SHARPSVILLE, Pa. (WKBN) – On Friday night, Sharpsville traveled to Wilmington for our Game of the Week and it turned out to be an instant classic.
With just under a minute to play, Wilmington took their first lead of the game when they scored a touchdown and converted the two-point conversion to take a 42-41 lead.
“When they scored honestly I’m not going to lie, I was kind of like, we’re really down right here, like what are we going to do?” Sharpsville senior quarterback Caullin Summers said.
The Blue Devils had led the Greyhounds wire-to-wire before seeing a 21-point lead disappear in the second half.
“It was depressing to be ahead the whole game and then with 45 seconds left to be behind by one,” Sharpsville head coach Paul Piccirilli said. “But when you have a guy like we have [at quarterback] and guys that can catch it, you have a chance.”
“I have heart and I always want to win and I still I always think we can win no matter what the situations are,” Summers said. “So I’m calm on the sideline like, alright, what can we do? How can we win this game?”
After the kick return, the Sharpsville offense took the field with less than 40 seconds to play.
“Coach Grandy had the play where he was faking it to Dalton because he had nine catches for 200 some yards,” Coach Piccirilli said.
On the first play of the drive, Summers pump faked the screen to Byerly and launched one deep downfield to Aiden Puskar, who then made two Greyhound defenders miss before scoring the game-winning touchdown.
“We’ve been running the screen play all night and they bit on it,” Summers said. “They thought he was getting the ball because he’d been hurting them all night.”
Byerly had racked up eight catches for over 200 yards and three touchdowns on the day up to that point.
“In the first quarter, I had two touchdowns, so they were all like focused on me,” Byerly said. “Then, you know, Puskar like Caullin said, he hasn’t been really playing much and you make that big play and that cut.”
The play worked to perfection, all Summers had to do was hang in the pocket in the face of barreling pass rushers, and deliver the perfect ball.
“I got destroyed, my legs hurt so bad for that like, I honestly couldn’t get up, I’m sitting there like my head’s on the turf then I hear the crowd going nuts and I’m like, wow, he caught the ball,” Summers said. “I get up, I see him make the move on the safety could get in a touchdown, it was like the craziest thing I’ve ever seen in my life.”
“We both looked up at the same time, we see Puskar celebrating in the end zone and it was kind of a surreal feeling.”
A feeling that won’t be leaving the Blue Devils any time soon…
“You can’t count on winning all the time, but it’s nice to have one here every once in a while,” Piccirilli said.
“A win alone is a great feeling but winning like that is an even better feeling,” Summers said. “One of the best feelings you ever have as a high schooler.”
The Blue Devils (1-0) will take on Titusville in week two in their home opener at James McCracken Field.
