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Sincere Thomas went off last night, and Truman held off a furious Cheltenham comeback for their first United X win. (gallery included) @HarrySTrumanHi1 @Sinnysowavy1234 @HennigarFundInc

Tagged under: District 1, Gameday Hub, News

| March 14, 2021

this catch between 2 defenders by Thomas was easily one of the best catches I've seen in the "2020" season. Top 2.

There’s a lot to unpack from my spring football opening weekend nightcap between Cheltenham and Truman High, so I’ll just start with the highlight of the night. Truman wide receiver Sincere Thomas. The outgoing senior absolutely torched the Panther defense last night to the tune of  4 touchdown receptions, 173 yards on 7 catches, a magnificent 2 point catch and 31 yards rushing. “I’ve been grinding by myself and working real hard on my game” said Thomas of his effort. “It felt great to just play and not worry about anything.”

Truman took a 28-7 lead into the fourth quarter and escaped with a 34-28 on a “fall like” March evening. “We made some dumb mistakes at the end. I’m not proud of some of the things that happened but I’m proud of the effort from my kids” said Truman head coach Ben Johnson. “We got us a team to be dealt with”.   Those mistakes came in the form of penalties. Many of them, but it wasn’t exclusive to the Tigers. Both teams had a rough time keeping any momentum. Mistakes also plagued the Panthers at times when it seemed they were moving the ball. “We didn’t look like a team that played their last game in Hershey” said Cheltenham head coach Ryan Nase. “We’ll fix up some of that stuff though, that’s on me.” 

As a matter of fact, you could realistically say nothing happened in the first quarter. Punt, muffed Punt, T/O on downs, punt and then eventually a missed field goal attempt by Cheltenham that came on a drive filled with penalties. Then, with 3:23 left in the half, Thomas decided it was time to start his show.  Hauling in a short pass from Terrelle Delp, Thomas scampered down the sideline for 48 yards.  The point after failed leaving the score 6-0.

It didn’t take long for Truman to get on the board again. Cheltenham quarterback Zack Gaffin launched a wounded duck that was easily picked off by Makai Jackson who returned the interception 78 yards.  Just like that the state runners up from 2019 trailed by 12 with 2:54 left in the half. The Panthers again failed to finish a drive due to penalties driving their offense backwards.  On a third and 37 from deep in their own territory, Gaffin again launched a deep ball that was picked off by Truman with 1 minute left.  “We felt the momentum and when Delp hit that first pass to “Sinny” we knew we had the momentum” said Johnson. That 12 yard pass coupled with a quick 31 yard strike had the Tigers in business just before the half ended.

Then this happened:

 

 

Delp threw a dart and Thomas split two Panther defenders, stretching over one of them to get the score with nine seconds left in the first half, giving Truman a 20-0 lead at the break.

When the second half started, it looked like we were in for a repeat of the first 18 minutes of the game as both teams turned the ball over on downs.

Then the football Gods must have decided it was time for these two teams to find another gear, and we were treated to some great offensive and defensive football as well as something this reporter has never seen in 25+ years of covering HS football as well as my 50+ years of being around it.  The Panthers finally got on the board when Martin Latimer finished off a short field drive with a 2 yard td run. The kick made it a 20-7 game with 4:31 to play in the third.

That didn’t seem to sit well with Thomas. After a nice return put Truman inside Panther territory, he hauled in a short pass then broke away for a 20 yard TD.  He then made another spectacular catch for the two pointer moving the score to 28-7…then it was Armageddon, or in football terms, a crazy fourth quarter.

It took one play, a 73 yard td bomb from Gaffin to Amani Ezell, to get things started towards a great finish.

 

Five plays later:

What follows next is one of the most bizarre series of possessions I’ve ever seen.  Cheltenham went on an 80 yard drive culminated by a one yard td run from Gaffin.  On the previous series, things started getting chippy between the teams.  After the Gaffin td, things got WAY out of hand, resulting in three personal foul penalties going against the Tigers, who now led 34-21 with 6:40 left.  So, after marking off the penalties on the kick off, here’s what that looks like:

 

An offsides penalty moved the ball all the way back to the Truman 20. The kick was recovered by the Tigers at the five, but on the next play Delp was hit in the endzone and lost the ball . Yaseer Jenkins pounced on the loose rock and just like that the Panthers were down just one score and a 2 pointer from the comeback win, but the Truman defense came up with two big sacks to end the game.

What an incredible start to spring football in PA!!!

 

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