The NEPA Miners are carrying a three game win streak into the playoffs after defeating the Hudson county Bounty Hunters 44-28. It was a wild night of many big plays on a festive night at Scranton Memorial Stadium. The evening was kicked off by a special performance of the National Anthem by Minxx before they rocked the Miners house with a halftime concert.
The Miners came out of the gates blazing with a 54 yard touchdown strike to Montell Knauls six minutes into the first quarter than two minutes later as Donnie Jackson-Bey took a fumble recovery into the end zone. The first quarter fireworks were only starting as Damon Saxon capped off a Miners drive with a one yard touchdown run with three minutes left. The Bounty Hunters would begin to battle back with a 53 yard touch down run by Bryan Smith only to have the Miners quarterback J.P. Antosh hit Montell Knauls for a 27-8 lead after one quarter. The Defenses’ would step up in the second quarter as the Bounty Hunters would shift the momentum with a 103 yard interception return by Brandon Smith. The Miners would get a field goal with 25 seconds on the clock to go into the locker room with a 30-16 half time lead. Both teams would swap a pair of touchdowns in the second half, two more by Bounties running back Bryan Smith while the Miners would have J.P. Antosh throw another touchdown pass, this time to Andre Chollete and also get a diving touchdown run by Mahmoud Elbattah.
Quarterback J.P. Antosh finished with 272 yards passing to put him over 2000 yards on the season setting a Miners and Regional American Football League record. Miners linebacker Roy Glenn Jr. recorded 8 tackles and 2 sacks to lead the Miners defense. Rasheen Smith, P.J. Piscorick and Malcolm Singleton also helped the Miners rack up 5 total team sacks. Our hometown team finished the season with an overall record of 8-2-1 (7-2-1 RAFL) beating last years 8-3 overall record (7-3 NAFL). The next goal for the Miners is getting past the first round of the playoffs, something that eluded the Miners a year ago. There is something special about this year’s team that is battle tested and hungry for that championship ring.
The Miners will find out quickly what they are made of when they face the red hot New Jersey Warriors in a rematch of their August battle.
(1) NY Predators vs (16) NJ Lions
(2) PW Monarchs vs (15) Brooklyn Jazz
(3) LI Pitbulls vs (14) HC Bounty Hunters
(4) NE Knights vs (13) Brooklyn Mariners
(5) NJ Wolves vs (12) NJ Spartans
(6) BA Warriors vs (11) Philly Braves
(7) NJ Warriors vs (10) NEPA Miners
(8 Bklyn Blue Devils vs (9) Md Nemesis
Quick Facts:
- Miners defeated Warriors 25-18 August 2nd @ Scranton Memorial Stadium.
- Warriors have won six straight since then to win the New Jersey Division having overcome a 0-4 start to finish 6-4.
- Miners win last three to clinch second wild card after 8-2-1 battle tested season.
