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KINGSTON — Two teams entered Spartan Stadium Friday night looking to erase long losing streaks, avoid winless seasons and hit the offseason with some positive momentum.
Despite a hot start, it wasn’t meant to be for Holy Redeemer.
The Royals took a 7-0 lead just over a minute into the contest, but couldn’t do much else after that in a 27-13 loss to District 4’s Midd-West.
The Mustangs snapped a 27-game losing streak dating back to the second week of the 2022 season, riding strong efforts from their defense and special teams to take down Holy Redeemer and avoid dropping to 0-10 for a second straight year.
The loss marked the 21st in a row for Holy Redeemer, last victorious in the 2022 regular-season finale. The Royals finished the year 0-10 for a second straight season, their first campaign as an independent after previously playing in the Wyoming Valley Conference.
“I thought we played a pretty good game, we had some mistakes early that we had a hard time getting around,” Holy Redeemer coach Tyson Kelley said. “Winning games is hard, it’s a process … we’ve got to learn from these things.”
It was senior night at Holy Redeemer, and one of those seniors got involved in a major way early.
On the opening drive of the game, Thomas Dugan picked up a loose ball after a Redeemer strip-sack and brought it 35 yards to the end zone, giving the Royals a 7-0 lead and providing a big moment for the team, and the fans, to cheer for.
Dugan would add a sack on Redeemer’s next defensive possession, and stepped in to play quarterback after Brady McDermott was knocked from the game after taking a big hit that was flagged for roughing the passer.
“Tommy Dugan is a guy that’s irreplaceable,” Kelley said. “He makes coaching football that much better, I’m so thrilled for him.”
Unfortunately for the Royals, they couldn’t further capitalize on some big early plays, while Midd-West took advantage of several opportunities.
A blocked punt set up the Mustangs’ first scoring drive inside the Redeemer red zone, with a 19-yard touchdown pass from Keaton Kreider to Kaden Peters drawing Midd-West within a point.
The Mustangs had three interceptions, seven sacks, a fumble recovery and a blocked extra point — generally making the night miserable for Holy Redeemer’s offense.
Kreider added two touchdown runs of a yard each in the first half, taking Midd-West to halftime with a 20-7 lead.
A second blocked punt added to the Mustangs’ lead in the fourth quarter, with Peters coming up with the block and falling on the ball in the end zone for a touchdown.
The Royals added a touchdown late in the fourth quarter, with Dugan absorbing a huge hit from two defenders and still managing to find Kyle Ly for a 21-yard touchdown.
After a quick three-and-out, Redeemer’s last attempt to keep the game alive ended with an interception from Mason Fultz.