News & Events
Hawks Soar Over Storm
On a crisp autumn Saturday, the 4-3 Mercersburg Blue Storm took to its home field against the Peddie School Hawks in the final MAPL game of the year. The stands were decked out with many students and their families as it was also Family Weekend at the academy. The Storm lined up to receive the opening kickoff on the soggy field. Mort fielded the opening kickoff and gave a good return before getting slipped up. The Storm came out on offense without Clyde Fitzmaurice ’08, a key offensive lineman who was down today due to injury. The Storm also had to play without the solid services of Garrett Matthews ’08, due to the MAPL football limit of four post-graduates per team.
Due in part to the absence of Fitzmaurice and Matthews, Peddie’s strong defensive line was able to repeatedly break through the Storm’s front five to get to senior running back Ben Eaton before he could post solid gains. Peddie also managed to put a lot of pressure on quarterback Trevor Smith ‘09. As the Storm was forced to punt, Peddie prepared to unleash it’s lightning-fast running back Matt Brown, #24, doing so on an option where Brown bounced off several defenders. Brown went the distance for a touchdown but a badly shanked PAT left the Storm facing a six-point deficit. On its next series, Peddie continued to run the ball as #24 once again bounced outside to open territory, but Bond Stockdale ’09 made a touchdown-saving tackle. Peddie continued moving down the field, and from about one foot out, coach Karl Reisner accurately predicted a quarterback draw to the left. But Peddie pounded the ball into the Storm end zone to take a 13-0 lead.
The Storm bounced back, though, and after a 32-yard return by Collin Stevens ’08, the running game opened up and Eaton saw success carving up the middle. As the Storm turned to the pass, Peddie’s defense was able to force Smith to scramble. After moving the ball into Hawk territory for the first time the Storm was finally held on third down, and head coach Dan Walker, seeing a key opportunity to gain back the momentum, called in a fake punt. Stevens took the ball as Mort flew down the sideline in one-on-one coverage. Stevens lobbed it up, but the ball was intercepted by #24 who returned it deep into Storm territory before being taken down by Stevens. On the following play, Peddie quarterback David Kenney mishandled the snap and Curtis Feigt ’09 recovered the ball. On its next offensive drive Peddie seemed determined to extend its lead, however A.J. Firestone ’10 stood in the way, wrapping up Kenney and not letting go for a twelve-yard sack at the end of the first quarter.
The second quarter saw several adjustments on the Storm’s defense. With #24 in the game, Mercersburg came down hard on the run, showing great agility across the field to negate the sweeps run by Peddie. The Storm offense also showed more resilience, running the option particularly well but still having trouble passing effectively, with Peddie penetrating the right side of the offensive line. With Peddie on offense, Stevens and Jacob Fries ’10 forced a fumble on third down but the ball slid across the line before being pounced on by Peddie. After driving to the Mercersburg goal line, the Storm put up an impressive stand, highlighted by Eaton’s tackle for loss on 4th and goal. But Peddie came back on its next offensive series to find the end zone and take a commanding 20-0 lead.
At this point, Mercersburg could have packed it in, but instead the Storm came out firing. Smith nailed receiver Josh Muller ’10 for a 21-yard reception. Another beautiful pass by a scrambling Smith to Stevens was ruled out bounds, despite the protests of Storm fans. On fourth down, Smith hit Stevens for a first down to keep the drive alive. Another catch by Stevens was followed by a 32-yard touchdown pass to a wide-open Tyler Mort. Firestone’s PAT was blocked and, after a drive downfield and with only seconds left in the half, the Hawks attempted a 37-yard field goal which sailed wide left to leave the half time score at 20-6.
Peddie turned to Brown again in the second half and scored to go up by 21 points. But the Storm regained the momentum they had in the closing minutes of the second half, as Stevens completed several passes while the Hawks were hit with a trio of fifteen-yard penalties. The last penalty left the Storm just inside the 15 where Smith connected with Stevens on a nice slant rout for a touchdown. Smith hit Stevens again on the two-point conversion to bring the score to 27-14.
The defense began playing much better, anticipating the quick strikes of Brown and with Campi leading the defensive line the pocket came crashing down on Kenney, forcing a three-and-out. On a subsequent Peddie offensive series, Stockdale led the linebackers on a very agile series of plays where the Storm defensive backs crossed the field in a blink of the eye to keep Brown from getting into the secondary. But Peddie started driving up the middle again, and was able to find the end zone again.
In the final quarter, Peddie managed to pick off a couple of Storm passes and Josh Muller ’10 recovered a Peddie fumble. Peddie won the game by a score of 41-14. Key players on both sides of the ball included Stevens, who scored a touchdown and was among the team leaders in tackles, and Muller, who was a strong commodity as wide receiver, and as a defensive back who did a good job holding down the Peddie receiving corps. Stockdale and Eaton were key components in halting the Peddie run game when they could. With the return of Fitzmaurice, Matthews and other Storm players, the team looks forward to its final game of the season, a Saturday home showdown against The Kiski School.
