The Greatest Games Protime Ever Saw (Part I)
Tagged under: News, The Greatest Games Ever Played in PA High School Football History
Phil Myers | March 31, 2023
Brought to you by Two Birches Winery
(Note: This is a multi-part series of weekly articles that will appear every Friday through June regarding all of the greatest games I’ve seen in PA from the 1970s through 2022. I was just a young whipper-snapper in the 60s, joined the Marines in the 70s, and didn’t get to witness many games in the 80s. From the 90s on, I have traversed the state looking for intriguing games and teams I have never seen before. All of these game recaps are from my memory, my notes, and some research which included newspaper articles from the DuBois Courier-Express, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, the Patriot News, and the Times-Tribune. 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.)
Butler 7 DuBois 0 – This classic was played at Butler’s home field before a very large crowd on September 22, 1978. It was said that many who witnessed this game considered it to be one of the best games they had seen in years. Both teams came into the game with identical 3-0 records. The Golden Tornado were the defending WPIAL co-champions. Both teams battled hard trying to get that all-important field position that might be the difference. Ironically, it was a long drive that produced the winning score.
The DuBois defense forced 6 turnovers in this game, but Butler’s defense, led by first-team all-state linebacker Rodger Puz, stopped the Beavers’ offense time and time again. Puz went on to Penn State and was a member of the 1982 National Championship team. Early in the 4th quarter Butler scored when Tim Fry ran 16 yards to pay dirt to cap an improbable 91-yard drive considering how the defenses were playing up to this point. Late in the game DuBois drove to Butler’s 27, but a 4th down pass fell incomplete. The Beavers then recovered a fumble at the Golden Tornado 31 with time running out. They had time for two plays. Both passes were broken up by Butler to secure the very hard-earned win.
Rodger Puz is #52 in dark uniform. Mark Davidson of DuBois on ground in white. Courier-Express photo.
OL Pat Dailey and WR Jeff Hortert of Butler made the 1979 all-state team, as did DL Ron Bojalad and LB Mark Andrekovich of DuBois. Bojalad started on the offensive line at the University of Kentucky. So, the field that night was loaded with talent including the Beavers’ Ed Moore who went to Pitt and then transferred to Georgia and played on the same team as Herschel Walker.
Erie Cathedral Prep 27 Woodland Hills 23 – “I don’t know if you could see a more exciting high school football game than this,” said Cathedral Prep coach Mike Mischler. These two unbeaten teams duked it out for 48 minutes at Hempfield High School on Friday December 3, 1999. The game was about as even as you can get as Prep outgained Woody High 275 yards to 274. The difference was that the Ramblers made the big plays including four passes of 40 or more yards against a Wolverine secondary that boasted three D-1 prospects.
Ed Hinkel returned a punt 47 yards in the opening quarter to give the Ramblers the early lead. The only other score in the first was a Woodland Hills field goal. In the second quarter, the Wolverines scored with 49 seconds left in the half to cut Prep’s lead to 14-9. Erie had scored earlier in the second to go up 14-3. In the third quarter, Rambler quarterback, Eric Carlson, rushed for a short touchdown to give Prep a 20-9 cushion, but Woody came right back to make it 20-15 heading into the fourth.
The fourth quarter was a battle with neither team giving an inch on defense and both offenses hitting the other with their best shots. Finally, with 4:21 left Woodland Hills put together a drive and scored to take the lead, 23-20. On the ensuing drive, Prep failed to move the ball the first two downs, so Mischler called an inside screen pass on a third and nine. It worked to perfection, gaining 41 yards to Woody High’s 23. Then on another third down play Carlson connected with Hinkel for 17 yards and the go ahead score with 1:35 remaining. After the kickoff, the Wolverines completed a pass plus a penalty put the ball at the Rambler 33. Three plays later, the fourth down pass into the end zone was close to being caught by a diving receiver, but was ruled incomplete. And that was the game. Cathedral Prep lost the next week to C.B. West in a classic 14-13 for the 4A title.
Ed Hinkel of Cathedral Prep in white. Jason Russell of Woody High is trying to tackle him. Photo by Post-Gazette.
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). Some of Woodland Hills stars that went on to play in college: Shawntae Spencer – Pitt (CB) and NFL 9 years, 8 with the 49ers (CB), Maurice Walker – Lock Haven (RB), Rafael Smith – Lock Haven (WR), Jason Russell – Cincnnati (DB).
Abington Heights 16 Hazleton 13 – It was a nice, warm Saturday afternoon at Abington Heights Comet Stadium (‘The Pit’) in Clarks Summit. Saturday September the 1st, 2007 to be exact. There was not a lot of offense in this old-fashioned slobber-knocker. But there was plenty of hard-hitting defense and a total of dozen sacks or so of the quarterbacks.
Drew Orth booted his first of two 28-yard field goals in the first quarter for Hazleton. Later the Cougars scored a touchdown to up the margin to 10-0 by halftime. Hazleton’s defense held the homestanding Comets to a total of 29 yards for the opening half of play. The teams exchanged field goals in the third quarter. Trailing 13-3, Abington Heights finally put together some first downs and drove 80 yards in 15 plays to cut the Cougar lead to 13-10 with 6 minutes left. Less than two minutes later LB Scott Obelinas blindsided the Hazleton quarterback, on a third down play, causing a fumble which lineman John Kilpatrick scooped up and rambled five yards to pay dirt. In doing so, Abington had its first lead of the day. A couple minutes later Kilpatrick sacked the Hazleton QB on fourth down near midfield to preserve the win for Abington.
