Farrell Blanks Sharon To Win Steel Bowl
Tagged under: District 10, Gameday Hub, News, pfn
Shane Lux | October 15, 2023
Farrell – Farrell clinched the Region 3 Title with a 20-0 victory over Sharon Saturday night.
The Steelers got defensive and limited the Tigers to only 153 yards of offense, while its offense did just enough to pull away.
“It’s the Steel Bowl, and it’s rivalry game, so it will never be the cleanest,” said Farrell head coach Anthony Pegues. “I want to give Sharon props; their defense is legit, and they held their own. There were times when we should have blown it open, but their defense played well and slowed us down. We weren’t executing at times, but good teams find ways to win, and that’s what we did tonight.”
Both defenses were as advertised throughout the contest, and in the first half, neither offense found the end zone.
Farrell’s special teams made the game’s first big play when Aidan Marshall blocked a Tigers punt, and Nicanor Andrada’s scoop and score from 12 yards was the icebreaker.
Nicanor Andrada 12 yd blocked punt return, Farrell 6 Sharon 0, 1:28 2nd, @BobGreenburg @peguesAmp @farrellfootball pic.twitter.com/lN5aeiKbIv
— Shane Lux (@PFN_Luxy) October 14, 2023
“A lot of times in rivalry games, whoever makes the biggest mistake will cost you the game,” Pegues said. “These guys practice well in all three game phases and can get it done.”
Two plays into Sharon’s subsequent drive, Farrell recovered a fumble at the Tigers 21-yard line with 31 seconds to play in the first half but turned the football over downs at the 16-yard line as time expired.
Using multiple players out the shotgun, Farrell extended their lead late in the third quarter when Simeir Wade ran a proprietor 29 yards for a touchdown following a 6-play 45-yard drive.
“We made some adjustments in the second half,” said Pegues. “We wanted to run some quarterback leads. We put Simeir and Juelz Johnson in a quarterback a few times. I believe we had about four different kids taking direct snaps. We don’t tell them where to run, just one direction. Sometimes, when you have those athletes, that’s all you need.”
Special continued to plague Sharon as on the ensuing kickoff, they botched the recovery with Farrell falling on the loose ball.
Earlier in the third stanza, the Tigers muffed a punt that the Steelers recovered.
After recovering the kickoff and facing a fourth down, Kabron Smith launched a 41-yard touchdown pass to Wade with 10:48 to play.
Wade 41 yd TD from Kabron Smith, Farrell 20 Sharon 0, 10:48 4th, @peguesAmp @farrellfootball @BobGreenburg @kabron_24 @SimeirW pic.twitter.com/IByewDPZIB
— Shane Lux (@PFN_Luxy) October 15, 2023
Simeir Wade finished the night with two receptions for 40 yards and five rushes for 37 yards, scoring the game’s only two offensive touchdowns.
Succeeding Wade’s second score, Sharon took over at the Steeler’s 39-yard line following a kickoff out-of-bounds penalty.
It marked the deepest the Tigers would penetrate in the contest as they picked up one first down before turning the ball over on downs at the Steeler’s 26-yard line.
“We were not good enough offensively tonight,” said Sharon head coach Jason McElhaney. “They’re a great defense, so credit to them, but we couldn’t string anything together and kept putting our defense on the field in not-great positions.”
Mister Ham led the Tigers offensively, rushing for 67 yards on 17 carries while completing 6-of-12 passes for 33 yards.
“These are kind of games where you learn about yourself,” said McElhaney. “You don’t learn about yourself when you’re better than somebody; it happens when you’re lining up against someone very good like they are – this will allow us to look at film and fix some things.”
Farrell ate most of the remaining clock before turning the ball over on downs at the Sharon 3-yard line following a 10-play drive.
On the drive, Kabron Smith completed a 38-yard pass to Juelz Johnson, which made Smith the all-time leading passer in Farrell’s history.
Smith broke the record previously held by Alex Myers.
“Alex was the first quarterback we had where we installed this type of offense,” Pegues said. “That record has been up since 2015. He will add to this record; he’s a special kid. Kabron is a true football leader; if I weren’t calling the plays, he’d be able to do it and get guys into position.”
Kabron Smith completed 7-of-13 passes for 80 yards with a touchdown while rushing for 43 yards on 11 carries. Johnson rushed for a game-high 105 yards on 21 carries.
Farrell now improves to 8-0 on the season and will travel to Slippery Rock next Saturday night.
Sharon will conclude the regular season next Friday night when they host Greenville.
“I thought we played really hard tonight, especially on defense,” concluded McElhaney. “We had good emotion, and we gave ourselves an opportunity. We’ll learn and get better from tonight.”
Game Highlights
Farrell 20 Sharon 0
Score by Quarters
Sharon – 0 0 0 0 – 0
Farrell – 0 6 6 8 – 20
Scoring Summary
Second Quarter
F – Nicanor Andrada 12 yd blocked punt return, (rush failed), 1:28
Third Quarter
F – Simeir Wade 29 yd run, (pass failed), 1:17 – 6-45
Fourth Quarter
F – Wade 41 yd pass from Kabron Smith, (Danny Odem from Smith), 10:48 – 4-44
Individual Stats
Rushing: S – Mister Ham 17-67, Cortez Nixon 8-16, Labron Wilder 2-7, C.C. Harrison 4-33. Totals: 31-120. F – Juelz Johnson 21-105, Kabron Smith 11-43, Brandon Chambers 5-36, Wade 5-37. Totals: 21-84.
Receiving: S – Bishop Root 2-13, Lamont Austin 2-9, Harrison 1-(-4), Logan Perks 1-15. F – Danny Odem 2-1, Simeir Wade 2-40, Chambers 2-3, Johnson 1-38.
Passing: S – Ham 6-for-12, 33 yards. F – Smith 7-for-13, 80 yards, 1 TD.
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