The Greatest Games I Ever Saw (Part 12 – A Day at the Office)

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

Phil Myers | June 16, 2023

https://www.twobirchwinery.com/

(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 Courier-Express, 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.)

Bald Eagle Area 36 Clearfield 28 – On October 11, 2019, the Bald Eagles avenged the prior year’s embarrassing loss to the Bison by scoring the last three touchdowns to wipe out a 28-15 deficit and win 36-28.  The defense, which could not stop Clearfield’s offense in the first half, shut the Bison out in the second forcing a turnover and stopping two fourth down tries deep in Bald Eagle territory.  On the other hand, Clearfield did everything but win the game.  They outgained BEA, they ran twice as many plays, and time of possession wasn’t even close.  The Bison had the ball for over 34 minutes, while the Bald Eagles could only manage less than 14 minutes.  In fact, Clearfield moved the ball so well and converted key fourth down situations throughout the game that they never once punted.

The two quarterbacks put on quite a show for the near capacity crowd at the Bison Sports Complex as they accounted for 7 of the 9 touchdowns and 461 yards of offense.  Oliver Billotte, the Bison sophomore signal-caller, scored on two quarterback sneaks and hurled a 30-yard TD pass.  He threw for 200 yards connecting on 20 of 31 tosses.  BEA’s Jaden Jones did a little better by throwing for 3 TDs and running for another.  He passed for 196 yards, completing twelve tosses and ran for an additional 69.  Clearfield netted the first two scores on an Oliver Billotte QB sneak and his perfectly thrown 30-yard TD pass on 4th down to Matt Pallo.  Jones responded with a minute left in the opening quarter with an 18-yard 4th down touchdown pass to Matthew Reese to cut the deficit in half 14-7.

Jaden Jones (#12 in white) finds a path, while Hayden Kovalick (#12 in black) starts to give chase.

The second quarter was wild with each team scoring twice.  Both of the Bison scores upped their advantage by two scores but Jones and company answered both times to cut the halftime shortfall to 28-22.    With only 2:22 left, the BEA senior signal-caller expertly engineered the visitors 67 yards in eight plays with no time outs.  His throw from Clearfield’s seventeen to Reese for the touchdown, not only put his team within striking distance, but gave Bald Eagle momentum that seemed to spark them and carry into the last two quarters.  Jones put Bald Eagle in front in the third with a short run and Thomas Snyder added to the lead with a 47-yard jaunt in the 4th.  Meanwhile, Clearfield had a pass intercepted at the BEA one in the third quarter and late in the game stalled out on the Bald Eagle 14 when the BEA defense broke up a pass on 4th down.

Kaden Bittinger (white #11) of BEA catches pass from Jaden Jones. Gage McClenahan (white #22) watches as Karson Kline (black #2) of Clearfield gives chase.

Oliver Billotte, who was very big for a high school quarterback at about 6’4″ weighing 240 pounds, played 8 games as a freshman last year for Kent State on the defensive line, making 11 tackles.

Gateway 31 Manheim Central 28 – The game did not start out very well for the Gateway Gators as they fell behind 14-0 in the first seven minutes when Manheim’s Jake Novak caught a 3-yard touchdown pass from Evan Simon at the 7:04 mark, and then Garret Fittery hauled in a 35-yard scoring pass from Simon two minutes later.  But then a funny thing happened in this 5A state semi-final game held Friday night December 1, 2017 at Mansion Park in Altoona.  The Gators got their moxey on and with Brady Walker pitching the pigskin to Courtney Jackson, Gateway mounted their comeback.

Walker, who was 36 out of 54 passing for 467 yards and 3 touchdowns, got the Gators on the board with 2:41 left in the opening quarter when he hit Jackson for a 3-yard score.  Jackson wound up grabbing 15 passes totaling 264 yards and three touchdowns for his night of work.  Walker tied the game at 14 when he rambled in from a yard away with only nine seconds remaining in the half.  The tying score capped off a twelve play, 72-yard drive in the last three minutes.  Manheim regained the lead after another Simon to Fittery touchdown toss, this time for 21 yards, half way through quarter three.  The Gators tied the game on Brady’s 61-yard touchdown pass to Jackson with 1:12 left in the third stanza.

