BOYERTOWN - Mark Scisly couldn't help but dwell on seven losses last year, four of them against Pioneer Athletic Conference rivals by a combined 24 points.

 

Well, don't expect the second-year Boyertown head coach to be in too good of a frame of mind by the time the Bears kick off a new PAC-10 season next Friday ... not after watching his team lose their final preseason tune-up Saturday night by a foot.

 

Foot as in Governor Mifflin placekicker Brandon Snyder's foot.

 

The junior boomed three field goals - from 28, 44 and 40 yards away - to provide the Mustangs all they'd need to get by the host Bears, 9-7.

 

Snyder got the guests on the board in the first quarter for a 3-0 lead, got them back to within one in the third quarter, then split the uprights a third time with 6:06 remaining for the game-winner.

 

The Bears (1-1), who got their only points from Ryan Schwager's 78-yard dash and Pete Slabonik's placement less than a minute after Snyder's first field goal, got untracked on their final possession of the evening and drove to the Mustangs' 21-yard line with a second-and-one to answer. But Andrew Sarangoulis dropped Tom Froehlich for a five-yard loss, and quarterback Dylan Pasik could only get two back on the ensuing snap before throwing an incomplete pass to end the drive and any comeback hopes with 56 seconds remaining.

 

Boyertown's defense, led up front by Wilmer Barndt, Tyler Bogert and Chris Muller and behind them by Jared Giles and Kyle Fultz, actually played well enough to make it a spotless preseason. Eleven of Governor Mifflin's runs ended up behind the line of scrimmage; Barndt had a fumble recovery, and Tyler Mauger chipped in on the effort with a sack of elusive Governor Mifflin quarterback Vince Garapoli.

 

The guests' Wing-T and two-back power sets only managed 152 yards on 48 runs, and Garapoli was limited to 63 yards passing.

 

But what happened on the other side of the ball wasn't much better.

 

Schwager's eight carries for 127 yards accounted for most of Boyertown's 219 yards on the ground and 228 yards of offense overall. And fumbles - seven of them in all, four of which they lost - helped stall a couple of drives and denied the Bears' great field position as a result of long returns by the special teams.

 

Governor Mifflin's Jordan Kofroth was there to recover three of Boyertown's fumbles and John King got the other. And if that wasn't enough to stymie the Bears, three sacks - all of which Zach Schmidt were in on - sure were.

 

NOTES

 

Tyler Braun (64) and Zach Schmidt (60) led Mifflin's run game. ... In addition to Schwager, the Bears' got 31 yards - all in the second half - from Jon Neiman and another 30 from Logan Herb, who caught his team's lone completion for nine yards. ... In the end, the Bears finished with a 228-215 edge in total offense.