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Rollers escape York Rose Bowl Kickoff Classic with close win over Imani to begin Title defense

Tagged under: District 3, District 7, Game Photos, Gameday Hub, News

| August 27, 2023

“We knew what they were going to bring so we just had to do what we do best” said Steelton-Highspire head coach Andrew Erby. What they did was dig deep and take control late and pulled away for the 42-27 win to begin their title defense. It wasn’t until the fourth quarter that the Rollers started to look like a defending champion. “We prepared all season for this game. We trained all year to face adversity.”

It wasn’t easy for sure. First the Rollers had to endure a game that had a whopping 46 penalties, spread pretty evenly between the two. Steel High jumped out to a 21-0 lead, but it didn’t come from three touchdowns. Their first score was a safety. On the first possession of the game Steel High drove straight to the Imani three but gave up the ball on downs. Two plays later, in what would prove to be a rare occurance, the Roller defense got to Imani quarterback Steve Vandiver. That would be the last time they got close to him until midway through the fourth quarter. It took just a couple plays after the free kick for the Rollers to score again. Alex Erby ran in from the 4.  The kick missed, another trend that held for Steel High all night.

Then this happened:

The game wasn’t as easy as it seems at this point for the Rollers. They had plenty of help from mistakes by the young Saints. A bad punt snap put the Rollers in great position on the ten, then Erby called his own number again to put the Rollers up 21-0.  That’s where the momentum ended. Imani started to claw back, led by a shifty and slippery Vandiver who avoided the Steel High defense like the plague. “He’s a great athlete and we knew he was going to be tough to defend” said coach Erby. On the ensuing drive Vandiver took off for a 35 yard gain before handing the ball to David Davis for a 3 yard score. Then on their next possession the young QB connected on a quick pass, then missed on a few passes before handing the ball to a very fast David Davis who scampered 15 yards for the score. They got the two points and just like that it was a 21-14 game that silenced the Roller faithful.

The third quarter started very well for the Saints as they marched 58 yards to tie the game at 21 on a 5 yard td run by Davis. It looked like the Rollers got a 89 yard td return, but that was called back on the 36th penalty of the game. No matter though, Erby’s gang marched straight to the endzone in 5 plays, the last a 50 yard scamper by Ronald Burnette to make it 27-21 Rollers.

 

It began to look like a track meet at this point. Imani struck right back with one play, a Vandiver pass to Che’Von Allen who scampered 60 yards. The kick missed keeping the score ties at 27 with 5:59 left in the third.

 

Then the Rollers found their next gear. And the will to close out the win. Erby hit Jaeion Perry for a 19 yard score, then the Steel High defense shut down the Saints. Burnette closed out the scoring. Steel High returns to Suburban to take on the Trojans next week and Imani returns to Pittsburgh to face Brentwood.

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