On Friday the 10th, the Juniata Indians played their last home game of the season against the DuBois Beavers. For the second consecutive year Juniata has faced off against DuBois in the post season to be able to enter into the state championship, and for the second consecutive year Juniata won. Juniata came out of the gate with one goal in mind: to come out victorious. This decisive attitude shone through on the field as Wyatt Ehrenzeller was able to pass the ball to Ethan Espitia, leading Juniata to their first touchdown early in the first quarter. Later in the 1st quarter Juniata got a decisive lead over DuBois as Wyatt Ehrenzeller threw to Jasper Shepps who then got a 70 yard touchdown. At the end of the first quarter the Indians momentum only went up as they played. The defensive line was holding steady throughout the game as DuBois offense pushed to score some points of their own. As the 1st quarters ended, DuBois found the endzone scoring their first touchdown of the night. The Beaver’s play lead the scoreboard to read 15-7 at the end of the first.
After a riveting first quarter, the crowd really got to see how strong and well rounded the Indians are. They showed great cooperation and teamwork as they swiftly scored point after point. During the second quarter of the game Wyatt Ehrenzeller scored Juniatas third touchdown of the night giving us a touchdown lead over DuBois. Uneasy with our lead, DuBois began to feel the pressure to score and they did just that. Carter Vos caught a touchdown pass with 7:38 left on the clock. This play ended the scoring for the second half as both teams began to struggle for yardage; leaving the score as we entered halftime to be 22-14.
As the third quarter commenced we saw two very determined teams play on the field. Juniata remained persistent in their ball game while DuBois stepped up and remembered that a shot at states was on the line. Determined, Juniata kept being offensively focused, and was able to find the endzone once again after a 10 yard run from Heath Hutchinson. Both teams had good possession of the ball, and were fairly matched in this quarter as they both struggled to score. Ultimately, the Juniata defense was unbreakable, seeing as DuBois was not able to score in the third quarter. As the quarter dwindled the score was 29-14.
In the final quarter the crowd saw two dominant teams give their all to win. Ethan Espitia started off the scoring in the 4th after receiving a 15 yard pass. Determined to win, DuBois’s Nathan Kougher scored after a 75 yard kickoff return. However, the efforts of the Beavers did little to catch up to Juniata as they held onto their momentous lead. The Indians won the game with a final score of 36-22.
This was a well rounded matchup that both team could have won in. However, Juniata took a quick lead early on in the game giving them the necessary momentum to win. The Beavers defense could do little to offset the Indians calculating offense.
With big offensive plays from players such as Ethan Espitia, Jasper Shepps, and Heath Hutchinson, DuBois had a tough time stopping the points from being scored. Defensively, Juniata gave up little yardage and was able to incapacitate the offense from scoring as they provided swift tackles. This was one of the only games in the entire season where the Big Red Machine consistently gave it their all on the field throughout the whole game.