{"id":7057,"date":"2025-10-18T12:07:42","date_gmt":"2025-10-18T12:07:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/7057\/"},"modified":"2025-10-18T12:07:42","modified_gmt":"2025-10-18T12:07:42","slug":"erie-prophetstown-makes-big-plays-holds-off-mendota-on-senior-night-shaw-local","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/7057\/","title":{"rendered":"Erie-Prophetstown makes big plays, holds off Mendota on senior night \u2013 Shaw Local"},"content":{"rendered":"

Battling a scrappy Mendota<\/a> team on senior night, big plays helped Erie-Prophetstown<\/a> pull away in a 27-14 Three Rivers crossover win in Erie. <\/p>\n

The Panthers (6-2) won a fourth straight game to send the Trojans to 2-6. <\/p>\n

E-P\u2019s Gaven Adams caught two touchdowns from fellow senior Keegan Winckler, with his second coming with 3:22 left in the game to help put it away. He also intercepted an Aden Tillman pass in the end zone to seal the win.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a dogfight,\u201d Adams said. \u201cThey\u2019re way better than we thought, and we just pushed every single play, execution on every single play. And that\u2019s what mattered.\u201d<\/p>\n

Adams\u2019 first TD was a 92-yarder in the first quarter. Mendota\u2019s Corbin Furar helped tie it at 7 with a rushing score late in the first quarter. <\/p>\n

As the game shifted to a defensive battle, E-P made arguably the biggest play of the game on special teams. <\/p>\n

Following up a sack to make it fourth and long, E-P junior Derek Naftzger blocked the Mendota punt, eventually scooped up the ball, and ran it in for a score.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re about to go in for the punt, and [coach Tyler] Whitebread goes, go on the outside, try to get that block,\u201d Naftzger said. \u201cI go outside, put my hands up, and it hits me right in the gut.<\/p>\n

\u201cI tried to get it, but I fumble it, then I kick it and it goes an extra 20 yards … And then it perfectly just bounced back into my hands and I was in the end zone. It was really exciting.\u201d<\/p>\n

The big play also came with just 1:42 until halftime and E-P receiving in the second half. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d say it definitely built our momentum up,\u201d Naftzger said, \u201cand really helped us get excited for the rest of the game.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"E-P's<\/p>\n

E-P’s Derek Naftzger (Drake Lansman)<\/p>\n

Adams said that the score was a turning point. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt helped us get the pressure off our heels and refocus and get the offense back,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

Tristan Hovey started the second half with a bang, using a 64-yard rush to set up a 1-yard plunge to put the Panthers up 20-7.<\/p>\n

Mendota\u2019s Thomas Corrigan had an 8-yard TD with 7:34 in the fourth quarter after Furar exited with an injury. E-P answered again as Adams\u2019 second score was a 27-yard catch on third and 14 with 3:22 left. <\/p>\n

The Trojans\u2019 final drive ended with the Adams pick. <\/p>\n

Winckler credited his linemen for assisting in E-P\u2019s difference-making big plays. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe really stressed winning up front,\u201d he said. \u201cWithout them, we wouldn\u2019t be here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Winckler credited an improving Mendota team. The Trojans snapped a 16-game losing streak earlier this season. <\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re a good program that\u2019s on the comeup,\u201d he said. \u201cI think they\u2019re going to be tough. Teams definitely shouldn\u2019t take them for granted and need to come ready to play because they\u2019re a solid team.\u201d<\/p>\n

Winckler\u2019s only completions were the TDs to Adams. <\/p>\n

\u201cGaven\u2019s from Prophetstown, and I\u2019m from Erie, so I really didn\u2019t know him until we started playing in eighth grade,\u201d he said. \u201cWe really built a connection, and he\u2019s been one of my best friends on the team.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s a great player and does a lot of unbelievable things.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"E-P's<\/p>\n

E-P’s Gaven Adams (Drake Lansman)<\/p>\n

Winckler said Naftzger\u2019s punt block TD was also \u201chuge\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe last couple of years, Derek\u2019s had a blocked punt and ran it for six, but they\u2019ve called him back the last like two or three years,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s awesome that he finally got it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mendota coach James Eustice was proud of his team\u2019s effort. <\/p>\n

\u201cThat was a really nice high school football game to watch,\u201d he said. \u201cBoth teams played very well with a lot of hard hitting going on. Nothing to hang our heads about, that\u2019s for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n

Furar finished with 70 yards and a score before he had to be helped off the field. Tillman threw for 161 yards.<\/p>\n

The game just came down to just a couple of big plays for E-P. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe had one mistake on the punt and that ended up being a huge difference in the game,\u201d Eustice said. \u201cI\u2019m proud of our kids. We\u2019ve done a lot of good things here this year trying to turn this thing around.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Erie-Prophetstown<\/p>\n

Erie-Prophetstown senior Jordae Crow stops visiting Mendota’s Corbin Furar Friday Oct. 17, 2025. The Panthers win over the Trojans put them into playoff eligibility. (Jessie Otten – Shaw Local News Network)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Battling a scrappy Mendota team on senior night, big plays helped Erie-Prophetstown pull away in a 27-14 Three…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":7058,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[136,138,137,982,6340,6341,304,6339,985],"class_list":["post-7057","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-erie","tag-erie","tag-erie-headlines","tag-erie-news","tag-erie-prophetstown-preps","tag-fnd-illinois-valley","tag-fnd-sauk-valley","tag-high-school-football","tag-mendota-preps","tag-sauk-valley-media"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7057","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7057"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7057\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7058"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7057"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7057"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7057"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}