The PFMS Little Lions faced the Juniata Indians, a team that will have a long bus ride home, came to Memorial Field to face our team, newly led by Coach Maurice Freeman. Sadly, the team fell and fell hard. Juniata defeated Park Forest by a final score of 38-20. Here’s how it all happened.
I didn’t get to see much before the near end of the first quarter because I had some homework to do, but got there with around one minute left, and saw #4 (will not be stating players’ real names in this article, just jersey numbers) get a sack. On the punt, #15 must’ve eaten some popcorn before the game, because he dropped the punt and possession was retained by Juniata when they recovered the ball. This was the first quarter of the nightmarish game that took place.
To begin the second quarter of the game, Juniata scored a touchdown run and a 2-point conversion to put them up on the board. After that, the kickoff to PFMS went bad when the ball slipped away from the returner’s hands and the offense was backed up to the 13 yard line. Luckily, the offense was able to get within 30 yards of Juniata’s end zone after connecting on a 21 pass between #4 and #15. #4 rolled out of the pocket on the next play and got into the end zone on a 22 yard rushing TD. Sadly, they couldn’t convert on the 2 point conversion, leaving the score at 8-6 with Juniata ahead. Juniata fumbled soon after. PFMS recovered, but #4 threw a bad pass soon after that resulted in an interception, just put it too low for the receiver to reach, and the ball was right back to the Indians.
On 3rd down, PFMS #34 was able to get a big pass defense near the goal line, which would’ve resulted in another TD. Sadly, they weren’t able to hold them off on 4th and 16, which most thought would result in an easy turnover of downs, but the defense let a 16 yard run happen, and the ball reached the first down marker by inches. Juniata eventually scored a TD, which put the score to 14-6, and I started to get nervous that PFMS would lose for the first time in nearly a year. Near the end of the first half, #4 was able to connect on a 31 yard pass to #88 , but was picked off on the final pass of the half, which could’ve been returned for a possible touchdown, but the offense tackled them and with that, halftime started.
PFMS didn’t fare well in second half. Juniata Valley dominated the rest of the game, outscoring PFMS 24-14.