JEFFREY REINHART jreinhart@LNPnews.com
HERSHEY – It was a game chock full of twists and turns and subplots galore.
Big plays. Long touchdowns. Fourth-down conversions. Costly turnovers. A fake punt. More big plays. And some snow on the field for good measure.
Any number of plays could have decided Friday night’s PIAA Triple-A Eastern Final. But the one that sent District 1 champ Garnet Valley past District 3 champ Lampeter-Strasburg came with 1:19 to go.
Deadlocked with L-S and facing a crucial third-and-5, GV quarterback Eric Van Wyk hit scatback Tim Keyser on a slant out of the backfield, and Keyser, a thorn in the Pioneers’ side the entire game, raced 74 yards for the go-ahead score and the Jaguars outlasted the Pioneers 27-20 in Hersheypark Stadium.
Keyser’s score came three plays after L-S turned the ball over for the fifth agonizing time in the game. And that one was a crusher; the score was knotted at 20 and the Pioneers had a third-and-1 at GV’s 18. But when quarterback Brett Graeff collided with fullback Joe Good the football popped loose, and GV linebacker Tim Dunlap pounced on it.
“I wouldn’t say it was a tough way to lose, because any loss is tough,” L-S senior Abe Mellinger said. “Things happen. You can’t undo what’s already done.”
GV (13-1) will take on District 7 champ Thomas Jefferson in the Triple-A state finale next Friday. TJ (15-0) cruised past Erie Strong Vincent 35-6 in the Western Final last night in Erie.
L-S, which shared the L-L League Section 3 title and won the first district championship in the history of the program, finished its record-breaking season 12-3.
“This team reached a height that nobody else ever did at L-S,” Pioneers’ coach John Manion said. “And that bar is now high for future generations. That’s how I’ll remember this group.”
L-S got off to a flying start Friday, when Justin Taylor returned the opening kickoff 92 yards for a touchdown. And the Pioneers got the ball right back when safety G.J. Frankford made the first of his two interceptions.
Eight plays later – on a fourth-and-2 call – Graeff slipped a pass to wingback Rob Zimmerman in the slot, and he took it 18 yards for a touchdown, making it 13-0 with 4:53 to go in the first quarter.
“We knew that wasn’t going to be enough,” Mellinger said. “We knew we had to keep pushing.”
GV, which rallied from a 9-0 deficit and beat West Scranton 27-22 in a PIAA quarterfinal game last week, sliced the Pioneers’ lead to 13-7 when Chris Palaio slammed in from 7 yards out on the third play of the second quarter.
Mellinger returned the ensuing kickoff 60 yards to the Jaguars’ 34, and L-S appeared to be in great shape. But on second-and-goal from the 10, Taylor fumbled near the goal line and GV corner Ryan McGraw recovered at the 2.
Twelve plays and 98 yards later, GV was in the end zone again when Keyser, who rushed for 161 yards and caught three passes for 95 yards, scored from 4 yards out to give the Jaguars a 14-13 lead with 3:29 to go in the first half.
“We might have gotten a little too comfortable with the lead,” L-S senior Seth Rolko admitted. “You can’t control turnovers. All you can do is bounce back after a turnover. You just have to fight through them. You don’t want turnovers to happen, but the reality is that turnovers do happen.
“When they happen, you have to keep your head up and keep paying … but those Red Zone turnovers will kill you.”
GV had a terrific chance to build on its lead just before the half. The Jaguars got the ball back when Rolko fumbled after making a catch, and GV set up shop at the L-S 18.
The Jaguars had second-and-goal at the 2, but failed to get a play off just before the halftime buzzer because GV was out of timeouts.
L-S and GV exchanged turnovers to start the third quarter, and L-S dodged another bullet when, on fourth-and-goal at the 4, Taylor swooped in from his safety spot and batted down a pass intended for Jared Bonacquisti in the end zone.
But L-S gave the ball right back when Graeff was picked off. GV cashed that turnover in, going 18 yards in five plays, capped by Keyser’s 2-yard run, which made it 20-13 with 1:47 to go in the third.
Undaunted, L-S kept plugging, and pulled off a fake punt with 11:45 to play, with Taylor racing 26 yards to the Jaguars’ 31. Taylor rushed for 145 yards on 15 carries.
On third-and-goal from the 22, Graeff flipped a screen pass to Zimmerman, who slipped a couple of tackles and scored his second receiving TD of the game, making it 20-all with 7:42 to play.
After a GV punt, L-S appeared to be driving for the go-ahead score before the Pioneers’ lost their fourth fumble – setting up Keyser’s electrifying catch and mad dash.
“It’s a shame somebody had to lose this one,” GV coach Mike Ricci marveled. “That was one great high school football game. L-S was everything we thought they’d be – and more. They were dynamic on offense and so fast on defense.”
But those five turnovers were stingers, particularly the last one. And the Pioneers had a devil of a time with Keyser — who had five runs of 10 or more yards – and Van Wyk, who rushed for 97 yards, passed for 114 yards, and did a great job running the Jaguars’ triple-option offense, which cranked out 435 yards.
“Nobody expected us to be here – we were underdogs the whole way through,” Graeff said in a near-empty locker room. “But when I wake up (Saturday) morning, it’s going to hurt, because I know we had a great chance to go to the state final.
“But in the long run, I couldn’t be more proud to be a part of this team.”