Gateway’s Brady Walker (in black) looks for a receiver as Manheim’s Gene Fittery (in white) applies pressure. Photo by the Trib-Review.

The Gators took their first lead at 28-21 early in the last quarter on a 66-yard bomb off of a hitch and go where the Manheim back bit on the fake.  “We set ‘em up,” stated Jackson.  With just under four minutes left in the game Manheim’s Will Rivers intercepted a Walker pass and returned it 50 yards to the Gateway 33-yard line.  Simon ran for 14 yards on the first play and then big Colin Erb rumbled 19 yards to tie the game at 28 with 3:39 still on the clock.  Gateway proceeded to traverse 74 yards in eleven plays to the Baron six-yard line where Jayson Jenkins, the diminutive 5’2” 105 lb. freshman, booted his first field goal of the year, a 23 yarder, with ten ticks left on the clock to give Gateway the 31-28 lead.  The game was not quite over though.  After the kickoff, Simon hit Novak over the middle for sixteen yards.  Novak lateraled the ball to Tyler Simon going the other way.  Tyler then outraced all Gator defenders except Brendon Majocha who got a hand on him to trip him up on the Gateway 23 as time expired.

The game produced 860 yards with Gateway garnering 541 of those.  Simon threw for 178 yards and three scores.  Gateway lost to Archbishop Wood in the state 5A title game.  Walker quarterbacked at St. Vincent College and threw for over 6,000 yards and 58 TDs in his career.  Jackson played wide receiver and returned kicks at Syracuse.  Evan Simon is currently quarterbacking at Rutgers.  Novak is a wide receiver at Kutztown.

South Fayette 34 Aliquippa 28 – On November 23^rd, 2013 at Heinz Field, the AA WPIAL Championship featured some fine football players and continuous action.  The Quips held a thirteen-minute time of possession advantage and outgained the Lions 391 to 369, but South Fayette made a couple more plays to come away with the ‘W’.  Aliquippa opened the scoring on a Terry Swanson run.  Swanson also caught a pass on the 2-point conversion.  South Fayette wasted little time as Brett Brumbaugh fired a 68-yard touchdown pass to Justin Watson.  Aliquippa upped their lead to 16-7 on Swanson’s 48-yard run, but the Lions countered again by recovering a Quip fumble in the end zone.  The score after one quarter was 16-14 Aliquippa.  After the teams scored 30 points in the first quarter, a field goal by the Lions’ Brian Coyne was the only score in quarter two.  South Fayette led 17-16 at halftime.

Coyne connected on another FG in the third to increase the lead to 20-16.  Then the Quips tallied six points via a Darrien Fields pass to Patrick Anderson.  The score after three – Aliquippa 22 So. Fayette 20.  One minute into the fourth quarter J.J. Walker scored for the Lions to give them the lead.  As the teams battled back and forth, Aliquippa put together a drive that resulted in Swanson running 29 yards to the house that allowed the Quips to climb back on top 28-27 with 4 minutes left.  But Brumbaugh guided his Lions right down the field and hit Conner Beck with a pass.  As Beck stretched the ball over the goal line he was hit by a Quip player causing a fumble that the Quips recovered.  However, the referees ruled the ball had crossed the goal line and that resulted in a South Fayette touchdown with 2:48 remaining.  The Quips got the ball back twice but the Lions picked off Fields both times to quell the Aliquippa threats.

Connor Beck (#26) celebrates with teammate Spencer Girman after scoring the winning touchdown. Aliquippa’s Dravon Henry (#6) and Patrick Anderson (#9) walk dejectedly off the field. Photo by the Trib-Review.

