The Greatest Games I Ever Saw (Part 9 – Great Endings to Low Scoring Affairs)
Tagged under: News, pfn, The Greatest Games Ever Played in PA High School Football History
Phil Myers | May 26, 2023
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(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 Altoona Mirror, Lancaster Online, 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.)
Selinsgrove 10 Manheim Central 7 – Both teams were unbeaten and battled for the 3A title on Friday night December 18, 2009 at Hersheypark Stadium before a large and raucous crowd. This was one of the more physical AAA games that I’ve seen. The defenses refused to yield and there were plenty of hard hits.
Manheim’s quarterback, Justin Gorman, hit Derek Hart with a 36-yard touchdown pass early in the second to take a 7-0 lead. The jostling for position and the offenses scratching for yardage continued throughout the rest of the half, but no one scored and the Barons carried their 7-0 lead into the locker room.
Selinsgrove’s Cameron Benner (#22 in white) is brought down by Manheim’s defense. Photo by Lancaster Online.
As the game wore on the Seals started to get the better of the play, but only a 21-yard field goal near the end of the third was all the points Selinsgrove could muster. Both teams did turn the ball over in enemy territory in the third frame also. With six minutes left, Ryan Keiser of Selinsgrove intercepted Gorman at the Seal 28. Selinsgrove finally started to put things together and drove 66 yards to the Baron six. Then Seth Lauver plowed into the end zone with 1:47 remaining to give the Seals their only lead of the game, 10-7. Manheim went nowhere thanks to the Selinsgrove defense and the Seals ran out the few seconds that were left to win the game.
The Seal ‘D’ held Manheim’s prolific offense to 191 yards. The Barons averaged 393 yards a game in 2009. Spencer Myers of Selinsgrove played on the offensive and defensive line. He won the PIAA wrestling championship at 215 and wrestled at Maryland where he was a two-time ACC heavyweight champ and an NCAA All-American. Keiser played safety for Penn State. Hart was the long snapper at James Madison and was briefly signed by the Packers of the NFL.
Mount Carmel 12 Lakeland 0 – This is one of my favorite games and definitely rates as one of the greatest. It took place at Kemp Memorial Stadium in Shamokin before a large crowd of boisterous fans. The date was Friday November 24, 2000. The game had the best first quarter for 0-0 football you’ll ever see. To open the game, Lakeland drove to Mt. Carmel’s 9 before a 27-yard sack did them in. The Red Tornadoes countered by driving to the Lakeland 7, but did not score. The Chiefs answered that by getting all the way to Mt. Carmel’s 18 before their second possession fizzled.
On Mount Carmel’s second possession, Jon Veach scored on a 27-yard dash down the right side to give the 11-1 Red Tornadoes the 6-0 lead with 7:29 left in the second quarter. That capped an 83-yard drive. Lakeland, who was undefeated at 12-0, then made it into the red zone for the third straight time, getting as far as the ten. But again, no points and Mt. Carmel ran out the clock to the break. When Mt. Carmel fumbled the second half kickoff, it looked as though Lakeland would finally break through, but the Red Tornado ‘D’ came up big again stopping the Chiefs at the 27. Mount Carmel fumbled twice more in the third quarter, once at Lakeland’s four. Lakeland could not take advantage.
The game hinged on the crucial 4th quarter. With time running down, Lakeland put it together. Facing a third and goal from the MCA two, the Chiefs ran the ball to within an inch or two of the goal line. On fourth and goal the quarterback sneak by Evan Kraky was stuffed for no gain preserving Mt. Carmel’s precarious 6-0 lead. Then on third down from the eight, Veach broke through Lakeland’s eleven man front and was off to the races. With the touchdown, the score was 12-0 with 1:04 remaining. And that was the game. Veach ran the ball 30 times for 295 yards and the two scores. Kraky, Lakeland’s all-state quarterback, threw for 175 yards. In fact, at one time, he was the career leader in passing yardage in PA. He was a South Florida Bull recruit, but a bad ankle and subsequent surgery prevented him from playing efficiently. A couple weeks later Mt. Carmel beat Aliquippa to win the 2A state championship.
Tyrone 13 Mt. Carmel 6 – This was a rematch of the 1996 AA state title game won by Mt. Carmel. In fact, this was the only state final that Mt. Carmel football lost. They are 5-1 in title games. It was a windy Saturday afternoon at Hersheypark Stadium on December 11, 1999 with over 7,000 fans on hand. That gusty wind really put the clamps on each team’s passing. Mt. Carmel took the initial kickoff and drove 72 yards on 11 plays topped off by freshman quarterback Dave Shinskie’s 1-yard run. Little did the Red Tornadoes know at the time, but that would end up being their only score. The extra point was blocked by Scott Gummo leaving the score 6-0.
