Raiders seeking D-11 win ders, ND in rematch

Same teams. Same location. Same class. Same round.

The challenge for the Tamaqua football team is can it avoid the same result.

Friday night at Tamaqua High School Stadium, the Blue Raiders will host Notre Dame of Green Pond in a District 11 Class 3A semifinal round game.

A year ago, Notre Dame outlasted the Raiders, 40-33, in the 2A semifinals, ending Tamaqua’s season.

“We are familiar with their system and what they like to do from playing them last year, and also scouting them this year,” said Tamaqua coach Sam Bonner. “Their offensive personnel is a little different, but their philosophy is the same. They want to spread the field and take advantage of their athletes at the skill positions.

“They are single back and probably run four receiver sets 90 percent of the time.”

Notre Dame is averaging over 40 points a game this season, which Bonner said isn’t a suprise.

“They used a number of quarterbacks this year because of injuries, but (Colin) Quintano is who played last week and who we expect to see. He’s only a sophomore and is very talented. (Andrew) Darno is a kid who filled in at quarterback for them a little and is really dangerous as a receiver. But they don’t just have one or two weapons, they have a lot of great athletes to throw the ball to so we need to play great team defense.”

If Tamaqua is going to reverse last year’s result, its defense could be the key.

In their final regular season game against Jim Thorpe, the Raiders’ defense turned in an impressive showing, forcing four turnovers and holding the Olympians to 115 yards of total offense.

This season, Tamaqua has allowed an average of just 12.3 points and 218.9 yards per game.

Bonner said the Raiders’ defensive effort last season against Notre Dame wasn’t as bad as it may have appeared from just looking at the score.

“They had a defensive touchdown as part of their scoring, and we gave up a number of big plays in critical situations,” he said. “We need to limit their big plays this year.

“We know they are going to complete some passes, The key for us is to be in position and tackle well. We want to limit their yards after the catch, and not let them turn short passes into big gains.”

As strong as the Tamaqua defense has been, it’s the Tamaqua offense that gets most of the attention — and for good reason.

Tamaqua is leading the Times News area in scoring, putting up 39.4 points per game, while the Raiders’ 366.7 yards per game average is second to Northwestern among area programs.

Quarterback Brayden Knoblauch, halfback Nate Boyle, and wide receiver Matt Kistler are all ranked either first or second at their position among area players.

Knoblauch enters the game on the verge of breaking several Tamaqua single season and career passing records. He currently has 1,441 yards and 14 TD passes this season. He needs just 19 yards to break Geoff Kruuczek’s singles eason record of 1,459 set in 1991, and two TDs to break Brad Geiger’s record of 15 set in 1973. In addition, he is 198 yards away from breaking the Tamaqua career passing yardage mark of 4,126 yards currently held by his uncle, Adam Knoblauch.

“We have had a lot of success being balanced, and that’s our game plan for Friday,” said Bonner. “We need to be able to run the ball and throw the ball.

“We feel like our offensive line has played really well, especially the last couple games against Lehighton and Jim Thorpe. We also have a lot of playmakers. Brayden (Knoblauch), Nate (Boyle) and Matt (Kistler) get a lot of attention, but we had other kids step up for us during the course of the season so defenses just can’t key on a couple of people.”

The 2019 Raiders will also have a chance to make a permanent name for themselves in school history as they look to get the school’s first-ever District 11 football victory.

Tamaqua is 0-5 in its history in district playoff games, including losses in each of the last three years (2016 to Pen Argyl, 2017 to Jim Thorpe, and 2018 to Notre Dame). Tamaqua also lost district games to Panther Valley in 2009 and Pen Argyl in 2012.

“That’s something we’ve emphasized all week,” said Bonner. “This senior class has accomplished a lot during the last few seasons, but this is a chance for them to put their stamp on the program.

“They have a chance to get the first district win in school history. We’ve come close the last couple of seasons, but we talked to them about that not being good enough. This is their chance to make a statement and really leave their mark as a class.”