DILLSBURG – The Waynesboro Area Senior High School varsity football team needed a boost heading into the home stretch of the season.
The Indians, who got off to a promising start to the campaign by defeating Greencastle-Antrim 27-21 at Kaley Field, stumbled over the next four games. Perhaps the toughest loss was a 9-7 backbreaker at home against Palmyra last Friday.
Waynesboro played its fourth road game of the season against Northern York in the Polar Bears’ Homecoming game. The weather was warm. The opportunity was there for a W.
By game’s end, the Tribe’s spirits were given a huge boost. It wasn’t without some trepidation after Waynesboro saw a 21-0 lead whittled to a 21-14 lead at halftime.
But the second half was a virtual coming-out party. The Indians scored 28 points to end the game with a 49-14 victory in a Mid-Penn Keystone Division contest. The loss continues a disappointing season for the Polar Bears, who drop to 0-6.
Quarterback Rayshawn Fraser-Hewitt, who missed last week’s game, threw four touchdown passes – three to Christian Munday and one to Larry Taylor. The defense intercepted six passes, including one returned for a touchdown by Ronan Mencia. Jeremiah Murray had two picks, and Kadyn Myers, Steven Howard, and Shawn Smith each intercepted a pass.
Waynesboro (2-4) received the opening kickoff and marched 58 yards on 11 plays. To no one’s surprise, fullback Kean Baumgardner took the early handoffs and accounted for 25 yards on four consecutive carries that put the ball to the Northern 32. Dwayne Robinson picked up 11 yards on second down at the 21, and after a four-yard loss and an illegal procedure penalty, Fraser-Hewitt tossed a teardrop to Munday in the end zone for a 19-yard touchdown. Nick Carbaugh kicked the first of six extra points to give the Tribe a 7-0 lead.
Waynesboro forced a three-and-out, and it took all of one play for the Indians to forge ahead 14-0. Fraser-Hewitt and Munday connected for a 32-yard catch-and-run play. The Indians took advantage of the short field, compliments of a high snap on a punt, and Brady Myers getting a hand on the ball.
Lightning struck twice for the Polar Bears on their next punt attempt when another high snap resulted in a first down from the Northern 15.
After Baumgardner put his head down and bulled ahead for six yards, Fraser-Hewitt passed to Larry Taylor for a 9-yard touchdown with 2:11 left in the first quarter. Carbaugh’s point after touchdown made it 21-0.
Murray nabbed a Mason Barnett pass inside Waynesboro’s end of the field. The Indians ended up punting but didn’t give up any points.
During the next four possessions, Northern turned the ball over on downs, intercepted a Fraser-Hewitt pass, threw an interception to Howard, forced a Waynesboro punt, and finally scored on an 8-yard touchdown pass from Barnett to Owin Gilbert with only 20.1 seconds remaining In the first half.
Waynesboro gambled and lost on a hook-and-lateral play, which resulted in a lost fumble. Barnett inched the Polar Bears to within a touchdown when he tossed a 20-yard TD pass to Tristan Wenrich with 5.3 ticks on the clock.
Waynesboro had some extra time to think about the chain of events of the second quarter, thanks to a lengthened halftime.
The Tribe defense stood tall in the second half, giving the offense a chance to put more points on the board. Howard stepped in front of a pass on Northern’s first offensive series of the third quarter. After Waynesboro punted, the Polar Bears turned the ball over on downs at the Indians’ 37-yard line.
The Indians used the ground game to move the ball down the field. Taylor broke free for 13 yards on first down. Baumgardner took the next four handoffs and picked up 23 yards, including a 10-yard gain. After a 2-yard run by Fraser-Hewitt, Waynesboro ran a nice counter play to Taylor, who threaded the defense for a 24-yard score with 3:05 to play in the third period and a 28-14 lead.
The touchdown emboldened the defense, which held Northern on downs again. Waynesboro used time and real estate on a drive that spanned the third and fourth quarters. However, an 11-play possession ended at the Polar Bears’ 12-yard line when a Carbaugh field goal was blocked.
No worries.
Shawn Smith intercepted a pass at the Northern 9, and on the next play, Fraser-Hewitt tossed a touchdown pass to Munday for a 35-14 lead after Carbaugh’s extra-point kick.
It looked like Northern might put together a scoring drive after taking the kickoff and pushing the ball into Waynesboro territory. But it didn’t work out that way. Mencia picked off
a pass and followed his blocking down the Waynesboro sideline all the way for a touchdown.
There was 5:49 left to play, plenty of time for another score. That’s what happened, and it was made possible by Murray’s second interception. He returned it to the Northern 19 and took a hard hit, enough to hobble him and cause him to drop back to the turf. He was okay, and the Indians used the legs of Aaron Fortney to punch it in for the final TD of the game. Fortney ran the ball five straight times, punctuating the short drive with a 1-yard scoring run with 1:08 left to play.
Waynesboro will host its next three games before ending the regular season at Hershey. Next up is a clash with Mifflin County on Friday, Oct. 3.
