The Greatest Games I Ever Saw (Part 7 – Nail-biters)
Tagged under: News, pfn, The Greatest Games Ever Played in PA High School Football History
Phil Myers | May 12, 2023
https://www.twobirchwinery.com/
(Note: This is a multi-part series of weekly articles that will appear every Friday through June regarding all of Pennsylvania’s greatest games I’ve seen from the 1970s through 2022. 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, and the Patriot News. 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.)
Central Dauphin 23 North Allegheny 20 – Central Dauphin (14-1) ended North Allegheny’s 21-game winning streak on a very chilly Saturday December 10, 2011 at Altoona’s Mansion Park. NA was also the 4A defending state champs. The Rams stunned the bigger Tiger team with scrappy play by its defense and some opportune plays by the offense.
Pressure on the NA punter forced him to run for it leading to the game’s first score by CD. Zayd Issah’s 3-yard run capped an 18-yard drive by the Rams and gave them a 7-0 lead late in the first quarter. Later, QB Mack Leftwich tied the game with a short run for NA. Drew Scales’ exciting 53-yard dash on a jet sweep late in the second gave CD a 13-7 halftime advantage. Maybe the key series of the game happened in that second quarter when the Ram defense stuffed North Allegheny’s power game four times near the goal line to keep the Tigers from scoring.
#38 Adam Hollinger of C.D. scurries in for the TD. Photo by the Patriot News.
In the third, CD upped their lead to 20-7 on an Adam Hollinger run shortly after the defense forced a Tiger fumble giving them good field position again at the NA 28. Leftwich brought the Tigers within striking distance with another short scurry for a touchdown and then with 5:14 left in the fourth quarter threw a 5-yard TD pass to tie the game at 20. NA actually got the ball back with 3:40 on the clock and had a chance to get the go ahead score, but Central Dauphin’s ‘D’ said ‘no.’ After the North Allegheny punt and a penalty on the Tigers, Central Dauphin had the ball at the NA 46 with a buck thirty left. A few plays later Issah made a diving catch at the four, setting up Evan Brandes’ game-winning field goal as the clock ran out.
Central Dauphin went on to defeat North Penn in the 4A state title game the next week in Hershey. Some of the North Allegheny players that played in college were: Patrick Kugler (OL) at Michigan, Mack Leftwich (QB) at UTEP, Kevin Edwards (TE) at IUP, and Brendan Connicker (DB) at Richmond. Evan Schwan of Central Dauphin played DE at Penn St. and Drew Swales was a WR for Slippery Rock.
Cameron County 21 Sharpsville 20 – In this second of three straight playoff nail-biters for Cameron County, the Red Raiders rode a ferocious 4th quarter comeback to claim the triumph. The game was held Friday November 19, 1999 in DuBois at Mansell Stadium before a mighty throng of Red Raider supporters. In fact, word was only a policeman and a couple night watchmen were left in the whole town of Emporium. Everyone else went to see the PIAA Class A playoff in DuBois. Sharpsville had a nice contingent in attendance also.
The Blue Devils of Sharpsville outgained Cameron County by 120 yards and the defense held the Red Raider offense to a total of 7 first downs. They even had two score leads at the end of the first quarter, at halftime, and at the end of three quarters. It seemed like victory was a sure thing. Then fate and the Bickford brothers stepped in. Justin Napotnik opened the scoring in the first capping an 8:45 drive. The Devils scored again near the end of first quarter to go in front 13-0 on a Brad Allen to Bill Stiger 30-yard pass play. Seth Fragale put Cameron County on the board with 5 minutes left in the second, but Sharpsville upped their lead to 20-7 at the half when Allen scored with only a few ticks left on the clock. With no scoring in the third and the Red Raider offense being shutdown things looked bleak for Cameron Co. as the last quarter began.
In fact, Sharpsville was driving early in the final stanza when their RB fumbled as he gained a first down near midfield. On the next play QB Adam Bickford aired a strike to Josh Catalone down the sideline for a 47-yard TD. All of a sudden, the Red Raiders had life. The Blue Devils responded by driving to the Cameron County 24 where the drive fizzled. After a 2-yard loss, John Bickford (Adam’s twin brother) took a pitch from Adam on an option. He got some good blocks at the line to get in the clear, broke a couple tackles around the 50 and sped down the sideline to score on a 78-yard run. The PAT was good and Cameron County now led 21-20. Sharpsville tried to rally and drove close to midfield but was stopped with under two minutes left. They got the ball back one more time, but the quarterback fumbled as he was sacked to seal the Blue Devils’ doom. Napotnik and John Bickford made all-state that year.
Garrett Zoschg #89 and Dave Van Arx sack Sharpsville QB Brad Allen causing fumble to end game. Photo by Courier-Express.
Farrell 21 Brookville 20 – Those in attendance were treated to a great football game by two very strong teams that October 14, 1994 night in Brookville. The young Farrell team, coached by the legendary Lou Falconi, would go on to win the state championship in 1995 and 1996. In November, Brookville was involved in another great game (with Forest Hills), whereby the Blue Raiders would come within a missed call of advancing to the state semi-final game.
