Eric Nangle said he felt like he could play another quarter. The Exeter senior running back could get two more games.
Nick Singleton was expected to play two more games. But because the Gov. Mifflin senior running back couldn’t get the football in the fourth quarter, his record-setting high school career came to a shocking end Friday night.
Instead of Gov. Mifflin heading to the PIAA Class 5A semifinals, it will be Exeter (10-3) taking on District 7 champion Penn-Trafford (11-2) Friday at 7 p.m. at Bald Eagle Area High School, Wingate. The winner will play in the state championship game Friday, Dec. 10, at 7 p.m. at Hersheypark Stadium.
Singleton and the Mustangs seemed destined to play in the state final. They came into Friday’s District 3 championship game unbeaten and untested in 10 games, including a 54-21 win over Exeter on Oct. 8.
Gov. Mifflin, the defending district champ, had won its first 10 games by an average of more than 35 points. Its smallest margin of victory was 25 points.
But the Eagles showed from the start with an eight-play, 65-yard touchdown drive that they weren’t going to be pushovers.
The offensive line of center Kyle Helm, guards Lucas Palange and Anthony Caccese, tackles Kyle Lash and Sam Orzolek and tight ends J.R. Strauss and Ty Yocum dominated the line of scrimmage.
They opened the holes for Nangle to rush for 225 yards on 41 carries and gave quarterback Colin Payne the time to complete 13-of-21 passes for 158 yards and three touchdowns.
Nangle caught one of the those TD passes for 33 yards on a screen pass. He finished with 261 yards on 43 offensive touches and seemed as strong at the end of the game as he was at the start.
“I’m good, I could play another quarter,” Nangle said while holding Exeter’s first District 3 football championship trophy.
Exeter scored on three of its first four possessions and led 21-7 midway through the second quarter.
Despite playing a near-perfect game to that point, the Eagles had to weather the storm of Gov. Mifflin’s potent offense.
Gov. Mifflin scored with less than two minutes left in the first half to close the gap to 21-14. It seemed like the Mustangs had all the momentum when they scored two touchdowns in the first five minutes of the second half to take a 28-21 lead.
After receiving the kickoff to start the second half, Gov. Mifflin went 60 yards in eight plays to tie it. On that drive, Singleton was split out wide. With Exeter’s defense focused on him — Singleton caught a 51-yard touchdown pass in the first quarter — Gov. Mifflin ran the ball at will.
Seven carries gained 58 yards for Gov. Mifflin before Singleton capped the drive with a 2-yard TD run. No one knew at the time that it would be the final score of Singleton’s career. With more than seven minutes left in the third quarter, no one even entertained the thought it would be his final carry.
After the game-tying TD, the Mustangs forced a three-and-out and got the ball back to the Gov. Mifflin offense at the Exeter 28 following a 4-yard punt into the wind. On the first play, quarterback Eden Johnson raced 28 yards for a touchdown that put Gov. Mifflin in front for the first time.
But it was Exeter that dominated the game for the final 19 minutes, running 31 plays to just three plays and a punt for Gov. Mifflin.
The Eagles drove 67 yards in 13 plays but had to settle for Mikey Moser’s 22-yard field goal early in the fourth quarter after a pre-snap penalty pushed Exeter back from the 1-yard line to the 6.
Exeter got the ball right back at the Gov. Mifflin 40 when the Mustangs were unable to handle a short kickoff. On fourth-and-1 from the Gov. Mifflin 31, the offensive line created enough of a push for Nangle to pick up the first down before he broke free and raced to the end zone to put Exeter back on top at 31-28 with 9:15 left.
Gov. Mifflin was unable to respond. Quarterback Delsin McNeil, who was in the game because Johnson was injured on defense, lost 1 yard on first down and threw an incomplete pass on second. Facing third-and-11, the Mustangs turned to what they did best for much of the last four years, handing the ball to Singleton.
He gained 7 yards, but a holding penalty behind the line of scrimmage wiped out the play. Instead of declining the penalty and giving Gov. Mifflin a fourth-and-4 — the Mustangs had converted a fourth down near midfield on their first scoring drive — Exeter coach Matt Bauer took the penalty and made it third-and-25.
Unable to find an open receiver, McNeil scrambled for 13 yards and Gov. Mifflin punted with 7:35 left. The Exeter offense made sure Singleton and the Gov. Mifflin offense didn’t get another shot.
The Eagles converted two third downs and one fourth down on a 5-yard pass from Payne to Penn State recruit Joey Schlaffer to run out the clock. Exeter ran 14 plays, the final two kneel downs, to deny Singleton from getting one last chance before he heads to Penn State in January.
He and Schlaffer will have plenty to talk about.
Singleton finished the season with 44 touchdowns, including 13 on plays of 50 yards or more, and 2,059 rushing yards. But Exeter held the explosive Gov. Mifflin senior to 40 yards on eight carries, the longest a 14-yard run that kept Gov. Mifflin’s first TD drive alive on fourth down.
Singleton finished his career with Berks records of 6,326 rushing yards and 116 touchdowns, marks others could be pursuing for years.
But for Singleton and the Mustangs, the end came two games too soon.
