Joey Schlaffer, Exeter too much for Gov. Mifflin to handle in league opener

Joey Schlaffer doesn’t touch the ball much for Exeter but when he does he makes special things happen.

The 6-7 Penn State tight end recruit had his hand in several key plays as the Eagles pulled away from Gov. Mifflin Friday night for a 36-6 victory in a Lancaster-Lebanon League Section 2 opener at Mifflin Stadium.

Schlaffer ran for a touchdown, caught a touchdown pass, threw a completion and had four receptions for 67 yards.

The Eagles (4-0) led 15-0 at the half and pulled away with three unanswered scores in the final 20 minutes.

The Mustangs (1-3) struggled to move the ball on the ground in the first half, rushing for just 47 yards against a first-string defense that had not allowed a point through the first three games. Mifflin finally got on the board midway through the third quarter, snapping the shutout streak at 14 quarters.

Schlaffer, who lines up at wide receiver, tight end or in the backfield, had a hand in two big plays that put the Eagles up 15-0 late in the first half.

First, he took a toss in the backfield, then pulled up and threw a 29-yard flea flicker to Carter Redding, to the Mifflin 16. He finished the drive with a 9-yard run around left end for a 15-point lead with 2:52 left in the second quarter.

Schlaffer’s most impressive play came in the third quarter, after Mifflin had pulled within 15-6. Quarterback Mason Rotelli, under a heavy rush, threw a jump ball that Schlaffer pulled in around the 15, in front of two defenders. He carried both into the end zone to complete a 31-yard scoring play and push the lead to 22-6.

Rotelli scored his second TD, on a 27-yard run, early in the fourth quarter to make it 29-6.

After a scoreless first period the Eagles took the lead with an 80-yard drive on their second possession. Rotelli sparked the drive with runs of 12 and 13 yards and completed passes of 19 and 10 yards, the second to Schlaffer at the 10.

The drive nearly stalled out in the red zone before Richie Karstien crashed over from the 5 on fourth down. Redding, the holder for PATs, took the snap and sprinted around left end for an 8-0 lead less than 2 1/2 minutes into the second quarter.

The Mustangs nearly got on the board on the final play of the first half, when Jackson Parker pulled in a pass inside the 10 and darted for the pilon. He was pushed out of bounds as time expired, his leg brushing the pylon. The play went for a 33-yard gain but no touchdown, as the ball was spotted inside the The play was set up when the Mustangs recovered a fumble at the Exeter 34 with 10.4 seconds left.

Mifflin punted and turned the ball over on downs, and on an interception, on its first three possessions of the first half.

Exeter and Mifflin played twice last seasons, the Mustangs scoring a huge midseason victory at Reiffton before the Eagles pulled off a monumental upset in the District 3 Class 5A championship game.

	1	2	3	4	Final
Exeter	0	15	7	14	36
Gov. Mifflin	0	0	6	0	6

Scoring summary

2	Exeter	Rotelli, 5 run (Redding run)	9:40
2	Exeter	Schlaffer, 9 run (Zandier kick)	2:52
3	Gov. Mifflin	D. McNeil, 1 run (run failed)	6:45
3	Exeter	Schlaffer, 31 pass from Rotelli (Zandier kick)	4:20
4	Exeter	Rotelli, 27 run (Zandier kick)	10:03
4	Exeter	Cordova, 5 run (Zandier kick)	4:16

Team statistics

	Exeter	Gov. Mifflin
First downs	21	13
Rushes-yards	45-292	35-140
Passing yards	122	121
Total yards	414	261
Passes	7-10-0	5-13-1
Fumbles-lost	3-1	4-1
Punts-average	1-30.0	2-31.0
Penalties-yards	13-86	7-75

Individual statistics

RUSHING

Exeter: Karstien 19-137, Rotelli 13-90, Cordova 9-59, Schlaffer 1-9, Team 3-(-3).

Gov. Mifflin: Reis 11-56, D. McNeil 14-32, T. Harter 2-23, Martin 3-20, Jones 2-8, Pletz 2-1, Garner 1-0.

PASSING

Exeter: Rotelli 6-9-0–93, Schlaffer 1-1-0-29.

Gov. Mifflin: D. McNeil 5-12-1–121, Martin 0-1-0-00.

RECEIVING

Exeter: Schlaffer 4-62, Zandier 2-31, Redding 1-29.

Gov. Mifflin: Parker 2-69, Huber 1-20, G. McNeil 1-16, T. Harter 1-16.

INTERCEPTIONS

Exeter: Pashley.