Neither offense could do much after that first score until later in the game. The defenses dominated and there were some hard hits that players would feel the next day for sure. Early in the third a little swing pass by Shinskie was picked off by defensive end Tim Dry and returned 30 yards for a touchdown putting Tyrone on the board. Gummo’s point after gave the Golden Eagles a 7-6 lead. In the fourth quarter Tyrone threatened but a fumble at the Tornado 15 ruined that opportunity. Mt. Carmel began a drive and got near midfield when a long bomb was intercepted by the Golden Eagle defense, their fourth pick of the game. Moments later Jesse Jones, Tyrone’s record-setting half back found a hole, cut back, and dashed 92 yards to give his team a 13-6 lead with only 38 seconds remaining. Mt. Carmel managed to get to Tyrone’s 38 and on the last play of the game threw an incomplete pass in the back of the end zone.
Jesse Jones embarks on his historic touchdown run for Tyrone. Middle of picture dark uniform #31.
Mount Carmel’s John Veach (RB), Nick Sebes (DB), Al Bailey (LB0, and Aaron Ziegler (DL) made the all-state team. Tyrone’s Jesse Jones (RB), Scott Gummo (DL), and Doug Roseberry (LB) also made the all-state team. Veach and Jones were a couple of extremely talented high school running backs. Veach played his college ball at Princeton as a running back. Sebes went to Stanford and was a reserve WR who did see action. Shinskie played baseball in the Minnesota Twin organization for a few years and then went to Boston College where he was the starting quarterback for a couple of years. Gummo played baseball for Penn State and briefly in the Tampa Bay Ray organization. Roseberry went to Pitt and played some on special teams.
Cameron County 13 Clarion 7 – Held in Brockway at Frank Varischetti Field on Friday November 12, 1999, this game was for the District 9 Class A title. There was an overflow crowd that night with people standing four to five or more deep practically the whole way around the field. Some even were watching through the fence outside the field. Cameron County RB, John Bickford, made first team all-state (1999). Clarion’s Micah McElhattan (DL) and Kyle Cathcart (ATH) were second team all-state in 1999 and first team all-state in 2000 respectively.
In this hard-hitting game, Cameron County scored on their first drive after Clarion fumbled the ball away when QB Adam Bickford hit the big TE, Garrett Zoschg, across the middle for a 29-yard touchdown. The 7-0 lead was increased to 13-0 just before halftime when the Red Raiders mounted a 65-yard scoring drive capped by Bickford’s 2-yard run. Cameron County’s defense stifled Clarion’s offense until the last five minutes of the game.
That’s when the Bobcats scored their touchdown. It came after a Red Raider fumble and it was a short field drive of 26 yards. Cathcart recovered the fumble and a few plays later scored the TD. Clarion got the ball back again and eventually had second and goal at the Cameron County one (actually it was less than a yard from the goal line). As the Bobcat quarterback tried to lunge into the end zone he was hit and fumbled the ball which Cameron County recovered with 13 seconds remaining. Cameron County would become the ‘cardiac kids’, because they were involved in two more great games in the following couple of weeks.
Cameron County D-Line that caused the game-ending fumble at the goal line are left to right #89 Garrett Zoschg, #44 Scott Horning, #58 Travis Crosby, #75 Justin Reed. The ball is between the legs of #58 and #75. Photo by DuBois Courier-Express.
DuBois 7 Franklin 6 – On Friday October 2, 1992 the Franklin Knights visited Mansell Stadium in DuBois. Franklin had the better of the play for much of the game, outgaining DuBois 202 total yards to 163 total yards. But the Knights coughed up the ball on fumbles three times. Casey Hancox broke open the scoreless game in the second with a touchdown run. An innocently missed PAT at the time is what turned out to be the difference in the game.
Leading 6-0, the Knights drove to the DuBois 25 in the third quarter but fumbled the ball away. A 15-yard personal foul penalty on the play gave the Beavers the ball at their 40. For one of the few times that night DuBois put together a drive. Soon they ended up at Franklin’s 10 facing a 4th down, but nixed going for the field goal as the two earlier FG tries had been blocked. DuBois called the perfect play, a screen pass. Franklin was not looking for that, so when QB Tony Perry dumped the ball to Thom Henery it was clear sailing. Derek Clark tagged the pivotal PAT to give DuBois the 7-6 advantage with 4:08 left in the third.
The rest of the game was an anxious time for both teams as Franklin tried desperately to score time and again, but the Beavers’ defense was up to the task all but one drive. Franklin did score the go-ahead touchdown later in the 4th quarter on a nice run, but the TD was negated due to a holding call. Eric Barefoot had 94 yards rushing for the Knights who went home very frustrated.
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.
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