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Palmieri Leads Pine-Richland to Come Back Win Over Cathedral Prep

Tagged under: District 10, District 7, Gameday Hub, News, pfn, Playoffs

| November 26, 2022


Winning Pine-Richland quarterback, Ryan Palmieri.

Ryan Palmieri took the helm as Pine-Richland quarterback in game five after the Rams began the year 1-3, and since then it’s been smooth sailing for the green and white as they’ve sunk eleven straight opponents.  The latest victim, the Cathedral Prep Ramblers, did not go down without a fight though.  Both teams battled to the end before Palmieri ran eight yards for the winning score with 2 minutes left in the game to give the Rams a 21-14 triumph.  That completed the Pine-Richland comeback after Prep built a 14-0 lead halfway through the second quarter.  Jon LeDonne, Pine-Richland’s coach said, “they caught us a little off guard early, but we regrouped and adjusted.”

Playing a home game at this point of the playoffs was a first for Pine-Richland and the large contingent of hometown fans went home extremely happy.  They were pretty subdued early on when the Ramblers scored on a first quarter 4-yard run by Dajoure Hollingworth.  They were further quieted when the Rams drove to the Rambler one-yard line but Palmieri was stopped just short of pay dirt, and also when the Rams later fumbled at the Prep 25.  Then in the second quarter, Hollingsworth took a sprint handoff and outran a couple of defenders to score on a 66-yard run to give Prep a 14-0 lead at the 10:52 mark.  By now the Ram faithful were beginning to worry.

Pine-Richland answered that score by Prep by driving steadily down the field before fumbling again deep in Cathedral Prep territory.  But Rambler players made two mistakes.  One, the fumble was picked up around the 15, and in the process of being advanced, the Rambler player instead keep going backwards before being tackled at the one.  The second mistake and probably the turning point of the game was when Hollingsworth fumbled on third down at the Rambler seven giving the ball back to Pine-Richland with just under six minutes left in the half.

This time Pine-Richland took advantage of the gift and Palmieri hit Bradford Gelly with a third down six-yard touchdown pass to make it a one score game at 14-7 with Prep still in the lead.  The Ram defense was starting to take over the game and promptly held Prep to a three and out giving the ball back to the offense with 2:34 left until the intermission.  This time the green and white completed a 62-yard drive, scoring with 48 seconds remaining when Palmieri lofted a nice 8-yard corner pass to Luke Rudolph sending the Rams fans into a frenzy, and the Rams into halftime tied at 14.  Palmieri said, “they came out and hit us in the mouth.  Those two scores at the end of the half were huge.  It gave us momentum.  We were getting down for a second when down 14-0.  Once we got those two scores, we knew we could end up on top in the end.”

Pine-Richland placekicker, Grant Argiro #26, who booted all 3 extra points for the Rams.

The second half was like a chess match with both teams vying for field position.  At first Pine-Richland held the advantage making it to the Prep 41 before punting and pinning the Ramblers at their 5.  Late in the quarter, it appeared the Ramblers partially blocked a punt and wound up with the ball at the P-R 43.  Subsequently, Prep missed a 38-yard field goal early in the fourth quarter that would have given them the lead.  Then with nine minutes to go Demario Crawford intercepted a Palmieri pass at midfield and returned it to the Ram 31.  But two costly 5-yard penalties and a net of two yards resulted in a fourth down and 18 from the Pine-Richland 39.

The Rambler coaches thought they could fool Pine-Richland with a fake punt, but the Ram defense defended it well and the pass fell incomplete giving the Rams excellent field position with 7:27 remaining.  Now is when Palmieri really took over guiding the Rams slowly down the field.  The Pine-Richland quarterback ran the ball ten of the next twelve plays for 54 yards including the 8-yard score with two minutes left.  In that five plus minute drive, Palmieri also converted three third downs into first downs with his legs.  Palmieri stated this about that last drive, “The O-line has done a great job all year.  I just try to find a hole and go.”  When asked how he felt on his score with two minutes left, he said, “good, very good.”

Cathedral Prep had one last chance.  QB Luke Costello, who was under pressure all night completed a 21-yard pass into Pine-Richland real estate, but on the next play Bryce O’Brien intercepted the deep ball for the Rams and the celebration in Gibsonia was on.  “I think we wore them down a little bit late.  We talk about playing Western PA football and that’s what we did in the second half,” commented LeDonne.

Palmieri’s winning score gave him 101 yards rushing for the night on 26 carries.  Ethan Pillar made a huge contribution too with his tough, physical runs.  He ended up with 95 yards on 21 totes.  Palmieri completed 10 of 17 passes for 2 touchdowns and 152 yards.  He did throw a pair of picks too.  Gelly snared 7 of those completions for 92 yards and a score.  After Hollingswoth’s 66-yard TD run at 10:52 of the second stanza, the Ram defense was lights out limiting the Ramblers to 63 total yards for the next 35 minutes.  A member of that lights out defense, John Rottinghaus said, “We battled all year.  We just said we’ve been here before.  Let’s go do it.  We knew they had speed.  We tried to eliminate big plays.  We did that except for that one play.”

Pine-Richland defensive lineman, John Rottinghaus.

Hollingsworth led all runners with 141 yards on 15 carries.  He also scored both of the Prep touchdowns.  Costello was 7 of 18 throwing the ball for only 79 yards and an interception.  The Ramblers had not played a game since October 28th due to the fact there are no other 5A teams in District 10.  They finish their season 8-3. Coach LeDonne complimented Prep by saying, “that’s a championship caliber team over there.”

The Rams, now 11-3, will move on to the semi-finals next week against Cocalico, who also is playing their best football of the year right now.  “We’re just excited to advance and represent Western PA next week,” said LeDonne.

The Pine-Richland Ram Marching Band.

Follow Phil Myers on Twitter: @Protime_PFN

Follow PA Football News on Twitter @PaFootballNews

 
 
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