It’s fun to run and throw behind a really good offensive line. Ask any quarterback. Ask Ryan Palmieri of the Pine-Richland Rams. That offensive line led by Ryan Cory, Jake Beam, Brady Carrigan, Jonathan Smith, and Isaiah Kearns allowed Mr. Palmieri to run for 198 yards and two touchdowns, plus zing nine completed passes in nine attempts for 127 yards and a score. That offensive performance allowed Pine-Richland to claim their third state title by handling Imhotep 28-14 in Friday night’s 5A championship game at Chapman Field on the campus of Cumberland Valley High School.
“It’s a team effort,” said Palmieri, “my offensive line moved their defensive line, a really good defensive line.” Pine-Richland never punted the ball and in their six possessions scored three touchdowns, had the ball inside Imhotep’s five-yard line twice and didn’t score, and ran out the clock at the end of the game getting as far as Tep’s 14 before the game ended. When asked when they knew they had Imhotep on the ropes, Ryan Cory the 6’4” 290 lb. junior said, “play one when we gained ten yards.”
The first half was played very quickly with Pine-Richland having three possessions and Imhotep two. On their first drive, a bad snap on fourth down at the Panther one gave Imhotep the ball at their own twelve. Eight plays later, Mikal Davis connected with Corey Downing for a 52-yard score, giving Imhotep their only lead of the game. Palmieri answered with a 4-yard run to tie the game in the second quarter. At the end of the half, normally dependable kicker, Grant Argiro, shanked a 20-yarder. And the teams went into the locker rooms tied at 7.
Winning coach Jon LeDonne said, “we challenged the kids at halftime and told our seniors they had 24 minutes left in their high school careers. I’m just excited they responded they way they did in the second half.” The game turned quickly in Pine-Richland’s favor and they never looked back. On Imhotep’s second play, Davis lofted a pass over the middle that was picked off by the star of the game, Ryan Palmieri. Yes, the young man plays defense and is the second leading tackler behind Max Heckert, who owns the all-time single season record for tackles by a Pine-Richland Ram.
Palmieri ran the interception back 40 yards for a touchdown to give the Rams a 14-7 advantage a minute into the second half. “That felt cool,” said Palmieri, “I think the receiver fell down.” Coach LeDonne had this to say, “We talked about getting a stop on defense that first series in the second half. Ryan put himself in good position and as a result made a house call.”
The Rams scored two more times in the third quarter to go on top 28-7 when Palmieri ran a yard for a score and then hit Luke Rudolph in stride with a 30-yard touchdown pass. Imhotep scored in the last quarter on a Davis one-yard plunge to close out the scoring for the night at the 7-minute mark. The Panthers never got the ball back as Palmieri dissected the defense and drove 72 yards in 10 plays to the Tep 14 before time ran out.
LeDonne had nothing but praise for Palmieri, “He’s just a special kid. First, I want to talk about him as a person. He’s one of the greatest individuals as a high school kid that I ever met. What he does for our program off the field is just significant. Who he is on the football field, what he does, teams try to key on him but they can’t stop him.” Jake Beam the 6’4” 275 lb. lineman said, “He (Palmieri) demands greatness. You give him greatness. I mean who wouldn’t want to block for him.”
Pine-Richland has now won two of the last three 5A titles, winning in 2020 with a 48-7 spanking of Cathedral Prep. This was coach LeDonne’s second championship win with his second different team. In 2018 he led Penn Hills to a 36-31 win over Manheim Central in the 5A gold medal game. Pine-Richland outgained Imhotep 375 to 262 with Palmieri accounting for 325 of those yards one way or another. Mikal Davis was 10 of 21 for 197 yards passing and a touchdown, but threw two interceptions, the one to Palmieri and one to Sam Heckert.
Pine-Richland finished the season 13-3, winning their last 12 in a row after starting the year 1-3. Palmieri came in as the quarterback after the 1-3 start and only Cathedral Prep came within eleven points of the Rams in those last 12 games. Imhotep finished their year with the silver medal and a 10-3 record. The Panthers were runners-up last year to Penn Trafford.
