BOYERTOWN - Mark Scisly's expression said it all after Friday night's non-league game against Hatboro-Horsham.

The Boyertown head coach, in his first year with the Bears, has already experienced this same sinking feeling too much. And as much as Scisly has seen his team control games with an offense that can move the ball backed by a solid defense, he's also seen the impact of a few missed plays.

 

Take, for instance, the Bears' 25-21 loss to the Hatters.

 

Boyertown (5-6 overall) led the entire third quarter and went ahead eight points, 21-13, with a minute left in the third frame. But a 91-yard kickoff return by Eddie Coombs trimmed the Hatters (5-6 overall) lead to two points.

After holding on four downs in its own red zone, Hatboro marched 73 yards in four minutes to tack on the winning score with four minutes left to play.

 

"It's frustrating, we've had a lot of games like this this year," Scisly said. "It's one of those things where if there's 10 or 11 plays and you change one of them, we win the game. And we had a lot of them tonight. We didn't execute tonight all the time."

 

Not to belabor Scisly's stress, but the Bears outpaced its opponents by nearly 100 yards of total offense (327 to 234). Boyertown also came up short on three trips to the red zone, two in the first half due to turnovers, and another in the second half that stalled on four downs.

 

And Boyertown's defense held the Hatters in check for the most part, but couldn't stop running back Mike Bobrin, who rushed 20 times for 162 yards and two scores, accounting for all but 72 yards of his team's offense.

 

That defense got a boost from two tackles for a loss by linebacker Ty Showers, a tackle for a loss from Chase Stewart, a sack from Jeff Zimmerman, interception from Eric Repko and a tackle for a loss from Ian Repko (four solo tackles).

 

"We had a special teams breakdown, a missed block, dropped ball, turnovers, missed tackles - they add up and you can't win football games doing those things," Scisly said. "The kickoff return really hurt us; that changed the game right there. And we had chances to score and we didn't."

 

Quarterback David Crognale (23 carries, 157 yards, TD) got the Bears out to a fast start as he took a 13-yard keeper across the goal line on his squad's first offensive touch. Hatboro answered on its next series on Bobrin's two-yard run, and the visitors went up, 13-6, on a two-yard keeper by quarterback Dan Lineberger.

 

Crognale finished with 244 all-purpose yards, including 46 passing yards and 41 receiving yards. Logan Herb lugged the ball eight times for 37 yards and six different Bear receivers caught passes.

 

Boyertown took control of the third quarter, scoring on a six-yard pass to Ty Showers, and adding two it on a nifty reverse pass from Logan Herb to Crognale that spanned 41 yards to paydirt. That momentum was quickly dashed as Coombs returned the ensuing kickoff 91 yards.

 

But the good news for the Bears is the season isn't quite over yet. Though the team is down, they have a chance to redeem themselves in the annual Thanksgiving Day game at Upper Perkiomen. The game will be the 50th meeting between the two teams, with the Bears holding a 31-15-3 edge, though the Tribe won last year's Turkey Day showdown.

 

And as Scisly knows, that game can go a long way in determining the success of his team's season.

"We need to find a way to win the last game; those are our rivals," Scisly said. "We'll go to work for the next two weeks to get ready, they are our rivals and we have to win it."

 

NOTES

 

Hatboro was without a handful of players Friday night who were previously suspended by head coach Tom Butts. The players in question were disciplined after attending the Philadelphia Phillies' World Series celebration parade after the coach said doing so would cost them the rest of their season. He did just that, despite protests from parents and the community.