The Greatest Games I Ever Saw (Part 11 – Close but No Cigar)
Tagged under: Great PA Teams, News, The Greatest Games Ever Played in PA High School Football History
Phil Myers | June 9, 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 Centre Daily Times, the Erie Times, 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.)
Erie Cathedral Prep 27 Imhotep Charter 20 – Although this 4A state championship game did not go down to the wire, it had one of the greatest 4th quarter comebacks in PIAA Finals history. It also involved some great talent on the field from both Imhotep and Cathedral Prep. The game was played on Thursday December 8, 2016 at Hersheypark Stadium. The Panthers pretty much dominated the first half but only led 14-9 at the half and that was thanks to Isheem Young’s 54-yard dash with 2 minutes left on a fourth and inches. That dominance continued into the third quarter as Imhotep increased their lead to 20-9 on Nasir Boykin’s second TD toss.
Juice Scruggs of Cathedral Prep (#75) chases Amir Lewis of Imhotep (#24). Photo by Erie Times.
The last stanza opened with Imhotep having the ball at Prep’s 25, facing a third and five. The next play is where the momentum swung in Prep’s favor and Imhotep never got it back. The Ramblers recovered an Imhotep fumble and promptly drove down field, settling for an Anthony Lupo 35-yard field goal which cut the deficit to 20-12. Less than two minutes later Terry Roberts baited the Panther quarterback by pretending to give the receiver some room. He quickly broke when the ball was snapped and timed the pass perfectly, picking it off in stride and returning it 34 yards for the TD. Prep tied the game with a 2-point conversion, forced Imhotep to punt, and then won the game when Joe Mischler launched a long bomb that connected with Tyler Oedekoven and covered 63 yards. The Ramblers had just scored 18 points in three minutes and fifty-one seconds against one of the better defenses in the state. And they did it in the last quarter on the biggest stage of all.
Terry Roberts ties game with pick 6. Photo by Erie Times.
Here are some of the talented players that helped make this game a great one: Cathedral Prep: Joe Mischler is at Duquesne University (QB), Juice Scruggs plays for Penn State (OL), Terry Roberts plays for University of Iowa (CB), Matt ‘Bo’ Bauer went to Notre Dame (LB), Imhotep: Isheem Young went to Iowa State (S), Omar Speights is a star at Oregon State (LB), Amin Black played at Villanova (LB/S), Nasir Boykin plays for ASA College Brooklyn (QB).
Penns Manor 20 Ligonier Valley 14 – Both teams were very good in 2010. In fact, Penns Manor went undefeated until losing to Bishop Carroll in the playoffs and this was Ligonier’s only loss until Central beat them in the playoffs. The game was played at Pat Corrigan Field in Clymer, Penns Manor’s home turf. The date was Friday September 17, 2010.
Danny Ferens of Penns Manor. Photo by the Trib-Review.
The packed house saw the home team jump out to a 13-0 first quarter lead highlighted by a Danny Ferens 60-yard TD pass to Garrett DaBella in which DaBella broke a few tackles on his way to the end zone. Nothing else happened for the balance of the first half until Ligonier Valley drove 68 yards in the last 27 seconds of the second, scoring on a 20-yard TD pass from Johnny Jones to Anthony Tutino as time expired. That made the score 13-7.
Each team scored on their initial drive of the third quarter. Penns Manor increased their margin to 20-7 on a Ferens 34-yard gallop, then the Rams came right back and made it 20-14 on Ryan Knupp’s run. After that the game turned into an old-fashioned slobberknocker until the Rams stopped the Comets on 4th down at the Ligonier 41 with under three minutes left in the game. The Rams were driving and had the ball in Penns Manor territory with 1:30 to go when Ferens hit the quarterback from behind causing a fumble that the Comets recovered to give them the triumph.
Ferens went to the Penn where he played on offense as a WR and defense as a DB. Tutino played college as a DB for Washington & Jefferson.
Manheim Central 35 Susquehanna Township 29 – For the 5,000 plus fans (by my estimation) at Hersheypark Stadium this was an extremely entertaining game with one of the wildest 4th quarters you will ever see. Of the 64 points scored in this game, 38 were scored in the last quarter. This District 3 triple A championship tilt was played on Friday night December 4, 2009. Manheim led 7-0 after one thanks to RB Joe Gruber catching a 19-yard touchdown pass. That was the first of three scores by Gruber, who rushed for 192 yards that night. Susquehanna Twp. had an apparent 4th down touchdown pass ruled no good due to the receiver’s foot being over the end line. On the strength of two field goals by Taylor Groff (one was a 45 yarder) and a Gruber TD run, the Barons increased their lead to 20-6 by half time. Township’s electrifying quarterback Ben Dupree had scored for the Indians.
Manheim’s Joe Gruber at the end of his touchdown jaunt. Photo by Patriot News.
