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Rollers survive battle with Trinity

Tagged under: District 3, Gameday Hub, News

| October 21, 2023

Someone on the sidelines was heard saying “this is like, oh, you know, a “friendly” family football game on Thanksgiving day. They all know each other, they’re family and they’re a competitive family”. That might have been an understatement. The Rollers of Steel High and Shamrocks of Trinity began the afternoon with a little chirping during warm-ups, a little more chirping when they took the field before the game and a whole lot of chirping at the end of the first half. In between, they played a shoot-out of a game. A high scoring, action packed shoot-out.

With the score 42-34 in favor of the Rollers, Trinity drove 64 yards to the Steel-High three. Facing fourth and goal at the 2, Shamrock head coach Jordan Hill elected to kick a field goal instead of going for the tie trailing by eight. They got the 3 points with 3:50 left to play, but never got a real chance get back to the end zone as Steel-High as able to run just enough time off the clock to preserve the 42-37 win.

When I say this was a battle, I meant it literally. Two punchers trading shots. Two of the best small school teams in Harrisburg duking it out for the conference title. Trinity threw the first punch by forcing a Roller punt. On their first drive it looked as though they would stall also, but a roughing the passer call gave them the ball and a new set of downs on the Roller 31. Several plays later Christian Joy crossed the goal line for a 21 yard scoring run for a 7-0 lead.

Steel-high fumbled the ball away on their next possession, then the game officials decided they wanted to get involved too. Before I go any further, we are all human and we all make mistakes. With Trinity driving and at the Steel High 19, Caleb Wray tried to throw a pass over the middle but the ball was tipped and Durrell Ceasar grabbed it out of the air and was off to the races….or so he thought. When the ball was tipped, the umpire began signaling the tip but inadvertently blew his whistle essentially killing the play. Now, technically he blew the whistle before the ball was intercepted so it should have been Trinity ball, but after a long discussion and a huge apology from the ref to Steel-High head coach Andrew Erby, the Rollers retained possession on the 20. Nine plays later Ronald Burnette carried the ball over the line to tie the score at 7.

Punch after punch. Ceasar grabbed a loose ball and rumbled 76 yards to make it 14-7 Rollers, then Wray hit Tanie Young on a beautiful pattern over the middle to tie the game at 14.

It got ugly just before the half. As Erby was scrambling toward the sideline, a Trinity player chased behind. Both players flew out of bounds and a large scrum occurred. After a 15 or so minute delay, the officiating crew got both teams settled and we went into the break tied at 14. After the break, it really did look as though things had settled down. “Often teams play with so much emotion like they did today, they made adjustments, we made adjustments and the chippy-ness in the first half slowed everyone down so I think it was adjustments that affected the second half” said coach Erby.

What was he talking about? Well, after the first two possessions of the half resulted in punts, the scoreboard lit up. Trinity scored on this beautiful catch and jaunt down the sidelines by Messiah Mickens. However, the point after failed and that may have played into the decision made at the end of the game to kick the field goal.


Unlike in previous weeks when the Rollers went airborne with Erby breaking two state records, this day belonged to the Roller ground game. Burnette took the handoff on the next play and dashed 76 yards to the 4 where Jaeion Perry punched it in.

Back and forth they went. Another Wray to Young td pass. Erby then launched a 77 yard bomb to Ceasar, Mickens a one yard run, Burnette Jr in from one yard out. Then a crucial series with the score 35-34 Rollers and under 8 minutes to play. The Steel-High defense got the first stop of the half since the opening two drives, and Kam Chisolm burst up the middle to make it a 42-34 lead.

Trinity then got the field goal in hopes of getting the ball back. “I’m a defensive minded coach” said Hill of the decision to kick with just under four minutes left. “I was hoping our defense would get the stop and give us the ball back. We made some mistakes there in the second half. Burnette, he’ll take that gap if you give it to him and he did.”

Burnette rushed for 160 yards on 24 carries, Chisolm had three for 71 yards. Erby was held to 173 yards passing and a score.

For Trinity, Wray threw for 200 yards and three tds.

Steel High faces West Perry next week while has Halifax.

Follow PA Football News on Twitter @PaFootballNews

 
 
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