South Fayette won the state title that year beating Imhotep.  Watson became the top receiver in the history of the University of Penn football.  He has been in the NFL for 5 years now, 4 with Tampa Bay and last year with Kansas City.  He has two super bowl rings to date.  Brumbaugh, who holds the state record for career passing yardage with 11,084, passed for 315 yards in this game.  He played his college football at Duquesne.  South Fayette’s Hunter Hayes played linebacker at Penn.  Henry played safety at West Virginia.  Fields went to Marietta College and excelled at quarterback.  He holds the record for career yardage and touchdown tosses.  He also was their punter.  Swanson went to Toledo and played running back for the Rockets.

Sharon 14 Karns City 6 – On Saturday afternoon November 18, 2000 at Brookville High School the Sharon Tigers eliminated the Karns City Gremlins in a PIAA first round AA playoff contest.  Sharon’s Marlin Jackson (WR/DB) played cornerback at Michigan where he was an All-American.  He played in the NFL, starting for the Colts and winning a Super Bowl.  Terrance Phillips (WR/DE) of Sharon played wide receiver at Penn St.  QB Mike Schneider of Sharon quarterbacked Duke for 3 years, then transferred to Youngstown State.  One of Sharon’s lineman, Kevin Harris, made the Pitt Panther football team.  Karns City just had some really tough players and were tenacious, which made this a great game.

Karns City’s Jim Belles, who rushed for 127 yards, set up the game’s first touchdown by rambling 56 yards to the Tiger one where QB Erik Fuhrer snuck it in to give the upstart Gremlins the lead which held up through the opening quarter.  Sharon bounced back to take the lead in the second, scoring twice.  The first TD was on a trick play.  Schneider pitched the ball to Carmone Parchman, who in turn fired a 39-yard touchdown pass to Marlin Jackson.  Parchman accounted for over 100 yards rushing in the game.  The Tigers added to their lead later in the half when Schneider hit Phillips with a five-yard TD toss to cap an 80-yard drive.

Sharon was able to move the ball, but penalties and a bend but don’t break Gremlin defense kept them from scoring again.  Trailing 14-6 entering the 4^th quarter, the Gremlins drove to Sharon’s 15, but turned the ball over by fumbling away the huge opportunity just as they seemed to have the momentum.  On the next series they made it inside the Tiger 30, but turned it over on downs.  I believe they had the ball twice more but couldn’t penetrate the stalwart Tiger ‘D’ that gave up less than 200 yards on the afternoon.  The Gremlins gave it all they had and two times in the fourth quarter came within a play of possibly tying the game.

DuBois 12 Reynolds 12 – On September 8, 1989 the Reynolds Raiders, led by running back/linebacker Mike Gentile, invaded Mansell Stadium in DuBois.  Gentile staked the Raiders to a 10-0 lead by halftime thanks to a TD run.  He also kicked the subsequent PAT and a 27-yard FG.  The field goal came after his team blocked a DuBois punt.  Gentile was named as first team linebacker in the big school division and played that position at Edinboro University in college.  As I recall he had some hard hits tackling DuBois ball carriers.  In fact, the local sports writer said one of the hardest hits seen in years at Mansell occurred when one of Reynolds return men got levelled and had to be taken to the hospital.

Beaver QB Jason Clark (#15 in black) hands ball off to Mike Leshok (#40 in black) as Eric Winslow (#55) of Reynolds closes in for the tackle. Photo by the Courier-Express.

DuBois rebounded in the second half by taking the kickoff and driving 80 yards to score and make it 10-6.  They missed the extra point, but a roughing the kicker penalty gave them another shot.  This time they failed on the 2-point conversion attempt.  DuBois gave up a safety later to allow Reynolds to increase their lead to 12-6.  Twice in the second half Reynolds drove into DuBois territory only to turn the ball over, the second time resulted in the Beavers tying the game.  After recovering a fumble at their 34, DuBois connected on a third down pass that went 60 yards for the tally with only 3:08 to play.  The crucial PAT was missed again that more than likely would have given the Beavers the win.  Gentile ended up with 111 yards rushing on 27 totes.

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