pass from Myers to Robinson. The Tribe converted a second fourth-down play when Myers completed a 22-yard pass to Robinson. Updegraff caught his 11-yard pass on the next play, and Robinson gained 22 yards with another completion to put the ball at the Greyhounds’ 23-yard line. A pass interference infraction set Waynesboro up at the 13, but on the next play, Shippensburg’s Damon Horan intercepted a pass at the 5-yard line to seal the win.
Photos by Toya McCleary:
