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The Greatest Games I Ever Saw (Part 10 – Crazy 4th Quarters)

Tagged under: News, The Greatest Games Ever Played in PA High School Football History

| June 2, 2023


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(Note: This is a multi-part series of weekly articles that will appear every Friday through June regarding all of Pennsylvania’s greatest games I’ve seen from the 1970s through 2022.  All of these game recaps are from my memory, my notes, and some research which included newspaper articles from the Erie Times, Indiana Gazette, Post-Gazette, the Trib-Review, and the Patriot News.  Since I am a staff of one, time did not permit me to look up every player I witnessed to see where they went to college and if they played in the NFL.  So, obviously I may have missed a few and for that I apologize.  There are also some great games I saw that may have eluded my memory and notes over the years which I regret.)

Wyoming Area 21 Central Valley 14 – On Saturday afternoon, December 7, 2019 one of the biggest momentum shifts and comebacks in the history of the PIAA football championships occurred when Wyoming scored on three consecutive drives in the 4th quarter to overcome being shut out and a two-touchdown deficit to win their first ever state football title.  If you were a Wyoming player or fan the first 3 quarters were a nightmare offensively as they could only muster a pitiful 79 yards.  If you were a Central Valley player or fan the 4th quarter was an even worse nightmare, one that probably kept players and fans awake for weeks on end.

After a scoreless first quarter, Central’s Jaylen Guy busted into the end zone with 1:25 left in the second quarter for the only first half TD.  Guy ended the game with 166 yards rushing on 30 totes.  In the third CV got their second touchdown from Stephon Hall to go up 14-0.  Enter the fourth quarter and a forever legend in Wyoming football history, quarterback Dom DeLuca.  DeLuca was bloodied, banged up, and then was hobbled in the third when he took a helmet to the leg.  But he stepped up when his team needed him the most.

At the beginning of the fourth he fired an 80-yard touchdown pass to the wrong guy.  Riley Rusyn stepped in front of a pass meant for someone else and raced in for Wyoming’s first points.  That was an omen of things to come.  After Wyoming’s defense stopped Central Valley near midfield on a 4th and two, DeLuca threw his second TD pass a few minutes later to tie the game at 14 with four minutes left.  The Wyoming ‘D’ then forced Central to punt.  DeLuca proceeded to complete a 39-yard pass to the CV one before he ran it in for the winning score with 41 seconds remaining.  DeLuca ended the game with over 200 yards passing.  The vast majority of that was in the 4th quarter.

Dom DeLuca #9 scores winning touchdown for Wyoming Area. #52 is Nasir Condry. Photo by the Trib-Review.

Central Valley’s Sean Fitzsimmons and Stephon Hall are playing at the next level for the Pitt Panthers.  DeLuca is a linebacker at Penn State where he played in 13 games this past year and blocked a punt.

DuBois 27 Brockway 26 – On September 2, 2022 before one of the biggest crowds in recent memory at DuBois’ Mansell Stadium, the DuBois Beavers beat the Brockway Rovers 27-26 when they stopped the visitors one yard shy of winning the game as time expired.  The game was also one of the best regular season games Mansell Stadium has seen for quite a while as the lead exchanged hands six times in the second half and came down to the final play.

DuBois came out swinging and Brockway struggled for the better part of the first half to get anything going.  DuBois scored in each of the first two quarters to take a 12-0 lead.  They threatened three other times by getting into Rover territory, but came up empty.  Then Brockway changed the complexion of the game by scoring with under a minute left in the half to go into the locker room only down 12-7.

DuBois in dark uniforms with ball. Brockway in white.

