Homecoming Game Marks Swifts First Victory

The Nazareth Swifts defeated the Morton Indians 39-6 this past Friday and secured their first win of the season. The homecoming crowd was treated to a spectacular defensive showing with a total of 5 sacks, 5 tackles for negative yards, 2 interceptions, and a fumble recovery. Brennan Cluck had a huge defensive performance snagging 2 picks for 82 yards of return yardage including a 42-yard touchdown on his second interception of the night. He also had 2 tackles behind the line of scrimmage.

Head coach Coby Emery commented on the defensive performance with the following, “Brennan just seems to have a knack for being in the right place at the right time. I was glad to see him get in the end zone on that last pick. I was extremely proud of how physical we were tonight. Ryan Birkenfeld had some tremendous hits, as did Beau, Cutter, and Eric. ”

Things got off to a slow start as the Swifts would go 3 and out on their first 2 series. A roughing the punter penalty on Morton would give new life to the Swifts second drive though that would result in Sid Sheffy catching an 8 yard tipped pas for the first touchdown of the night.

Morton would struggle all night offensively except for 2 big plays. A long run around the right end and a fade down the left side that resulted in their only touchdown of the night was all the Indians could produce against the Swifts juggernaut defense.

The second quarter would see the Swifts score 2 more times including Austin Cluck’s first varsity touchdown. Coach Emery was asked about the younger guys and their contribution against Morton, “After watching film last week, we really felt like everyone would get a significant amount of playing time against Morton. I wanted the guys who had had limited duty the first 3 weeks of the season to get in the game tonight and have some success.” Continuing Coach Emery had this to say about Austin Cluck’s touchdown, “We called a bubble screen to both slot receivers and Sage saw that Austin’s man was loose and inside. I was glad to see he and Logan Robb hook up later in the game as well.”

Sage Black would spread the wealth around as he also found Ryan Birkenfeld in the left corner of the end zone for his third touchdown pass of the night. Black would also rush for 2 touchdowns and gain a total of 92 yards on the ground off of 20 carries. “Sage had a fantastic game on both sides of the ball. I was happy with his distribution of passes, and his tough running. A good quarterback has to be able to get out of a bad call and into a good one and he did that probably 10-15 times tonight.” replied Coach Emery.

When Coach Emery was asked how the first victory of his head-coaching career felt and his thoughts so far on the season, he replied, “Tonight’s win for me personally was a relief more than anything. Winning cures lots of ills. As far as the season goes I think we are continuing to improve, and we’ll be ok.

The Swifts will travel to Lockney this next week on the 25th for a 7:30 kickoff. Please travel and support these young men as they look to stay on the winning track!