In one of the craziest weeks of football in Tamaqua history, the last thing the Blue Raiders needed Friday night was more craziness.

But in 2020, you can’t count anything out.

So despite dominating for over three quarters, 12 bad seconds put craziness back into play for Tamaqua.

The Raiders quickly restored sanity, however, and closed out a 30-14 non-league victory over Pen Argyl.

It was a week where the Raiders’ opponent changed three times and where they actually did some film breakdown on a fourth team. But in the end, all that mattered to coach Sam Bonner and Tamaqua was they got to play a game, and in the process snapped a three-game losing streak.

“What a week,” said Bonner. “In the span of a few days we went from thinking we were going to have a big league game with North Schuylkill to having non-league games against Pittston, and then finally Pen Argyl.

“In between those changes there was a time where it looked like we might not have a game at all, so on Monday we started to breakdown some film on Pine Grove who we play next week.”

The unusual week of preparation appeared to have no impact on Tamaqua as it dominated the game both statistically and on the scoreboard for 38 minutes.

Up until that point, the Raiders were leading 24-0 and had piled up advantages of 268-63 in total yardage and 16-3 in first downs.

“Definitely a crazy week,” said Tamaqua two-way star Lucas Schickram. “One thing that helped us was that the coaches had some experience from facing Pen Argyl in the past. So they had experience against their offense and that helped with what we did on defense.”

That was evident most of the game, but with the Raiders seemingly cruising to a victory, things got uncomfortable very quickly.

A 41-yard touchdown run by Gavin Amerman with 9:49 left in the game put Pen Argyl on the board. A two-point conversion, an offside kick that the Knights recovered, and a 57-yard TD pass from Amerman to Collin McKeague suddenly cut the Tamaqua lead to 23-14 with 9:37 left.

But that’s when the craziness ended.

Schickram, Nate Wickersham and the middle of the Raider defensive front stuffed a two-point conversion try that could have made it a one-score game.

Tamaqua (4-3) then recovered the ensuing onside kick and chewed up over seven minutes of the clock before Wickersham punched in the clinching touchdown on a two-yard run with just 2:29 to play.

“Getting this win was big,” said Wickersham. “We had a few setbacks here and there throughout the game, but coming back strong as a team and putting together another drive (when we needed it) was really big.”

Wickersham played a key role in helping Tamaqua build its early lead.

Alternating between quarterback and halfback throughout the game, he proved dangerous in both spots, scoring the first Raider TD on a 4-yard run from the halfback position and then accounting for another on a 15-yard halfback option pass to Steven Kostecky that made it 24-0 with 11:53 left in the game.

Wickersham eventually ended Pen Argyl’s comeback hopes when he scored on a 2-yard run from the quarterback position, capping an 11-play, 58-yard drive in the final minutes. Wickersham also set up the final TD with a 16-yard pass to Schickram that gave the Raiders a first-and-goal situation.

“It’s good to get back on the winning track,” said Bonner. “Pen Argyl is a nice football team, they’re physical and have some big kids. I thought we controlled play most of the game.

“It got a little close for comfort when Pen Argyl hit a couple of big plays on us, but stopping the two-point conversion was huge and then our offense went out and played power football on the fourth quarter drive that put the game away.”

DOUBLE THE FUN ... Kostecky had just four catches and no touchdowns through Tamaqua’s first six games, but he got a pair of TD passes last night. His first came on a 13-yard pass from Nate Gregoire before catching the 15-yard from Wickersham. The second one came in the back of the end zone on a deflected pass that Kostecky not only had to quickly adjust to but had to tip toe the back line to stay inbounds.

TURNOVERS ... Logan Hess had an interception for the Raiders while Parker Coleman recovered a fumble. The Coleman recovery came after Wickersham sacked quarterback Amerman.

SPREADING THE WEALTH ... Tamaqua had three backs get double digit carries. Wickersham had 107 yards on 14 carries, Nate Curvey had 96 yards on 18 carries, and Logan Hess had 83 yards on 13 carries.