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Farrell Gets Defensive – Wins Third Straight D10 AA Title

Tagged under: District 10, Gameday Hub, News, Playoffs

| November 18, 2023

Meadville – Farrell used a suffocating defense to win their third straight District 10 AA title with a 16-9 victory over Mercyhurst Prep.

Coming into Saturday’s title game, something had to give as the Lakers went into the contest averaging over 58 points a game while the Steelers, on average, gave up less than 12 per game.

“It feels great today, said Farrell head coach Anthony Pegues. “It gets tougher and more challenging each year. Mercyhurst Prep is a great team, and they can play some ball. Offensively, I was a little disappointed because I felt like we left some points on the field. But when you get to this stage, defense wins championships, and I keep saying that repeatedly.”

Ultimately, both defenses played outstanding as Farrell did just enough offensively to win their eighth District 10 title in the last nine years.

After playing through a scoreless first quarter, Farrell broke the ice late in the first half when they took over at their 22-yard line with 1:28 to play in the second quarter.

Succeeding two penalties against the Lakers for 30 yards, quarterback Kabron Smith connected with Marion Norris on a 32-yard completion to the Lakers 3-yard line with under a minute remaining in the half.

Two plays later, Smith scored on a 1-yard sneak with ten seconds to play until halftime; his subsequent 2-point pass to Danny Odem gave the Steelers an 8-0 lead at intermission.

“That was huge, said Pegues. “It was great to put up points for before halftime. At that time, I felt like we were playing okay. We did have that touchdown called back on our previous drive, but we could move the ball, and getting that score gave our guys the confidence to head into the locker room. We knew with the kind of defense we have that if we could get that one before half, we’d be fine.”

Kabron Smith completed 8-of-11 passes for 103 yards with an interception while rushing for 42 yards and a score.

Here Kabron Smith talk about the victory.

Farrell held the Lakers to only 48 offensive yards in the first half with zero pass completions.

“It started up from with our defensive line,” Pegues. “They guys up front got pressure all game long, so we didn’t have to do anything exotic. We could play our base defense all day. Defensively, we executed our game plan by staying in our base defense and putting constant pressure on Paul Johnson.”

Mercyhurst Prep had dodged a bullet during the second stanza midway point as Farrell had driven from their 20-yard line to the Lakers’ five when the Steelers had an apparent touchdown run by Juelz Johnson called back on penalty followed by Paul Johnson intercepting a Smith pass a few plays later.

Juelz Johnson came up massive on two occasions in the second half, starting with the Lakers’ initial drive of the second half when he intercepted a Johnson pass at the Steelers 7-yard line after Mercyhurst Prep had gone an 8-play drive into Farrell territory to begin the third quarter.

Farrell’s opening possession of the third quarter saw the Steelers drive the football to the Lakers 30-yard line before turning the ball over on downs.

The Steelers’ defense forced a punt, and Lakers pinned Farrell at their 2-yard line early in the fourth quarter – two plays later, Mercyhurst Prep tackled Brandon Chambers in the end zone for a safety with 10:43 remaining.

Taking over at the Steelers’ 49-yard line, the Lakers moved the ball to the Farrell 31-yard line before Juelz Johnson intercepted Paul Johnson and returned the ball to the 46-yard line.

In one play, Chambers more than made up for the safety as he raced 54 yards down the near sideline for a touchdown, extending the Steelers’ lead to 16-2.

“There’s a funny story about that,” said Pegues. “If you go back to 2007, we played them here. I wasn’t coaching but on the sideline in the stands. We were in that same situation, and I was screaming from the sideline to take the safety because we didn’t have a good punter then. Let’s kick off and play defense rather than risk shanking a punt. When the safety happened, I wasn’t that upset because I knew it was the same scenario. I was glad things turned out the way they did.”

Brandon Chambers rushed for a game-high 124 yards on 18 carries.

Here from Brandon Chambers

Mercyhurst Prep was able to answer back as they drove 51 yards in 11 plays as Paul Johnson scored on a 1-yard run – Johnson led the Lakers with 67 yards rushing on 18 carries while completing 5-of-16 passes for 44 yards with a pair of interceptions.

“I’m very proud of this team,” said Mercyhurst head coach Jeff Root. “When it came to our schedule, we didn’t get to pick it. We caught some teams that were down this year. Slippery Rock was in the district championship two years in a row, and this season was a down year for them. We did today what we did all season, and I think we earned the right to be here today. We knew how good we were, but I don’t think other people thought that. Hopefully, we showed people we’re a pretty good team after today. “We just ran into an excellent football team. Farrell is resilient, and they had just a little more at the end. Today’s turnovers hurt us, but we won’t make excuses.”

After recovering the onside kick, Farrell punted the ball back to the Lakers with 2:18 to play. Despite picking up one first down on Craig Buckner’s 15-yard gain on 4th-and-13 – Johnson’s 4th-and-30 pass from the Lakers’ 13-yard line fell incomplete as Mercyhurst Prep was denied their first District 10 title since 2007.

Farrell will now move on to the state quarterfinal playoffs, where they will meet Westinghouse for the third straight season. The Steelers beat the Bulldogs 24-7 in 2021, while Westinghouse ended Farrell’s season 34-6 in 2022.

“I believe Westinghouse is one of the best teams in the state regardless of classification,” concluded Pegues. “Donta Green does an outstanding job with that program. This is number three. We beat them down there in 2021, and they got us last year. Hopefully, we can break the tie next week.”

Mercyhurst Prep concludes an outstanding season at 10-1.

“I our seniors, those guys are family, and we are family,” concluded Root. “I told them that I hurt for them, and I cried with them. They’re great kids, and they’re going to be great husbands and fathers someday.”

Game Highlights:

 

Farrell 16 Mercyhurst Prep 9

Score by Quarters

Mercyhurst Prep – 0 0 0 9 – 9
Farrell  – 0 8 0 8 – 16

Scoring Summary

Second Quarter

F – Kabron Smith 1 yd run, (Danny Odem from Smith), 0:10 – 6-78

Fourth Quarter

MP – Safety – Brandon Chambers tackled in the end zone, 10:43

F – Chambers 54 yd run, (Odem from Smith), 9:32 – 1-54

MP – Paul Johnson 1 yd run, (Lucas Kantz pat), 4:04 – 11-51

Individual Stats

Rushing: MP – Jeremy Ganska 5-23, Paul Johnson 18-67, Ja’son Ellman 5-8,  Ramir Wallace 1-23, Clay Wojecki 1-1, Craig Buckner 2-15, Steven Grayson 1-3. Totals: 33-140. F – Juelz Johnson 5-24, Brandon Chambers 18-124, Smith 16-42, Team 2-0. Totals: 41-190.

Receiving: MP – Grayson 2-14, Buckner 1-25, Wallace 2-5. F – Odem 2-11, Chambers 1-18, Johnson 2-14, Julius Phillips 1-7, Marion Norris 1-32.

Passing: MP – Johnson 5-for-16, 44 yards, 2 INT. F – Smith 8-for-11, 103 yards, 1 INT.

Interceptions: MP – Johnson. F – Johnson (2).

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