Warriors Win Wild 4th Quarter Over South Williamsport

Tagged under: District 4, Gameday Hub

Ed Weaver | November 2, 2019

For three quarters the Canton Warriors and South Williamsport Mountaineers played to a scoreless tie before both teams combined for 24 points in 3:10 to start the fourth quarter with Canton coming out on top, 24-7.

All night long both defenses bent but did not break, that is until late in the third when the Warriors forced two Luke Winner fumbles. The first, recovered by Carson Stiner at the 44, sparked a dormant Warrior offense who was held in check for the majority of the night. After 4 runs by Stiner to move to the South 41, QB Uriah Bailie found Ben Knapp for a 25-yard gain to the South 16.

Canton moved down inside the South 10 but then backtracked as they were hit with a holding call and a sack back to the 25 to end the third quarter. Once the fourth started, and following a Canton timeout, the Warriors finally lit up the scoreboard as Bailie rolled out and hurled a pass down field, into double coverage, that found its way into the arms of Knapp with 11:52 remaining.

On South’s first play from scrimmage on their ensuing drive the Warrior defense again came up huge as they forced, and recovered, another Winner fumble at the 9 yard line. This time the Warriors were unable to move the ball, and on 4th down called upon Knapp again for a field goal. The 6-foot, 5-in, 230 lbs. TE came through as he booted a 27-yarder putting the Warriors up 10-0 with 10:04 left to play.

“The turnovers were huge. Defensively we didn’t give up too much, we had a couple big plays here and there, but we were holding them and to come up with those sparked our offense,” said Canton head coach Tyler Sechrist.

While the turnovers lit a fire under the Warriors, it also sparked a South Williamsport would-be rally attempt.

Starting at their own 24-yard line, the Mountaineers turned to their passing game. On 3rd-and-10 QB Landon Lorson dropped back and fired a pass to out to Grant Bachman along the Canton sideline that turned into a 76-yard touchdown that cut the lead to 10-7 exactly a minute later.

“We told them to keep their heads up and keep battling,” Sechrist said after the South touchdown. “We had the right call defensively we just made a mistake but to keep the heads up and lets stay in it.”

Coach Sechrist’s talk worked because on the ensuing kickoff Nick May fielded a dying ball at his 29-yard line, came out of a pile, and sprinted 71 yards to the house with 8:50 to go. Knapp converted the extra point to increase Canton’s lead back to 10 points, 17-7.

Both teams traded drives as South went 4-and-out on three straight passing attempts near midfield, and Canton ran 5 plays before turning the ball back over on downs at the South 33. South again turned to their passing game, and after an near interception by Joel Schoonover, Riley Parker came up with an interception a play later on a deflected pass at the 38.

From there the Warriors scored the game’s final touchdown on a 6-play drive as Bailie connected with Cooper Kitchen from 27 yards out with 2:32 remaining.

Next week the Warriors (9-2) will host a rematch of last season’s District IV Class A championship game against Muncy. Last season, #2 Muncy edged #1 Canton 9-7 in the final minutes on Canton’s home field.

“They’re tough and they are going to come in here and battle and they want to win a championship too,” Sechrist said. “We’re going to put in a great week of practice. I told the guys were are relentlessly going after this championship, we’re not going to be denied. We’re go at it all week and we’re going to be ready to go.”

Photo courtesy Brian Fees.

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