Playing in the Eastern Conference Class 3A Championship game was not the ideal way for Tamaqua to end its season.

The Blue Raiders would have preferred to play in the District 11 tournament, and it appeared they were going to do that after winning their first six games of the season.

The team fell out of contention, however, after losing four consecutive games to end the regular season.

But the Blue Raiders made up for it Friday night and took home a championship trophy after recording a 35-0 mercy rule win over Pequea Valley from District 3 at Tamaqua Stadium.

It was the team’s second Eastern Conference championship, having won the last one in 1962.

“I told the guys that it was great to finish the season with a win,” said Tamaqua head coach Sam Bonner. “We had a real tough schedule to end the regular season. But we did a good job coming out today because it’s sometimes hard to get kids excited after experiencing that kind of an ending.”

Tamaqua’s defense set the tone for the victory after limiting the Braves to just three offensive series in the first half with each one being three and out.

It held the Lancaster area school to just 82 yards of offense — all rushing — and only two first downs.

The Blue Raiders’ offense dominated the time of possession and produced a 13-play, 80-yard drive to start the game that resulted in a 15-yard touchdown run by quarterback Luke Kane.

Kane had three touchdowns on the game, with the second one coming on a flea flicker touchdown pass to him by wide receiver Victor Schlosser for a 14-0 lead at halftime.

Kane ended up rushing for 59 yards, which included a 3-yard scoring run to end the third quarter.

He also had a big passing game, completing 12-of-18 attempts for 148 yards.

Schlosser became the school’s all-time leader for receptions in a season with 61.

One of those completions was a 17-yard touchdown reception to cap the scoring in the fourth quarter. He finished the contest with 10 catches for 90 yards.

“We wanted to establish the run on our first drive, and I thought we did a good job of that,” Bonner said. “We wanted to make sure we got Victor the ball for the record.

“The kids executed pretty well. But we had only 14 points in the first half because of penalties. But we came out good in the second half.”

Bradley Whalen also had a big offensive game for the Blue Raiders, rushing for 152 yards — which included a 70-yard scoring run in the third quarter.

SHUTOUT … The shutout was the second this season for the Blue Raiders, which came in their last victory against Bangor.

LUCKY SEVEN … The seven wins by Tamaqua this season are the most since the 2019 district championship team that went 12-3.

LAST EC VICTORY … The last Eastern Conference playoff win by the Blue Raiders came in 2011 when they edged Catasauqua 33-32 in double overtime in a semifinal matchup. Tamaqua fell to North Penn in that year’s title game.

SENIOR FAREWELL … Tamaqua had 12 seniors on its roster this year.

Tamaqua 35, Pequea Valley 0

Pequea Valley 0 0 0 0 - 0

Tamaqua 7 7 14 7 - 35

T - Kane 15 run (Barron kick)

T - Kane pass from V. Schlosser (Barron kick)

T - Kane 3 run (Barron kick)

T - Whalen 70 run (Barron kick)

T - V. Schlosser 17 pass from Kane (Barron kick)