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Pine-Richland K.O.s Cocalico 34-12 (Gallery included)

Tagged under: District 3, District 7, Gameday Hub, News, Playoffs

| December 3, 2022

Ethan Pillar had a big game!

Friday night at Mansion Park in Altoona, Pine-Richland continued to roll by winning their 11th straight game 34-12.  With this win they advance into the state championship game against Imhotep.  The Rams’ latest victim was the Cocalico Eagles, who played a tough, gritty game especially in the second half after being down 21-0.  Cocalico also missed a couple of opportunities offensively that could have made the game closer, but in the end Pine-Richland’s offense was clicking on all cylinders and couldn’t be stopped.

The Rams won the coin toss and elected to receive to start the game.  “Usually, we defer and put our defense out and hopefully let them get a stop.  But against these guys we had to get adjusted to their speed.  We saw an awesome opportunity on that second play,” commented Coach Jon LeDonne.  After gaining a yard on the first play from scrimmage, QB Ryan Palmieri dropped back to pass and saw Brad Gelly getting open as he ran past the Cocalico defender.  He lofted a nice throw to Gelly who ran the rest of the way for a 61-yard touchdown.  And just like that Pine-Richland led 7-0 before the fans got warm in their seats.

Cocalico came back and drove into Ram territory thanks to a nice screen pass from QB Josh Myer to Aaryn Longenecker for 19 yards.  But the drive fizzled out at the Pine-Richland 43 and Cocalico was forced to punt.  A short punt to the 20 gave Pine-Richland the ball.  The Rams embarked on an 11-play, 80-yard drive to go up by two scores.  The big plays on that possession were Palmieri’s 22-yard run and his 22-yard fourth down pass to Giovanni Aiello.  Three plays after that fourth down conversion, Palmieri ran 8 yards for the touchdown giving his team a 14-0 lead in the opening quarter.

The Eagles again drove into Pine-Richland real estate, this time to the Ram 17 where they failed to convert on fourth down.  Cocalico’s coach, Bryan Strohl, had this to say about going for it on fourth down and not kicking a field goal, “We knew we had to score, we could have kicked a field goal, but they ended up scoring 34 points.  We had to score when we had the opportunity.  If I had to do it over again, I’d do the same thing.”

Late in the half after another short punt, Pine-Richland began possession at the Eagle 48.  Four consecutive Palmieri runs put the ball at the Cocalico 17.  The next play saw Palmieri connecting with Andrew Mellis for a 17-yard TD with two minutes left in the half.  Cocalico then moved the ball to Pine-Richland’s 38, but time ran out and the Eagles went into halftime trailing Pine-Richland 21-0.

 

Coach LeDonne opted to try an onsides kick to begin the second half, but a nice grab by Cocalico’s Connor Sola kept the Rams from recovering a well-executed onsides kick.  Starting at their own 49, the Eagles traversed 51 yards in 14 plays to climb back into the game.  The big play on Cocalico’s drive was the fourth down and eight fake punt which Tyler Angstadt ran 15 yards from Pine-Richland’s 49 to the 34.  Ten plays later Myer ran a yard on a QB sneak for the score.  Ryan Cory the big lineman for Pine-Richland appeared to block the point after, so at the 5:30 mark of the third quarter Cocalico trailed 21-6.

Pine-Richland answered back by going 80 yards in only 5 plays to go back on top by three scores, 28-6.  Ethan Pillar ran 60 yards to the Cocalico five on the third play, and then scored on a 1-yard run two plays later.  Pillar led the Rams on the night with 102 yards rushing on 13 carries.

Cocalico showed resolve when starting at their own 13 after the kickoff.  Longenecker ran 83 yards on the first play and then scored on a 3-yard run three plays later.  Longenecker finished the night with 129 yards rushing on 11 carries.  Again, the Eagles pulled to within a pair of scores at 28-12, even though the two-point conversion failed.  “I think that second half summarized what this team is all about,” said Strohl, “They’re never going to fold, they’re never going to say die.  They’re just going to keep fighting and keep battling.  We lost to a very good football team.”


The final points of the game were scored on the Rams’ next possession.  With 11:04 left in the game, Palmieri hit Gelly perfectly in stride for a 56-yard touchdown on a third and 21.  The PAT was missed and Pine-Richland’s lead went back to three scores at 34-12.  “Gelly’s been one of our go to guys all year.  He’s part of the 4 X 100 team in track.  He’s one of the fastest kids in Pennsylvania,” stated LeDonne.  Palmieri ended up completing 9 of 10 passes for 200 yards and 3 touchdowns.  Gelly caught 4 of those passes for 143 yards and a couple of TDs.  Palmieri also ran for a touchdown and 83 yards on 14 totes.

Cocalico had trouble running the ball in the first half with their double Wing-T offense that they like to call the veer option.  The Eagles only netted 63 rushing yards in the first two quarters.  So, they used a trio of trick plays that fooled Pine-Richland, but only one worked when Longenecker took a handoff from Myer and threw a 23-yard pass to Myer.  The other two trick plays may have resulted in touchdowns as the receivers were wide open, but the passes were overthrown.  “We’re going to run the ball, and run the ball, and run the ball,” Strohl said, “last week it (trick plays) worked, tonight it didn’t.  But I’m not going to focus on that, I’m going to focus on this group of kids and how they kept battling and the memories made this season.”  Cocalico’s win streak of 7 came to an end and the Eagles finish the season at 10-5.

One of the reasons Cocalico had trouble running in the first half was Pine-Richland’s Ryan Cory, the 6’4” 290 junior tackle who wreaked havoc when the Eagles tried to run up the middle or off tackle.  Even though he was double-teamed much of the night, he still made several tackles or blew up plays.  Cocalico started running more options and end runs in the second half with better results.  Cory also plays on the O-Line and is a force there also.  “75 (Cory) is a strong, powerful kid and that’s what we expect out of him,” said LeDonne, “That’s why he’s getting all the attention he’s getting.”  Coach LeDonne added, “I thought we did a really good job containing them in the first half.  But they fought back in the second half, so hats off to them.  They are a well-coached team.”

Follow Phil Myers on Twitter: @Protime_PFN

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