In a Tremendous Nail-Biter, Keystone Slips Past Ridgway in Overtime
Tagged under: District 9, Gameday Hub, News, pfn
Phil Myers | September 12, 2026
It was a beautiful evening for high school football at Johnsonburg’s Memorial Field. The visiting Keystone Panthers battled their way to a 41-38 victory over the Ridgway/Johnsonburg Elkers in a game most fans will remember for a very long time. The game was tied on four different occasions and someone grabbed the lead eight times throughout the game. On top of that, only 21 of the 79 points were scored in the first half. The second half was a track meet that appeared to have no end.
Coach Todd Smith of Keystone had this to say about the game, “Great game between two really good football teams. We have a lot of respect for each other and I have a lot of respect for Coach Heindl. It was just a really good football game and was glad to be part of it.”
The game had a bit of everything including phenomenal performances by each team’s quarterback. The 6’1” 185 pound senior, Dom Corcetti of Keystone, accounted for an unofficial 202 yards and 5 touchdowns. Four of those TDs were from running the football.
Corcetti unleashes a pass for Joey Spence #11.
Owen Steger, Ridgway’s junior QB, stands 5’8” and weighs 150 pounds but he put up similar stats when he scored 1 rushing touchdown and threw for 3 more. Steger accounted for an unofficial 259 yards.
Each team had another player who shined also. Keystone’s senior running back, Eli Nellis, had 170 unofficial yards rushing and caught 4 passes for 40 yards. Nellis scored twice, once by running the ball into the end zone, and the other on a pass reception.
Sophomore, Jace Zimmerman of Ridgway, had 81 unofficial yards rushing with a touchdown. Plus he had 78 yards receiving with another touchdown on 4 catches.
The game started out with Keystone driving to the Ridgway 32 and having a first down, but the Panthers lost 4 yards on the next 3 plays and punted into the end zone. It took Ridgway all of 4 snaps to traverse the field and score the game’s first of 79 points. It was Zimmerman taking the handoff on a counter and finding enough daylight to outrace the Keystone defense for a 69-yard touchdown. Mario Casilio’s first of 5 extra points put Ridgway on top 7-0 halfway through the first quarter.
Late in the first quarter, Owen Steger intercepted a Dom Corcetti pass at the Ridgway 13. But Ridgway could not overcome a pair of 5-yard penalties and had to punt.
Eli Nellis brought the punt back to the Ridgway 32 giving Keystone their best field position of the night. From there it took 3 plays to tie the game. Corcetti ran for 17 yards. Then Nellis ran for three. The finisher was the Corcetti to Nellis touchdown pass that covered 12 yards. Bryce Mount kicked the point after for the Panthers.
Eli Nellis #3 receives congrats from Joey Spence #11 and Landyn Reed #9 after catching touchdown pass from Dom Corcetti.
Keystone’s defense forced a Ridgway punt again (their third of the half). This time the Panthers used almost 7 minutes and drove 83 yards to go ahead 14-7 when Corcetti ran the ball in from the three. “”If you’re going to go into a battle and you wanted somebody on your side that was never going to give in and never give up, it’s Dom. I mean, I just love him. He’s tough,” said Coach Smith.
Usually it’s the defenses who make adjustments at half time. But apparently, in this game, it was the offenses who made the adjustments. That’s because there were no punts in the second half and until each team’s last possession, both Ridgway and Keystone scored each and every time they had the football.
The Elkers run the old-fashioned single wing. But they came out throwing in the second half and were rewarded right away when they scored on a 52-yard pass from Steger to Zimmerman. And actually Zimmerman made that touchdown a highlight as he broke tackle after tackle on his way to paydirt. That tied the game at 14 and the second half track meet was on.
Owen Steger #7 hands ball off to Jace Zimmerman #9 far right.
An onside kick bounced off a Keystone front line man but was recovered by a Panther player at midfield. A 29-yard Corcetti jaunt was the big play in the drive that led to his one-yard plunge giving Keystone the 21-14 advantage.
Ridgway made it look easy driving 73 yards this time. The second 20-yard pass of the drive resulted in the game tying TD. This time Steger connected with Brandon Steger for the score. Losing coach, Mark Heindl said, “Both teams left it on the field and played hard.”
Keystone once again retook the lead on their next possession. After Corcetti gained 10 yards to give the Panthers a first down at their 34, Nellis took the ball 64 yards to the Ridgway two. A pair of Corcetti one yard runs put the ball into the end zone. However, Mount’s PAT smacked into the right upright and fell harmlessly to the ground.
The home team answered the bell again and travelled 65 yards to take the lead 28-27 within the first minute of the fourth quarter. The big play was another Steger to Steger pass play that covered 28 yards. The touchdown was on Steger’s one yarder up the gut.
The Panthers overcame a couple penalties including one on a 69-yard TD toss from Corcetti to Nellis. As the drive progressed, getting a couple first downs, Nellis scored for real this time on a 40-yard scurry. Corcetti converted the 2-point attempt with a 3-yard run, and voila, Keystone led 35-28. “I’ll tell you what,” Smith reflected, “Eli Nellis played one whale of a football game tonight.”
Ridgway quickly drove 80 yards in 5 plays. The major play of the drive was when Steger lofted a high pass downfield that was snagged by Liam Kilpeck for a 40-yard gain. Later, Steger hooked up with Hunter Dellaquila for a 28-yard TD and the game was tied at 35 with less than half a dozen minutes left to play in regulation.
Keystone returned the kickoff to their own 43 but turned the ball over on downs when Ridgway stuffed Nellis for a 2-yard loss on 4th and two at the Ridgway 49. “We went for it there because we were having trouble stopping them,” stated Coach Smith.
The Elkers smartly drove to the Panther 9-yard line with under two minutes to play. They were easily in field goal range and had time to score a touchdown. Then disaster struck. Back to back 5-yard penalties moved the ball to the nineteen. Steger picked up nine yards on two runs, setting up the game winning field goal attempt. But a somewhat high snap and the subsequent partial block by the Keystone ‘D’ sent the contest into overtime.
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Keystone blocks game winning FG attempt by Ridgway atcrnd of regulation. @PaFootballNews @KeystoneFball @SmithTodd13 pic.twitter.com/0DWiMsxFzV
— Protime the H.S. Football Prophet (@Protime_PFN) September 12, 2026
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Keystone forced Ridgway to kick a field goal in OT as the Elkers did nothing on two runs and a pass. That set up Corcetti’s game winning 5-yard run on second down and Keystone escaped with the 41-38 win.
This writer has been privileged to see some fantastic games over the years and I can add this one to that list. It was a joy to watch two evenly matched teams battle each other like real warriors.
Coach Smith said, “Our kids didn’t give up. Our kids battled. It was a physical football game. We just never gave up. I’m proud of our whole team. Up front, they did a whale of a job.”
“My hat’s off to Keystone,” said Coach Heindl, “We will learn from this and look to fix our mistakes and get ready for Kane.”
Ridgway (2-1) will travel to Kane (1-2) next week and Keystone (2-1) will host Central Clarion (1-2). Keystone has a tough go in their first 4 games, playing Brockway (who was ranked by PFN as #4 in class 1A preseason), then Karns City (HM in class 2A), followed by Ridgway (HM in 1A), and finally Central Clarion, only two years removed from playing in the 2A state championship game.
