Blazers come up just short, fall to 0-4
2024 Berks football coverage
presented by UECU
By Matt Hagy — MikeDragoSports.com correspondent
Daniel Boone coach J.D. Okuniewski could see the emotions of his players faces after their heartbreaking 10-8 setback to visiting Octorara Friday night.
He knew they had poured everything they had into their Lancaster-Lebanon Section 4 opener to only see a repeat result of the first three weeks of the season.
“They knew they fought, and they knew it did not work out their way,” Okuniewski said. “I told the young men and especially our kicker, Max Heffner, that it is not the end of the world that he missed that last kick. We simply need to score more than six points on offense, and it takes away those kind of situations to where the pressure is on.”
Heffner sent a potential game-winning 43-yard field goal just wide right with 20 seconds left in the game, the second of two long field goals he missed in the fourth quarter.
Heffner may have not even had a chance to try those kicks if it was not for a Blazers defense that came up with multiple fourth-down stops to keep their team in the game.
“We focused on being very good tackling team these past few weeks,” Okuniewski said. “I was upset at some of the tackling efforts in previous games and I will have to check to review film but I do not feel like we missed many tackles tonight.”
Okuniewski’s defense was put to the test early when Octorara drove inside the 10-yard line on their first possession. Daniel Boone (0-4) turned away the Braves on a fourth-and-5 before stopping them on a fourth-and-3 from their own 27 on the first play of the second quarter.
Daniel Boone (0-4) has seen its fair share of mistakes plague the early part of the season and wasted an opportunity midway through the second quarter following the first of two interceptions from Blake Elliott.
Nate Dow forced a fumble by Blazers quarterback Hadyn Moyer at the Daniel Boone 21-yard line which set up a 35-yard field goal from Austin Kurtz with 5:37 left in the second quarter.
“Our defense really knows how to fly around the field,” Octorara coach Ed Smith said. “They are well-coached and always hungry to make big plays.”
Daniel Boone stopped Octorara just shy of the 50-yard line on downs and took its first lead at 6-3 when Moyer found a wide-open Blake Elliott for a 43-yard touchdown pass.
The Braves (3-1) bounced back with a nine-play, 57-yard drive, capped by a 1-yard touchdown plunge from Chandler Stoltzfus on fourth-and-goal to make it 10-6.
Things even got worse for Daniel Boone late in the third quarter when Moyer, who carried the offense through the first three weeks, left the game and did not return following a hit off a quarterback scramble. Backup Dominic Stoudt entered for Moyer and went 5-of-9 for 52 yards.
“Dominic had some nice completions for us at the end,” Okuniewski said. “I made the decision to keep him in defensively because I wanted to get him moving around. I am proud of what Dominic did to try and rally us.”
The Blazers defense once again stood to task when Darius Cruz sacked Braves quarterback Collin Wood in the end zone to force a safety with 8:48 left in regulation, cutting the deficit to 10-8.
After Heffner missed his first kick, Daniel Boone made a valiant stand on fourth-and-1 at the Braves 44-yard line with just over a minute left, giving its offense one last crack at a game-winning score.
The Blazers made it to the 26 but chose to spike the ball to stop the clock since they had no timeouts left.
Daniel Boone held a slight total yards edge,157-153, but was held to minus-3 rushing yards. Moyer passed for 108 passing, going 7-of-11 with a touchdown pass
Wood finished the night going 11-of-18 for 112 yards with two interceptions. Stoltzfus combined for a team-high 58 all-purpose yards off 30 receiving yards off five receptions and 28 rushing yards from 16 carries.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Final | |
| Octorara | 0 | 3 | 7 | 0 | 10 |
| Daniel Boone | 0 | 0 | 6 | 2 | 8 |
Scoring summary
| 2 | Octorara | Kurtz, 35 FG | 5:37 |
| 3 | Daniel Boone | Elliott, 43 pass from Moyer (kick blocked) | 9:01 |
| 3 | Octorara | Stoltzfus, 1 run (Kurtz kick) | 4:41 |
| 4 | Daniel Boone | Safety, Wood tackled in end zone | 8:48 |
Team statistics
| Octorara | Daniel Boone | |
| First downs | 9 | 8 |
| Rushes-yards | 37-40 | 24-(-3) |
| Passing yards | 112 | 160 |
| Total yards | 153 | 157 |
| Passes | 11-18-2 | 12-21-0 |
| Fumbles-lost | 2-0 | 4-3 |
| Punts-average | 1-35.0 | 3-26.3 |
| Penalties-yards | 3-16 | 10-51 |
Individual statistics
RUSHING
Octorara: Stoltzfus 16-28, Teufert 3-15, Kurtz 10-13, Lambert 1-2, Wood 6-(-17), Team 1-(-1).
Daniel Boone: Moyer 12-14, Heffner 3-6, Elliott 1-0, Stoudt 3-(-6), Team 1-(-7), Cruz 4-(-10).
PASSING
Octorara: Wood 11-18-2–112.
Daniel Boone: Moyer 7-11-0–108, Stoudt 5-9-0–52, Team 0-1-0–0.
RECEIVING
Octorara: Stoltzfus 5-30, Prokay 2-50, Lambert 2-15, Mastrippolito 1-10, Teufert 1-7.
Daniel Boone: Delissaint 4-53, Heffner 4-36, Elliott 2-56, Salata 2-15
INTERCEPTIONS
Daniel Boone: Elliott 2.
MISSED FIELD GOALS
Octorara: Kurtz 44.
Daniel Boone: Heffner 43, 43.