The second half saw only one punt as the two rivals traded blows with each scoring and retaking the lead on almost every possession.  DuBois scored the final go-ahead touchdown with 5 minutes left.   After Brockway returned the kickoff to the their 32, a pass for 22 yards put the Rovers in business in DuBois territory.  A couple more pass completions, a penalty, and QB Brayden Fox’s 6-yard run to the five set up the dramatic ending.  Brockway had used 10 plays and all the clock to reach the DuBois 5 with only a few ticks left.  Due to an injury to their kicker during the game, Brockway had to go for the touchdown to win and not what would appear to be a simple 22-yard field goal.  Fox found Alex Carlson on a slant but the DuBois defender hit and tackled Carlson just before he reached the goal line.  The DuBois fans and players erupted in jubilation while the Brockway faithful and players were stunned. “Our guys threw haymakers back and forth with them.  To get stopped at the one is heartbreaking,” commented Jake Heigel Brockway’s head coach.

Wilson Area 29 Jeannette 28 – On Saturday December 16, 2006 before 5,400 fans at Hersheypark Stadium, Wilson mounted a fourth quarter comeback in the PIAA Class AA title tilt and held Jeannette’s prolific offense scoreless to come away with the victory.  Falling behind 20-7 in the second after Jeannette had just scored with 1:41 left, the Wilson Warriors scored a touchdown and a field goal in the last 67 seconds to go into the intermission only trailing 20-16.  Wilson turned the ball over 3 times in the third stanza, but the Jayhawks only scored once to take a 28-16 lead into the last quarter.  The turning point may have come late in the third, when Jeannette was ready to put the game away, but fumbled at Wilson’s 15 to give new life to the Warriors.

Terrelle Pryor (Jeannette) sacks D.J. Lenehan (Wilson Area). Photo by Post-Gazette.

D.J. Lenehan threw 2 touchdown passes early in the fourth.  After the second TD pass, Wilson’s defense stopped Jeannette forcing a punt, and then the Warrior offense methodically ran out the final 4:47.  Lenehan, who threw for 229 yards and 3 touchdowns in this game, was second in the state in career passing yardage at the time.  He played quarterback at Toledo and then Seton Hill.  A guy by the name of Terrelle Pryor was Jeannette’s quarterback.  He only threw for 93 yards and a touchdown, but he rushed for 139 yards and scored two rushing TDs, including a dazzling run where he completely reversed the field and probably wound up running 60 yards or so to score an 8-yard touchdown.  The Warrior ‘D’ held Pryor to zero yards passing and minus five rushing in the second half.  That was a huge key to the Wilson win.  Pryor played college ball at Ohio St. and wound up in the NFL for a few years.

General McLane 28 Pottsville 23 – Friday December 15, 2006 at Hersheypark Stadium before over 6,500 edge of their seat fans, General McLane became the PIAA Class AAA state champions in dramatic fashion, including a real scare with only seconds left.  There was a AAA championship record at the time of 781 combined yards.  Each team had someone run for more than 170 yards.  To top it off, in this offensive game, General McLane’s defense actually rescued them a couple of times.

Late in the second quarter General McLane led 7-6 and had the ball.  QB Drew Astorino had been hurt but came back in and threw a nice long pass to the Pottsville one to extricate the Lancers from a nasty third and twenty.  Ryan Skelton scored on the next play to up McLane’s advantage to 14-6 with under two minutes left in the half.  Skelton ran for 132 yards in the game.  With less than a minute to go, Pottsville had moved into to scoring position, but Astorino made a leaping interception at the six to thwart that Crimson Tide threat.  Pottsville’s Tom McFarland scored twice in the third (59 and 24-yard runs) sandwiched around Astorino’s 71-yard TD jaunt.  At the end of three, Pottsville had the lead 21-20.

McLane’s Drew Astorino (#5 in white with ball) is tackled by Pottsville’s Corey Buletza #3. Photo by Patriot News.

With 9:28 to play McLane’s defense again rose up.  They stopped the Crimson Tide’s 4th down run about a yard short of a first down at Lancer 13.  From there Astorino took over, rushing for 45 yards one play and a little later scoring from 20 yards out.  Making the 2-point conversion, General McLane led 28-21 with 4:55 left.  Pottsville drove to the McLane 15 thanks to a 54-yard pass, but came up a few chain links short on a 4th and three play.  McLane couldn’t quite run out the clock so Astorino ran out of the end zone on 4th down to give Pottsville a safety with 5 seconds left.  The subsequent free kick erroneously bounced off of a Pottsville front line player but was luckily recovered by McLane.  Had Pottsville recovered they would have had one more play to win the game with the ball inside the McLane 30.

