MORAVIA 鈥 Early in the first quarter, the Moravia football team lined up for a two-point conversion after scoring its first touchdown Saturday afternoon. The ball was snapped to quarterback Dillon Langtry, who was soon pressured by Thomas Edison defenders. As he scrambled to the left, a Spartans defender wrapped his arms around the Blue Devils quarterback, trying to wrestle him to the ground. Langtry, was stopped for a second, but quickly spun out of the tacklers鈥 grasp, and without fully resetting himself, found an open receiver in the end zone for the two points.
Before the release of the ball though, an official blew his whistle, killing the play, thinking Langtry had no chance of escaping. The points didn鈥檛 count, but Langtry continued his elusive play throughout his team鈥檚 28-6 win in Moravia, proving the Spartans鈥 best chance in stopping the quarterback was with some help from the officials.
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鈥淚t shows what a diverse athlete he is,鈥 Moravia head coach John Crossgrove said. 鈥淟ike I told the officials when they called him down on the first two point conversion, when he wasn鈥檛 down, that kid鈥檚 not your usual quarterback.鈥
Langtry totaled more than 300 total yards, while not gaining a single yard in the fourth quarter. He engineered the Blue Devils鈥 first three drives to the endzone. The first six plays the quarterback was giving an opportunity to make a play, he gained at least 21 yards and 188 yards in all. It spotted Moravia a 20-0 lead, all while Thomas Edison had gained 33 yards.
The senior signal caller opened the game with two deep passes to Dylan Powers and Lee Wakefield. The latter resulted in a 34-yard touchdown pass.On the ensuing drive for the Blue Devils, Langtry took the snap and rolled to the right on the cusp of the red zone. Langtry appeared to have Nick Dwyer open in the flat, but the Spartans end showed his length and pressured the quarterback 10 yards backwards. With the defense flooding to the right, Langtry cut upfield to the left, breaking through the line and scampered 21 yards for Moravia鈥檚 second score.
鈥淭he end was pretty tall and I was like, I can鈥檛 get this there,鈥 Langtry said. 鈥淚 took off the other way and everyone just stepped up, picked up there blocks, and clear sailing all the way to the endzone.鈥
Langtry was just getting started. In the third quarter with Moravia up 20-0, the Blue Devils faced a 4th and 10, and again Langtry was forced backwards by the TAE line. As he was, again, pushed back to his right, he rolled to the left, creating enough time to find Dwyer down field for 29 yard completion and a first down.
鈥淚 was actually looking to run that ball, I was like I put myself into a 15-yard hole,鈥 Langtry said. 鈥淭hen I looked down field and I saw (Dwyer) jumping with his hands waving. I鈥檓 like I gotta give it to him, I gotta give him some love.鈥
Langtry鈥檚 encore, put the Blue Devils up 28-6. The ball was on the Spartan 20, when Langtry escaped the pocket up the left side, side stepping defenders and tip toeing the sideline all the way to the endzone. With all the scampering Langtry did he amassed 143 yards on the ground.
He also picked apart the TAE defense through the air, completing 8-of-12 passes for 166 yards.
鈥淗e鈥檚 got wheels and he can use them,鈥 Crossgrove said, 鈥淏ut he鈥檚 also keeping it head downfield, it鈥檚 the same type of stuff you hear them say about Michael Vick. He鈥檚 always looking downfield, he鈥檚 not just looking to run. That makes it tough on defenses because you have a lot of field to cover. Running around covering him on the field, you wish you had more than 11 guys.鈥
The other Blue Devils touchdown came from another quick player in Wakefield. Adding to his TD catch, the running back used his power instead of his speed to pound the ball in from one yard out, scoring Moravia鈥檚 third touchdown of the game.
Moravia hosts division rival Tioga next week with enormous playoff ramifications for the winner. On Saturday, the Blue Devils wanted to set the tone heading into the week.
鈥淥ur division鈥檚 got a pretty big dog pile at the top, with teams trying to go to sectionals, only two get to go,鈥 Crossgrove said. 鈥淭here are four of us in a battle for it. So not only did we want to win a game like this, but we kind of wanted to make a statement and keep building our confidence.鈥
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鈥 moravia 28, thomas edison 6 鈥
