GARDINER — Two teams still figuring out how to win ball games squared off at Hoch Field on Friday night in a game filled with penalties and turnovers.
In the end, York took advantage of Gardiner’s third turnover and turned it into a fourth-quarter touchdown for a 17-14 victory.
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York is 2-2 in Class C South Campbell Conference play while Gardiner falls to 1-3.
Dawson Gundlah, a junior backup running back, scored the game-winner, breaking tackles from 15 yards out and stiff arming the last defender.
“It wasn’t really designed, but once I saw the hole, I decided to take it,” Gundlah said. “I wasn’t really thinking. I wanted to get in.”
The Tigers had taken a 14-10 lead late in the third quarter when Tanner Hebert caught a swing pass from Cole Heaberlin in the left flat and scored from 17 yards out.
Gardiner committed eight penalties, three that killed drives inside the 15-yard line and another that wiped out a 70-yard scoring run by Cam Michaud in the fourth quarter.
“We didn’t start playing until the second half again,” Gardiner coach Joe White said. “We’ve just got to get over that hump. It’s the little things. I hate to reflect on the past but there is a pattern here of that.”
The Wildcats took a 10-0 lead in the first half as the Tigers turned the ball over on their first possession. Sophomore corner Riley Johnston picked off Heaberlin’s pass in the right flat and returned it 34 yards for a score. In the second quarter, Jake Martin kicked a 32-yard field goal to make it 10-0. The Tigers got on the board in the second quarter when Collin Foye out-jumped a defender for a Heaberlin pass from the 15. The drive was set up by Blaise Tripp’s 81-yard kickoff return.
The Tigers played well defensively and forced four York turnovers, including Nate Malinowski’s fumble recovery with 1:40 left to play. They pushed the ball to the York 34 when the drive ended.
“That’s been a bright spot for us,” White said. “Kids flying around making plays. It’s a very aggressive defense. . . . they fly around and they like to hit.”
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