Overtime thriller at Tiger Stadium

Moon Township, PA — The Baldwin Highlanders (3-1 overall, 1-1 conference) took on the Moon Tigers (1-3, 0-2) for a conference matchup at Tigers Stadium. It was an offensive showdown throughout the entire game and there were multiple key defensive plays for both teams as well. The game went to overtime after an impressive comeback from Baldwin. The Highlanders eventually secured the victory on the Tigers home turf.

Baldwin came out firing with a screen pass for an explosive run, almost untouched, to Jarren Kelly for 76 yards on the third play of the game giving the Highlanders a 7-0 lead. Moon answered back however and drove down the field under the leadership of Dante Clay who threw multiple completions and moved the chains on third downs. He had a 1-yard rushing touchdown to cap off an impressive drive tying the game up at 7-7. To answer back Moon’s touchdown, Baldwin scored on the first play, of the following drive, with a 76-yard rushing touchdown from Angelo Priore. Baldwin took the risk and attempted a 2-point conversion, which was successful by pitching the ball outside for Priore to walk into the end zone giving Baldwin a 15-7 advantage.

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Later on in the quarter, Baldwin muffed a punt resulting in a turnover on downs and gave the Tigers the ball at Baldwin’s 30-yard line for good field position. Moon took advantage of great field position and scored a 4-yard rushing touchdown from Brady Sunday making the score 15-14 in favor of Baldwin at the end of the first quarter.

Mason Stahl on the first play of the second quarter aired it out to Kelly for a 66-yard touchdown giving Baldwin an 8-point cushion. Both defenses stepped up in the second quarter making multiple stops and the special teams getting involved with a few key plays. a pick six by Christian Tanner for a 55-yard return tightened the score to 22-21 Baldwin. Moon on the following drive blocked a punt, forcing yet another turnover and gave them great field position at the 34-yard line. Some trickery gets involved in Moon’s offense with the “Philly special” pass from Dawson Snyder to Clay for an 11-yard touchdown giving Moon the lead, 28-22.

Later on, in the second quarter, the Tigers faked the field goal and a beautiful pass from Richie Forkey to Tanner for a 17-yard touchdown giving Moon a 35-22 lead with 20 seconds left before halftime.

Moon’s defense came up big with an interception by Sunday on a red zone stand ending a long drive by the Highlanders. Moon took the ground and pound approach on the ensuing drive and ran the ball for a total of 70 rushing yards with a 4-yard rushing touchdown from Jamal Littlejohn to end the drive making the score 42-22 Moon. Baldwin slowly drove down the field on the next drive and eventually scored off a 4-yard passing touchdown to Andrejs Howell lessening Moon’s lead to 42-28. Again Stahl completes a 45-yard passing touchdown to Howell who was wide open down the field after burning the lone corner for Moon making the score 42-35 Tigers.

At the beginning of the fourth quarter, Baldwin started driving with huge plays from Kelly with a 35-yard reception and a 22-yard reception. Capping off the drive was Stahl who had a 20-yard rushing touchdown which tied the game at 42-42 with 9 minutes left in the 4th. Moon tried to answer and put away the game but the Highlanders rallied together for multiple gang tackles to stop Moon dead in their tracks for a three and out and forced a punt. Moon defense also forces a three and out themselves ending the Highlander’s drive with a huge sack from Brenden Luffey.

With four minutes left in the game, Moon went for it on 4th down but not before Baldwin jumped offside to give Moon a 1st down at Baldwin’s 35-yard line. Clay fumbled the very next play and the ball was recovered by the Highlanders. Clay was carried off the field after the play with an apparent ankle injury and was taken out for the rest of the game.

With only a minute left on the clock, the Highlanders took a couple shots downfield but ended up going three and out and punting the ball to the Tigers who took the game into overtime by taking a knee with two seconds left on the clock.

Moon received the ball first in overtime but the Baldwin defense came out swinging and did not give up a single yard to Moon’s offense. Moon’s special teams trotted on the field and tried to kick a field goal but a delay of game is called and Moon is pushed back 5 yards. After the penalty Moon’s kicker, Jacob Zimmerman attempted a 23-yard field goal but missed wide left.

Only needing a field goal to win, Baldwin ball ran in for a touchdown on the first play but a HUGE holding penalty pushed the Highlanders back to the 21-yard line. Two rushing attempts were stuffed by Moon for loss of five more yards. Just when it seemed Moon was back in the game, on 3-and-25 Stahl floated a perfect pass to a wide-open Naseer Peen for a touchdown to end the game.

Baldwin 48 – Moon 42

The Moon Tigers look to bounce back from this heartbreaking loss and take on the Chartiers Valley Colts (3-1, 0-1) at Chartiers Valley