Astorino ran for 172 yards scoring twice.  He went on to play safety for Penn State.  In fact, Astorino did something I’m not sure anyone else ever has.  He scored the winning TD in the state championship football game and had the winning basket in the state championship basketball game in the same year!  McFarland ran for 171 yards and he scored twice for the Tide.  He went on to play linebacker for Bloomsburg.  Pottsville had two huge linemen in Brad Hallick (Stanford) and Gary Bardzak (UConn).  The Crimson Tide had almost 80 players on the sidelines compared to McLane’s 33.

Central Bucks West 14  Cathedral Prep 13 – It was an extremely windy Saturday evening on December 11, 1999 at Hersheypark Stadium.  Both of these Class 4A teams were undefeated and loaded with star power.  CBW entered the state title game with a 44-game winning streak on the line.  “Oooh, somebody pinch me.  There have been some incredible ones over the years.  But this one’s getting more incredible the more I think about it,” said legendary C.B. West coach, Mike Pettine whose record at this point in 33 years of coaching was 326-42-14.  The wind hurt both teams’ passing game, especially Prep’s.  But it must be said that both defenses played fantastically in this very physical contest.  Prep gained a total of 176 yards on 50 plays, and C.B. West had 223 yards on 67 plays.

After both teams fumbled to start the game, Ryan Blomgren gave the Bucks the lead in the first with a one-yard run.  The Prep Ramblers answered when Ed Hinkel wrestled the ball from a defender in the end zone to score on a 23-yard pass from Eric Carlson with 1:16 left in the opening quarter.  The score remained tied at 7 the rest of the half even though Central Bucks constantly had the ball in Rambler territory.  Prep took the lead in the third on their first possession when Demond ‘Bob’ Sanders scored on a 17-yard run.  That made the score 13-7 as the PAT was no good.  In the fourth quarter, West drove to the Cathedral Prep 6, but Prep’s defense stiffened and the QB was sacked on a 4th and goal from the 9.  With under 3 minutes left in the game, the Ramblers faced a 4th down at their own 13-yard line.  C.B. West’s Andrew Elsing broke free from the left side, blocked the punt, and quickly scooped the ball up running a yard into the end zone to tie the game at 13.  Bobby Tumelty kicked the game-clinching extra point.  The Ramblers couldn’t put a late drive together and threw an interception deep down the field.

Andrew Elsing #20 dives into the end zone with the blocked punt to win the game for C.B. West.

There were future college players all over the field in this game.  Some of Cathedral Prep’s stars that played in college: Jawan Walker – Pitt (RB), Charles Rush – Penn State (OL), Ed Hinkel – Iowa (WR), Demond ‘Bob’ Sanders – Iowa (DB) and NFL 8 years, 7 with Colts (DB), Dale Williams – Pitt (OL), Josh Lustig – William & Mary (WR).  A few of the Central Bucks West players moving on to college were: Phil DiGiacomo – Villanova (RB), Mike Orihel – Rowan University (QB and threw 40 TD passes in 2004), Dustin Picciotti – Pitt, then Rhode Island (RB, but concussions shortened his time), Dave Camburn – Delaware University (DB), and Josh Sands – Shippensburg (OL).

The thought crosses my mind every time the warriors walk off the football field and I see the winning players elated and the losers dejected, that game of life can be won by everybody if we just look in the right place.  Although winning is bliss, sometimes more character can be built through losing than by winning.  Kids for the most part are resilient and life goes on.  So, win or lose, games like these are memories for sure, not only for those who played the game but also those fans and media who were in attendance.

Follow Phil Myers on Twitter @Protime_PFN

Follow PA Football News on Twitter @PaFootballNews

 
 
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