Nate Eachus of Abington played fullback for Colgate and a season in the NFL with the Chiefs. Orth was the placekicker for Bucknell in college. Kilpatrick played some for West Chester in college.
Pittsburgh Central Catholic 35 Gateway 34 (O.T.) – In a contest that probably was not only the best, but also had the most dramatic finish in the history of WPIAL championships, P.C.C. edged Gateway in overtime. The game was played at Heinz Field on Friday November 23rd, 2007. With many talented players on both sides the game was tied at 7 by halftime. Cam Sadler had scored in the first quarter for Gateway, and Central Catholic scored with 41 seconds left in the half on a Tino Sunseri pass to Quentin Williams. The Vikings of took the lead 14-7 after three when Andrew Taglianetti scored. Sunseri scored in the fourth to give the Vikings a 21-7 lead but the Gators came right back to make it 21-13 thanks to a TD run by Sadler with 7:25 left. Then the fireworks began.
Gateway drove deep into P.C.C. territory with only a minute and change left when Emmanuel Matthews stepped in front of a pass intended for Sadler and raced 85 yards to put the Vikings on top 28-13. With 1:02 left the game was over as Gateway just ran a play into the line as I recall. Or was it? On the next play they threw a bomb to the Viking 8. They followed that up by scoring with 31 seconds left. The subsequent onsides kick was recovered by the Gators who drove to the Central Catholic 29 with 9 seconds left. With 3 receivers to the left and one to the right, QB Rob Kalkstein hit the one on the right over the middle and as he was being tackled, he lateraled to Sadler coming from the left. When Sadler crossed the goal line there was one second left. The 2-point conversion was good and the game went into overtime. Gateway outgained P.C.C. by almost 100 yards. Sadler had 131 yards rushing, scoring 3 TDs and Kalkstein threw for 194 yards.
In overtime Gateway scored on fourth down but missed the extra point. Central Catholic had the ball at the one and scored on fourth down themselves to tie the game. They won it by kicking the PAT and then celebrated as Gateway fell to the ground in despair. Central Catholic went on to win the state Class 4A championship. Sadler played college ball at Pitt as a wide receiver, Kalkstein quarterbacked at Carnegie Mellon, Shayne Hale of Gateway played at Pitt as a defensive end, Dorian Bell of Gateway played LB at Duquesne, Taglianetti also played for Pitt as a safety, Quentin Williams played defensive end for Northwestern, and Dan Vaughan of P.C.C. played linebacker for the Orange of Syracuse.
Penn-Trafford 17 Imhotep 14 (O.T.) – Perhaps the greatest Class 5A title game ever played and one of the greatest games in PIAA championship history occurred Friday night December 10, 2021 at Hersheypark Stadium when the Penn-Trafford Warriors edged the Imhotep Charter Panthers 17-14 in overtime. It was a real slobber-knocker from start to finish as the two 5A powerhouses went toe to toe and slugged it out down to the last play in overtime when the Warriors sacked the Imhotep quarterback. “That’s a moment I’ll never forget. Without a doubt it’s the greatest football game I ever played in,” said one of the stars of the game, Cade Yacamelli. The game featured lots of defense, but there was just enough offense to allow each team to score a pair of touchdowns. Both offenses scored in the second and fourth quarters, but it was Penn-Trafford’s scores at the end of each half that caused a lot of nail-biting among their fans of about 2,000 strong.
Yacamelli #5 with the ball and Keon Wylie #1 is trying to make the tackle.
After Tep’s Rahmir Stewart scored the first touchdown of the game with 3:29 left in the second quarter to put his Panthers up 6-0, the Warriors embarked on a 65-yard, 8-play drive that ended when Yacamelli cashed in from two yards out with only four ticks left on the clock. Nathan Schlessinger’s PAT gave Penn-Trafford the lead, 7-6, going into the break. The highlight of the drive was Yacamelli’s 36-yard jaunt on a 3rd and six from the Imhotep 38. In the fourth, Stewart scored touchdown number two and the successive 2-point conversion to push Imhotep into the lead 14-7 with 7:29 on the clock. Each team went three and out on their next possession to set up ‘The Drive’ by Penn-Trafford. The Warriors began their game-tying drive at their own 44. The biggest play during that drive was a fourth down pass interference penalty on Imhotep that gave the Warriors a first down at the Tep 13. One play after getting a first down on the three, Conlan Greene came in at QB. He received the snap, ran toward the line, and hit a wide-open Jack Jollie with the jump pass for the score with only 34 seconds left. Schlessinger’s PAT sent the game into overtime.
Schlessinger connected on a 24-yard field goal to give the Warriors the 17-14 advantage. Imhotep started out with a 5-yard penalty and then Stewart gained those five yards back. A bad snap that cost the Panthers 16 yards before an incompletion set up the game winning sack. Yacamelli committed to play at Wisconsin. Schlessinger is playing soccer for Franklin & Marshall. Imhotep’s Keon Wylie (LB-Penn St.), Enai White (DL-Texas A&M), and Emir Stinette (OL-Rutgers) all play at the next level.
The thought crosses my mind every time the players walk off the football field and I see the winning players elated and the losers dejected, that the 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. 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 participated, but also the fans and media in attendance.
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