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Defense carries Sharon over Sharpsville

Tagged under: District 10, Gameday Hub, News, pfn

| September 30, 2023

Sharpsville – Sharon limited Sharpsville to 154 yards of offense, continuing their dominant defensive season up a 26-7 win over the Blue Devils Friday night at the “The Pines” James McCraken Field.

The Tigers’ defense, which came into the contest having posted four shutouts in five games, gave up only 17 points (3.4 PPG) in a loss to Grove City – again flexed their muscles.

“I wasn’t very excited to try and figure out how to stop these guys,” said Sharon’s head coach, Jason McElhaney. “I think I had heartburn all week. Caullin is a great player who brings it every snap. I’m proud of the effort my guys gave to contain him.”

The Blue Devils came into the game averaging a staggering 49.2 points per game with 452 yards of offense.

“We’re starting to get more guys involved on defense upfront, which helps us stay fresh,” McElhaney said. “We’ll do whatever it takes to put wins up, whether 2-0 or 26-7 I do not care. I’m super proud of our guys as long as we find a way to win.”

Signal caller Caullin Summers had passed for 1,471 yards and 19 touchdowns while rushing for 503 yards and six scores in the previous five contests. He was limited to 8-of-14 passing for 96 yards with an interception and was held to 43 yards rushing on 22 attempts.

Sharon’s ground attack wasn’t too shabby, rushing for 305 yards.

The Tigers took the football and the lead on their opening possession, driving 73 yards in six plays as Cortez Nixon scored on a 6-yard run, capping the drive with 8:57 to play in the opening quarter.

 

Sharpsville drove to the Sharon 6-yard line on their opening drive but turned the ball over on downs nine plays later.

“We knew they were way more physical than us on offense and defense,” said Sharpsville head coach Paul Piccirilli. “They set the tempo right away by running it down our throats. We knew the only way to stay in this game was to score with them. We had an opportunity on our first drive that stalled at their 6-yard line, so it became difficult when we got down by two scores.”

On the ensuing drive, the Tigers marched 94 yards in 13 plays as Nixon scored his second touchdown of the night on a 7-yard run.

“The last thing you want as a coach is to die a slow, painful death with them just running the ball down your throat,” Piccirilli said. “Ball control played a huge factor. That’s what they’re best at; we’re better against a finesse team. Against a powerful team, we struggled, and everyone knows that, but we still had several good things come out of tonight’s game. We’re still 5-1 and moving forward.”

Cortez Nixon rushed for 92 yards on 13 carries with a pair of scores.

The Blue Devils did answer, driving 65 yards in nine plays when Summers scored on a 1-yard sneak on fourth-and-goal with 3:08 to play in the first half.

 

For the only time all night, Sharon used its passing game to beat the clock in the first half, driving 56 yards and scoring with 35 seconds remaining when Mister Ham connected with Lamont Austin for a 15-yard touchdown.

 

“That drive was huge,” said McElhaney. “I thought about taking a timeout because they were eating up a lot of clock. But we got a decent kickoff return, allowing us to stay in the offense we wanted to use. Lamont made a great catch on the screen, and we had two linemen get downfield to make blocks. It was beautiful to be able to score on that play.”

Ham also completed a 25-yard pass to Bishop Root on the drive – it would be the only two passes Sharon would complete all game as the rushing attack led by their dominant offensive line controlled the game.

Mister Ham led the Tigers, rushing for a game-high 117 yards on 15 carries while completing 2-of-3 passes for 45 yards and a touchdown. Along with the score, Root also intercepted a pass on defense.

“We were trying to keep these guys off the field,” McElhaney said. “Caullin is tremendous, and we wanted to limit the amount of times he could touch the ball. We didn’t want to be chasing him and his receivers all game. Our offensive line did an outstanding job tonight, and our backs were eating up the clock.”

The Tigers put the exclamation point on the contest when Ike Friday scored on a 9-yard run with 1:42 to play.

Sharon will look to keep things rolling when they host Slippery Rock for homecoming next Friday night.

“I always say I won’t tell the guys who we play until this one is over,” concluded McElhaney. “We have 24 hours to celebrate or be mad, so we’ll enjoy this one for 24 hours and then get ready for Slippery Rock.”

The Blue Devils will look to bounce back as they travel to unbeaten Farrell next Friday.

“We’re just going to play one game at a time,” said Piccirilli. “We’re going to attempt to play Farrell as tough as we can, learn something new whether we win or lose.”

Game Highlights:

Sharon 26 Sharpsville 7

Score by Quarters

Sharon – 7 12 0 7 – 26
Sharpsville – 0 7 0 0 – 7

Scoring Summary

First Quarter

SH – Cortez Nixon 6 yd run, (Ameer Kanan pat), 8:57 – 6-73

Second Quarter

SH – Nixon 7 yd run, (kick blocked), 8:23 – 13-94

SP – Caullin Summers 1 yd run, (Rylan Piccirilli pat), 3:08 – 9-65

SH – Lamont Austin 15 yd pass from Mister Ham, (rush failed), 0:35 – 6-56

Fourth Quarter

SH – Ike Friday 9 yd run, (Kanan pat), 1:42 – 8-52

Individual Stats

Rushing: SH – Ham 15-117, Nixon 13-92, C.C. Harrison 4-29, Labron Wilder 6-44, Ike Friday 5-23. Totals: 43-305. SP – Summers 22-43, Jaiden White 5-10, Kyle Vigotty 1-5. Totals: 28-58.

Receiving: SH – Bishop Root 1-25, Austin 1-20. SP – Vigotty 4-20, Haidyn McFeaters 1-8, Dalton Byerly 3-68

Passing: SH – Ham 2-for-3, 45 yards, 1 TD. SP – Summers 8-for-14, 96 yards, 1 INT.

Interceptions: SH – Root.

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