Without their best running back, Doug Miller, Brookville still managed to go up by two scores by halftime thanks in part due to a blocked punt that was recovered in the end zone for a touchdown by the Blue Raiders. The 13-0 lead quickly vanished in the third quarter when Farrell started hitting on all cylinders offensively, scoring on their first two possessions to tie the score. Brookville retook the lead at the nine-minute mark of the fourth, but Farrell answered a couple minutes later when QB Anthony Pegues hit a pop pass to the tight end for a 61-yard touchdown. Falconi said Pegues audibled it at the line of scrimmage. (How many QBs today would be allowed to do that?) The successful 2-point try put the Steelers in front for the first time, 21-20.
Brookville could not put much together till toward the end of the game, but Farrell’s defense came up big picking off a pass with under 30 seconds left. One other thing to note, if you didn’t recognize the name Anthony Pegues, he is the head coach at Farrell now and played his collegiate career at Grambling. Farrell’s half back, Stan Kennedy, went on to Slippery Rock where he still holds the records for career touchdowns and career rushing touchdowns. He is second all-time in points scored. Falconi’s record at Farrell was 210-91-6 when he retired.
State College 21 DuBois 20 – This contest was played before a nice sized crowd on October 20, 1978 at State College’s Memorial Field. This was not only a classic, but a real slugfest between two determined teams. It also was probably the biggest upset of the year in Central Pennsylvania. DuBois came into the game ranked 7th in the state, perhaps their highest ranking ever, only losing 7-0 to a tremendous Butler team. State’s record was a mediocre 4-3.
After a quiet first quarter where no one scored, both teams tallied twice in the second with DuBois taking a 14-13 lead into the half when they got a touchdown with 27 seconds left. The score stayed that way after three quarters of play. The chess match for field position continued deep into the last quarter. Then State College found the end zone with 3:08 to play. The Little Lions added the 2-point conversion to take a 21-14 lead. DuBois answered by scoring with 42 seconds remaining. The decision to go for two and the win appeared to be a good one. Mark Davidson, who ran for 167 yards in the game, only needed to cut back inside of a tackler to cross the goal line, but when he planted his foot, he slipped and fell. The DuBois on side kick was recovered by State College giving them the victory.
Mark Davidson on ground scores late, Ray Sekula #32 signals TD for DuBois. Ed Moore of DuBois blocks #42 State High’s Doug Wagner. #82 is Doug Fasick of St. College. Photo by Courier-Express.
DuBois outgained State College, and had chances throughout the game, but mistakes and the Little Lion ‘D’ did the Beavers in. DuBois lost a fumble in State territory and turned the ball over on downs at the State 26 in the first half. In the third quarter, as the Beavers were getting ready to score, the ball was fumbled into the end zone and State College recovered for a touchback. Jim Scannel ran for 141 yards for State High. He played RB for the Naval Academy in college. Eric Brugel, who went on to wrestle at Penn State, played on that State College football team too.
DuBois 20 Hollidaysburg 20 – On November 6, 1970 the Beavers hosted the Hollidaysburg Golden Tigers at Mansell Stadium. It was a cool, kind of chilly Friday night, but the game really warmed up in the last quarter to go down as one of the greatest. DuBois had a very good team in 1970, losing only to State College, while Hollidaysburg ended the year 5-4-1. As memory serves me, a big crowd was on hand that night to witness what would turn out to be an exciting game and a bit of an upset.
There was no scoring after the first quarter. At the 8:34 mark of the second DuBois got on the board as a result of a Jim Petraitis run. Petraitis would gain 125 yards and end the season with over 1,400. Hollidaysburg’s Mike Brown grabbed the ensuing short kickoff and raced 70 yards to tie the game at 8 apiece. With under 5 minutes before halftime the Golden Tigers lit up the scoreboard again to go in front 14-8. It stayed that way to the half and also after three quarters of play.
In the fourth quarter Petraitis scored at the 8 minute mark, but the PAT was missed, so the score was tied at 14. DuBois forced a punt and started from their 14 with 5 minutes to go. The Beavers drove 86 yards in 3 minutes, scoring on Steve Kruk’s quarterback sneak with two minutes remaining. Again, the extra point try was missed. Another short kickoff gave the Golden Tigers the ball at their 45. Working the clock and getting chunks of yardage, Hollidaysburg moved to the Beaver 16 where they were confronted with a fourth down. With 16 seconds left, the Golden Tigers connected on an improbable 16-yard TD pass to tie the game. All they needed was the PAT to complete the upset. But for the second time in the game the extra point was blocked, the hometown crowd roared its approval, and the game ended in a tie.
Somewhere in the bottom of the pile, QB Steve Kruk of DuBois (in white) scores and puts his Beavers up 20-14 late in the game. Photo by the Courier-Express.
A young DuBois Beaver by the name of Ron Muhitch played in this game. He went on to become a bit of a legend in Illinois high school football. He was the defensive coordinator at Wheaton-Warrenville South High School for 22 years before becoming the head coach. In his 19-year tenure as head coach, his teams won 3 state championships and finished second twice. In his 41 years of coaching, WWS won 7 state titles in 11 appearances. Coach Muhitch retired in 2021.
The thought crosses my mind every time the warriors walk off the football field and I see the winning players elated and the losers dejected, that 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 than by winning. 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 played the game but also those fans and media who were in attendance.
Follow Phil Myers on Twitter @Protime_PFN
Follow PA Football News on Twitter @PaFootballNews
You must be logged in to post a comment.