Mustangs go back to Schools to earn much-needed win

By Matt Gaffney — MikeDragoSports.com correspondent

The calendar might indicate that it’s early in September but Gov. Mifflin coach Jeff Lang knew, after two straight losses to start the season, that Friday night’s road game at Boyertown was one the Mustangs needed to win. 

And they did. 

Jackson Schools’ 33-yard field goal with 29 seconds left gave Gov. Mifflin a thrilling 17-14 non-league win. 

Schools’ kick came at the end of a 15-play, 57-yard drive that took more than seven minutes off the clock.

The Mustangs (1-2) set up Schools’ game-winner with a big fourth-and-9 conversion on a 12-yard pass from Delsin McNeil to brother Gerrell to keep the drive alive with 2:30 remaining. 

For Lang and his team it may have helped keep the season alive, as well. 

“Tonight was a must win for us because we have a pretty heavy schedule with no easy teams on it,” Lang said. “It was huge to get the monkey off our back and give our team confidence that we can be in a game, finish a game and win a game.

“The last two weeks, it was a debacle in the second half. For us to come out tonight in the second half, down 7-0 and then go up 14-7, I was happy that our offense was able to get things moving. The defense hung in strong, too.” 

In a game dominated by bruising ground games from both sides along with stout defense, the Mustangs and Bears exchanged body blows, touchdowns and leads in a back-and-forth game. 

Boyertown got on the board first with a 20-yard Cole Yesavage touchdown run to cap a 13-play, 74-yard 6:41 drive.

Jason Oakes, who made plays all night on both sides of the ball, had a crucial 10-yard run on fourth-and-3 that kept the Bears’ drive alive to help set up Yesavage’s score.

Mifflin looked to tie it up right before half but came up short when Schools missed a 24-yard field goal. The Mustangs regrouped at half time and struck quickly to tie it up early in the third quarter on a 50-yard TD run by Brayden Reis to make it 7-7.

After the Bears and Mustangs each had time-consuming, 12-play drives that netted zero points, the momentum swung when a bad snap by Boyertown was recovered by Gov. Mifflin’s Gavin Kelly. Two plays later Delsin McNeil kept it on an option and sprinted 41 yards to the end zone to put the Mustangs up 14-7. 

Boyertown, which was plagued by penalties that negated multiple first downs, wasted no time in tying it.

Yesavage, who was a beast all game long with 126 rushing yards, ripped off his second touchdown, this time a 54-yard run with 7:48 left to make it 14-14. Thanks to the Mustangs’ clock-draining drive the Bears didn’t see the ball again until only 29 seconds remained in the game. 

The McNeils, along with their teammate Reis, made key play after key play. 

Four of Gerrell McNeil’s six receptions went for first downs. He and his brother share an innate connection that cannot be taught. 

“Honestly, I think our chemistry is really good,” Delsin McNeil said. “We practice almost every day, we work on our skills together and we throw a lot.”

Though it paid off for the Mustangs Friday, the senior signal caller knows his team still has work to do. 

“I think we’re going to enjoy this win but we aren’t going to let ourselves get too high,” Delsin McNeil said. “We are going to keep playing hard.”

Reis had nine carries for 90 yards and a touchdown; he also had an interception in his first action on defense this season.

He split time at fullback with Brandon Jones (16 carries, 63 yards). The combo wore the Bears down with their punishing, physical runs. They combined for five rushes on the Mustangs’ game-winning drive before Schools capped it.

	1	2	3	4	Final
Gov. Mifflin	0	0	7	10	17
Boyertown	0	7	0	7	14

Scoring summary

2	Boyertown	Yesavage, 20 run (Sennott kick)	2:12
3	Governor Mifflin	Reis, 50 run (Schools kick)	9:58
4	Governor Mifflin	D. McNeil, 41 run (School kick)	8:44
4	Boyertown	Yesavage, 54 run(Sennott kick)	7:48
4	Governor Mifflin	Schools, 33 FG	0:29

Team statistics

	Gov. Mifflin	Boyertown
First downs	15	8
Rushes-yards	38-204	28-164
Passing yards	96	86
Total yards	300	250
Passes	9-14-0	6-13-0
Fumbles-lost	2-0	2-1
Punts-average	2-13.5	1-22
Penalties-yards	9-69	9-63

Individual statistics

RUSHING

Gov. Mifflin: Reis 9-90, Jones 16-63, D. McNeil 4-44, Martin 4-8, Harter 4-6, Team 1-(-7).

Boyertown: Yesavage 16-126, Oakes 3-36, Famularo 4-21, Gehris 2-0, Panarello 1-(-6), Team 2-(-13).

PASSING

Gov. Mifflin: D.McNeil 9-14-0-97.

Boyertown: Gehris 5-9-1-64, Panarello 1-4-0-22.

RECEIVING

Gov. Mifflin: H. McNeil 6-55, Martin 2-32, Huber 1-10.

Boyertown: Daddario 2-33, Oakes 2-30, Yesavage 2-23.

INTERCEPTIONS

Gov. Mifflin: Reis. 

MISSED FIELD GOALS

Gov. Mifflin: Schools 24.