-- by student reporter Peter Cooke ’08
-- photos by Trent Grogan ‘09
On a crisp autumn Saturday, the 4-3 Mercersburg Blue Storm took to its home field against the Peddie School Hawks in the final MAPL game of the year. The stands were decked out with many students and their families as it was also Family Weekend at the academy. The Storm lined up to receive the opening kickoff on the soggy field. Mort fielded the opening kickoff and gave a good return before getting slipped up. The Storm came out on offense without Clyde Fitzmaurice ’08, a key offensive lineman who was down today due to injury. The Storm also had to play without the solid services of Garrett Matthews ’08, due to the MAPL football limit of four post-graduates per team.
Due in part to the absence of Fitzmaurice and Matthews, Peddie’s strong defensive line was able to repeatedly break through the Storm’s front five to get to senior running back Ben Eaton before he could post solid gains. Peddie also managed to put a lot of pressure on quarterback Trevor Smith ‘09. As the Storm was forced to punt, Peddie prepared to unleash it’s lightning-fast running back Matt Brown, #24, doing so on an option where Brown bounced off several defenders. Brown went the distance for a touchdown but a badly shanked PAT left the Storm facing a six-point deficit. On its next series, Peddie continued to run the ball as #24 once again bounced outside to open territory, but Bond Stockdale ’09 made a touchdown-saving tackle. Peddie continued moving down the field, and from about one foot out, coach Karl Reisner accurately predicted a quarterback draw to the left. But Peddie pounded the ball into the Storm end zone to take a 13-0 lead. The Storm bounced back, though, and after a 32-yard return by Collin Stevens ’08, the running game opened up and Eaton saw success carving up the middle. As the Storm turned to the pass, Peddie’s defense was able to force Smith to scramble. After moving the ball into Hawk territory for the first time the Storm was finally held on third down, and head coach Dan Walker, seeing a key opportunity to gain back the momentum, called in a fake punt. Stevens took the ball as Mort flew down the sideline in one-on-one coverage. Stevens lobbed it up, but the ball was intercepted by #24 who returned it deep into Storm territory before being taken down by Stevens. On the following play, Peddie quarterback David Kenney mishandled the snap and Curtis Feigt ’09 recovered the ball. On its next offensive drive Peddie seemed determined to extend its lead, however A.J. Firestone ’10 stood in the way, wrapping up Kenney and not letting go for a twelve-yard sack at the end of the first quarter.
The second quarter saw several adjustments on the Storm’s defense. With #24 in the game, Mercersburg came down hard on the run, showing great agility across the field to negate the sweeps run by Peddie. The Storm offense also showed more resilience, running the option particularly well but still having trouble passing effectively, with Peddie penetrating the right side of the offensive line. With Peddie on offense, Stevens and Jacob Fries ’10 forced a fumble on third down but the ball slid across the line before being pounced on by Peddie. After driving to the Mercersburg goal line, the Storm put up an impressive stand, highlighted by Eaton’s tackle for loss on 4th and goal. But Peddie came back on its next offensive series to find the end zone and take a commanding 20-0 lead. At this point, Mercersburg could have packed it in, but instead the Storm came out firing. Smith nailed receiver Josh Muller ’10 for a 21-yard reception. Another beautiful pass by a scrambling Smith to Stevens was ruled out bounds, despite the protests of Storm fans. On fourth down, Smith hit Stevens for a first down to keep the drive alive. Another catch by Stevens was followed by a 32-yard touchdown pass to a wide-open Tyler Mort. Firestone’s PAT was blocked and, after a drive downfield and with only seconds left in the half, the Hawks attempted a 37-yard field goal which sailed wide left to leave the half time score at 20-6.
Peddie turned to Brown again in the second half and scored to go up by 21 points. But the Storm regained the momentum they had in the closing minutes of the second half, as Stevens completed several passes while the Hawks were hit with a trio of fifteen-yard penalties. The last penalty left the Storm just inside the 15 where Smith connected with Stevens on a nice slant rout for a touchdown. Smith hit Stevens again on the two-point conversion to bring the score to 27-14.
The defense began playing much better, anticipating the quick strikes of Brown and with Campi leading the defensive line the pocket came crashing down on Kenney, forcing a three-and-out. On a subsequent Peddie offensive series, Stockdale led the linebackers on a very agile series of plays where the Storm defensive backs crossed the field in a blink of the eye to keep Brown from getting into the secondary. But Peddie started driving up the middle again, and was able to find the end zone again.
In the final quarter, Peddie managed to pick off a couple of Storm passes and Josh Muller ’10 recovered a Peddie fumble. Peddie won the game by a score of 41-14. Key players on both sides of the ball included Stevens, who scored a touchdown and was among the team leaders in tackles, and Muller, who was a strong commodity as wide receiver, and as a defensive back who did a good job holding down the Peddie receiving corps. Stockdale and Eaton were key components in halting the Peddie run game when they could. With the return of Fitzmaurice, Matthews and other Storm players, the team looks forward to its final game of the season, a Saturday home showdown against The Kiski School.
-- by student reporter Peter Cooke ’08
-- photos by Trent Grogan ‘09
