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Sharon Edges Hickory 20-14

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

| September 14, 2024

Hermitage – Sharon built a 13-point second-half lead before holding off Hickory 20-14 Friday night at Hornet Stadium.

In arguably the most hyped-up District 10 game since Farrell and Hickory squared off in Week 1-Sharon and Hickory certainly didn’t disappoint either.

Which is to be expended, given that the two teams have a recent history of tight, intense football games, including last year’s District 10 AAA final, in which the Hornets nipped the Tigers 14-6.

It also helps that the schools are 2.7 miles apart. Or when you make big plays on special teams, as two of three Tigers’ touchdowns came in that critical third phase of the game.

Things didn’t take long to happen in front of a packed house in Hermitage. Both schools are ranked in the top ten in the Pennsylvania Football News 3A rankings, with Hickory ranked third and Sharon tenth.

“At the end of the day, we do not care anymore; I’m going to steal a Mike Tomlin, said Sharon head coach Jason McElhaney when asked about his team not getting the respect in the state they deserve. “We do not care. It is what it is now. We will take every game in front of us, on our schedule, and attack it. We will take two hours to enjoy this and then prepare for a good Farrell team.”

The game played out exactly how you’d expect two powerhouse programs to play, with the game coming down to the final play.

Taking over on downs at their 15-yard line with no timeouts and 1:09 to play, Hickory moved the ball to the Sharon 14-yard line in six plays.

Quarterback Zander Telesz threw a pair of 15-yard completions to Jadon Phillips and a 19-yarder to Bobby Mainor while adding a 10-yard rush.

Following a draw play to Kelvin Morrison at the 16-yard line that gained only two yards, Hickory rushed to the line and spiked the ball.

Though the clock ran out, the officials put a second back on the clock. Earlier in the final drive, Morrison ran a draw for ten yards.

On the final snap, Telesz scrambled in the backfield before launching a pass into the end zone that Kare’mez Norris broke up at the goal line to preserve the victory.

“We ran the draw twice because, on the second one, we thought we could pop it with them having eight guys back by the end zone,” said Hickory head coach Bill Dungee. “We still had the last play to try and win it. They did a good job with their defenders. It’s tough from the 14-yard line to get anything in there. My hats off to them. It’s a rivalry game and a great game for the fans. But I wish we could have come out on top.”

Zander Telesz rushed for 34 yards and completed 7-of-15 passes for 115 yards with a touchdown and interception.

Before the final possession, Sharon had taken over at their 35-yard line after stopping the Hornets on a 4th-and-10 with 9:24 to play. The Tigers then ran off all but the final 69 seconds.

“I was upset at myself for the end of the game because we botched the time at the end of the game,” said McElhaney. “We left them way too much time. Ultimately, that comes back to me, and I have to do a better job for guys. It’s hard because you don’t get those situations or see them often. It’s difficult to simulate that in practice. Plus, with the quality of their receivers and quarterback, it’s hard to prepare for. Our guys were getting a little gassed on the pass rush, too. That’s the first time I’ve ever seen them put time back on the clock without a review, but it is what it is, and we survived.”

Most of that drive was led by the legs of tailback Ike Friday, who rushed for 71 yards on 17 carries in the second half after being limited to only six yards on four rushes in the first 24 minutes.

Speaking of Kare’mez Norris, the junior made two huge plays that helped make the difference. The first came on the Tigers’ second snap when Ethan Englemore threw a 67-yard vertical right into Norris’s hands for the icebreaker.

“It feels great doing this with my teammates; it’s been a lot of preparation, and we’ve worked like no other,” Norris said. “That first touchdown was huge. We’ve been wanting to get the passing game going. I was waiting for them to kick it to me. At first, they didn’t, but as the game wore on, they did, and I scored.”

Coming out of halftime, Norris returned the second-half kickoff 84 yards for a touchdown, giving Sharon a 20-6.

“We talked about that earlier in the week,” McElhaney said. “We thought if they match personal, we could give them a formation that we don’t usually give them with that grouping. We liked Kare’mez against the high safeties. Ethan laid it out there, and he made a great catch. He’s been through a lot, and I’m glad he’s had time to shine here tonight.”

Hickory would answer both of Norris’s touchdowns as Jadon Phillips caught a 33-yard touchdown from Telesz to tie the game 7-7 after a quarter.

In the third stanza, Kelvin Morrison ran a sweep around the far sideline 39 yards for a touchdown, pulling Hickory to within 20-14 at the 3:09 mark of the third quarter.

Morrison rushed for a game-high 127 yards on 24 carries.

In the second quarter, Sharon took the lead for good when Hornets’ punter Sebastian Bromley dropped a punt snap and had the subsequent punt blocked. Brodie Miller recovered it for a touchdown.

“I know I’m going to miss-quote the stat, but I know it’s a crazy high stat that if you block a punt, you win the game,” said McElhany. “Our coaches have been pushing us to rush and get after punts, and it’s been pivotal for us.”

Ironically, the score was set up when Bobby Mainor intercepted Englemore at the 3-yard line on 4th down.

“It’s tough when your defense plays so well, but you give up two special teams touchdowns,” Dungee said. “Especially on the first one, I blame myself for that one. We have to coach the kid on fourth down to knock the pass down and not intercept it at the 3-yard line. That’s on me as a head coach. That completely changed the game. On the kickoff, we were worried about him all week long. We didn’t want to kick the ball to him, period. I’m not sure how the ball got back there to him. He made a great play to spin off a guy and hit the seam.

Despite outgaining the Tigers 320-196 in total offense, special teams, penalties, and the Sharon Tigers were too much for Hickory to overcome.

The Hornets assessed 75 penalty yards in the game. Nevertheless, Hickory will look to rebound next Saturday afternoon when they travel to Veterans Stadium in Erie to take on the Royals at 1 pm.

Sharon is also on for next Saturday as they play host to Farrell at 6 pm.

Game Highlights:

Sharon 20 Hickory 14

Score by Quarters

Sharon- 7 6 7 0 – 20

Hickory – 7 0 7 0 – 14

Scoring Summary

First Quarter

S – Kare’mez Norris 67 yd pass from Ethan Englemore, (Yousef Kanan pat), 7:18 – 2-65

H – Jadon Phillips 33 yd pass from Zander Telesz, (Logan Stanford pat), 5:10 – 4-46

Second Quarter

S – Brodie Miller recovered a blocked punt in the end zone, (kick failed), 4:27

Third Quarter

S – Norris 84 yd kickoff return, (Kanan pat), 11:49

H – Kelvin Morrison 39 yd run, (Stanford pat), 3:09 – 6-61

Individual Stats

Rushing: S – Ike Friday 21-77, Englemore 6-(-3), Terrian White 1-11, Norris 1-8. Totals: 29-93. H – Morrison 24-127, Jamal Calhoun 4-28, Brody Bishop 1-5, Telesz 10-34, Sebastian Bromley 1-11. Totals: 40-205.

Receiving: S – Norris 1-67, Friday 1-14, Bryson Roberson 2-18, Ra’Keem Hughes 1-4. H – Phillips 5-88, Bobby Mainor 1-19, Morrison 1-8.

Passing: S – Englemore 5-for-12, 103 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT. H – Telesz 7-for-15, 115 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT.

Interceptions: H – Mainor. S – Gha’fir Lampkins.

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