Indians fall to Huskies, finish 0-10
by Jamie Harris
Berkeley Springs entered into the last game of the 2012 season still searching for its first victory. On a night where the Indian football program honored 10 seniors.
The coaching staff from both Berkeley Springs and Northern Garrett participated in the Coach to Cure Muscular Dystrophy, the national game day charity project of the American Football Coaches Association.
The Huskies of Northern Garrett, Md. who took a 20-7 victory at Morgan Field.
Even though the Indians fell short in defeat, the defense came ready to play and they made an opening statement during Northern Garrett’s opening drive. The Huskies took the opening kickoff and started from their 46 yard line. With an option attack offense moving the chains, the Huskies suddenly found themselves facing fourth and goal from the Indian five yard line. Northern elected to go for it, but the Indian defensive end Austin Tyser had other plans as he stuffed the Huskie running back and the Tribe took over on downs.
Berkeley Springs first possession resulted on a three and out and punter Zach Wise had to kick from his own end zone. Wise got off a booming punt, however Northern ended up with the ball around midfield.
Again the Indians defense came through with a big play as cornerback Preston Hovermale picked off a Huskie pass on second and 37 to give Berkeley Springs the ball back on their 28 yard line.
The next possession saw the Indians open up with back-to-back pass completions from quarterback Mark Cowles to wide-out Kaleb Athey. Facing third and four, Cowles scrambled for a seven yard gain to given the Tribe a first down. A Brady Tritapoe four yard run, then Tritapoe had another carry for no gain, left the Indians facing third and six. Cowles then found junior receiver Matt Johnson for a three yard gain, which was short of the first down marker. Wise then punted the ball away.
As the first quarter came to a close with the score knotted 0-0, there seemed to be a sense of hope in the air for the Indians. Northern Garrett quickly took that thought out of the Indians with a drive late in the second quarter that resulted in a touchdown run, the extra point made the score 7-0.
Northern tacked on another touchdown with 13 seconds left in the second quarter on a one yard quarterback sneak for the score, the extra point made the score 14-0 at the half.
The Indians opened the third quarter with two possessions which resulted in a punt and a Huskie interception.
Both teams put forth a great defensive effort in the third quarter, but at the 3:31 mark the Huskies tacked on another touchdown, the Indian defense broke through to block the extra point which made the score 20-0.
The fourth quarter remained a defensive struggle until Berkeley Springs put together an impressive drive late in the game. The drive was capped off with a 53 yard touchdown reception from junior wide-out Preston Hovermale who caught the Cowles pass on a slant and raced by the Huskie defense for the score. Wise’s extra point made the score 20-7.
The Indians tried to go for an on sides kick, but it was recovered by Northern Garrett who proceeded to run out the clock to earn a hard fought 20-7 victory.
Berkeley Springs played hard throughout the game with the defense leading the tempo. Offensively the Indians were plagued by the inefficiency on converting on third downs. This was a constant problem throughout the season for the Tribe.
For the Indians the end of the season means good bye to the following Indian senior football players; #2 Kaleb Athey, #3 Zach Wise, #7 Mark Cowles, #24 Shaun Trump, #43 Austin Tyser, #55 Markus Berry, #56 Brady Beahm, #63 Richard Recio, #74 Michael Trump, #81 Tyler Bradley, #91 Kyle Shambaugh and #94 Colin Ayers.