The third quarter produced no points. The highlight being a drive by Manheim that ended with Groff missing a 34-yard field goal. That was his first miss in 11 tries that year. That miss seemed to spark Township and they responded with a touchdown by Dupree early in the fourth to cut the lead to 20-14. Gruber scored again at the six-minute mark, followed by a touchdown toss by Dupree with 2:39 left. With the score now 28-22 the Indian defense did their job, used their timeouts, and got the ball back for the offense. With under two minutes remaining and the ball around the thirty, Dakota Royer timed Dupree’s pass perfectly and raced 36 yards to seemingly ice the game for Manheim. But Dupree scored his third touchdown with a thrilling 62-yard run with a little over a minute left to again pull his team within a score at 35-29. The onsides kick which bounced high was grabbed by 6’4” Derek Hart of Manheim to seal the Indians’ fate.
Ben Dupree scores one of his touchdowns. But it was not enough as Manheim Central hangs on to win 35-29. Photo by Patriot News.
There was over 800 yards of offense in that game. Dupree accounted for 343 yards by rushing for 180 and passing for 163. Dupree went on to college at The Citadel and did very well. Groff set the career scoring record for kickers at East Stroudsburg and also was the only PSAC kicker with more than one FG of 51 yards or more (he has 4). Manheim lost to Selinsgrove in the state title game 10-7 in what was another great game!
Upper St. Clair 28 State College 20 – On December 9, 2006 at Mansion Park Stadium in Altoona over 2,000 fans witnessed a rare play at the end of the first half that was pivotal in the outcome of this game. No, this contest did not come down to the final play. It was a well-played game by two very good teams playing in one of the 6A semi-finals and rates as one of the greatest games I’ve ever seen.
With the score 14-7 Upper St. Clair, State College faced a fourth down and four at their 38. U.S.C. called a timeout with 15 seconds left before the half ended forcing State to punt. The kick went into a brutal cross wind and landed near the Panther 40-yard line where as many as 8 to 9 Little Lions surrounded the teetering ball when the clock hit 0:00. As the ball wobbled right at the forty, several State College players turned, unfastened their chin straps, and started heading to the locker room. Nobody had touched the ball yet. An official started to move towards the ball and began to raise his arm, whistle in mouth. That is when WR Taylor Everett of Upper St. Clair calmly walked between a couple of State players who hadn’t turned away yet. He suddenly picked up the ball and outraced those two players to the end zone for a 60-yard touchdown! The Panthers now had some breathing room and led 21-7.
Everett of U.S.C. (#88) outraces Ben Jameson of State College (#23) to the end zone at the end of the first half. Photo by Centre Daily Times.
On the first play of the fourth quarter, State College cut the lead to 21-14, but U.S.C. answered to go back up by 14. State College countered with a 45-yard touchdown pass from Brook Hart to Nate Stupar with 4:15 remaining, but the Panthers were able to run out the clock thanks to going 3 for 3 on third down conversions. Upper St. Clair beat Bethlehem Liberty the next week to win the 6A title. Stupar, the 1st team all-state tight end, played linebacker for Penn State and played the same position in the NFL for 7 years. Hart played quarterback at Yale. QB Pat McShane and RB Dane Conwell were offensive stars for U.S.C. but made first team all-state on defense.
Hollidaysburg 27 DuBois 20 – On October 22nd, 1999 the 6-1 DuBois Beavers travelled to Hollidaysburg to meet the 6-1 Golden Tigers. This was a game of two halves as they say. The ‘Burg forged ahead of DuBois late in the first half and led 19-0 pleasing the majority of a pretty large crowd. What probably turned out to be the difference in the game came in the last 1:13 of the second quarter when the Golden Tigers scored twice. After going ahead 13-0, Blake Bourne hit the DuBois QB causing a fumble which Dave Redline scooped up and rambled 55 yards for the TD to put his team ahead 19-0.
In the third quarter, Justin Marshall, DuBois’ all-state half back, started cooking by breaking off a magnificent 74-yard touchdown run and later followed that up with another TD run to help his Beavers close to within 19-13 at the end of the third. But Tyler Piper, Hollidaysburg’s all-state quarterback, pitched a 49-yard TD (his second of the game) in the opening minute of the fourth sending the Golden Tigers back up by two scores 27-13. After each team exchanged a couple of punts, DuBois began a drive with 3:43 left, scoring with 1:47 remaining to cut the lead to 27-20. The Beavers recovered the onsides kick and drove to the Hollidaysburg six with 30 seconds on the clock. But, the subsequent third and fourth down passes were incomplete. Herm Wertz, the DuBois coach said if DuBois had scored, he would have kicked the PAT to send the game to overtime.
Marshall rushed for 207 yards on 22 carries, while Piper passed for 183 yards with most of that coming on three long passes. Marshall went on to play college ball at Lock Haven University and later coached DuBois for a few years. Hollidaysburg offensive lineman, Dave Pisanick, was also an all-state selection in 1999.
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.
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