Duffault, Muhlenberg run over Daniel Boone
UNION >> Kevens Duffault and Cody Fidler spearheaded a dominating rushing attack while the Muhlenberg defense held up to its billing as the Muhls topped Daniel Boone 34-14 Friday night, marking the team’s first 2-0 start in Berks I competition since the 2013 season.
“It (this win) does a lot (for us),” Muhlenberg head coach Pat Sisk said. “The kids are buying in. We’re flying to the football, doing the right things, trying to handle ourselves the right way. So we’re looking at it at being the next step.”
“(It gives us) tremendous momentum, the kids are starting to believe in what’s going on, starting to believe in what the offense can do, moving the football and controlling the clock. It’s definitely moving us in the right direction, it’s a nice start.”
Duffault, a 6-0, 180-lb senior running back, finished the game with 95 yards on 19 carries while Fidler added an additional 66 yards on nine carries and two scores as the Muhls dominated the time of possession and the scoreboard throughout the first three-plus quarters, building a 34-0 lead into the opening minutes of the fourth.
Fidler added 95 yards passing and a touchdown while Duffault added 66 yards receiving with four receptions and a score in the Muhls’ first victory over the Blazers since 2012, one that put a damper on the Blazers Homecoming festivities on a soggy night that saw intermittent rain throughout the first half.
“The guys up front (made the impact),” Sisk, the first-year head coach said. “That’s a whole read offense so you have to make the right reads, but the guys up front making the right blocks and the right calls for each other gets things going.
“As a unit they got the job done.”
Blazers senior quarterback Nick Hughes finished a team-high 83 yards on nine carries before exiting the game due to injury in the second half. Starting receiving and backup quarterback Ryan Okuniewski spelled him in the remaining minutes and finished the game with 48 yards passing and 67 yards rushing in leading the team to two late touchdown drives in a two-minute span to make it 34-14.
“He did great,” Daniel Boone head coach Bill Parks said of Okuniewski, a junior. “He drove us down the field for two touchdowns. He jumped into a situation where’s he’s only taken a limited number of reps in this year. He did a fabulous job. If that’s who it is moving forward, we have complete confidence in him.”
Sophomore running back Spencer McIntosh finished with 37 yards rushing on 23 carries as the Blazers rebounded from a three-quarter effort where it punted five times and turned the ball over on downs twice, once after getting the ball to the Muhlenberg 2-yard line in the first quarter.
“Coming down to the end, seven to eight minutes left in the game we start cranking it up and we didn’t quit. Winners never quit. We’re going to come back and win football games and I told them (my team) that.”
Homecoming court. pic.twitter.com/y4Sb2isQLT
— Sam Stewart (@Samuel_Stewart7) October 2, 2015
Notes >> A moment of silence before the game was held in remembrance of Parks’ father, John, who passed away Thursday. … Muhlenberg defensive tackle Frank Cheek made seven tackles in the third quarter. … Dymitri Blanding registered a pick-six to close out the scoring for the Muhls… Hughes was named the Homecoming King in a pregame ceremony with Sydney Hansford being named Homecoming Queen.
