Throughout the week of practice leading up to the 19th Lezzer Lumber Classic, the three Golden Eagles kept saying how sweet it would be to walk of the Gray Field one last time a winner. With two minutes to go, it didn\u2019t look good for the home team, but Tyrone quarterback Tyler Mertiff and Altoona receiver Brendan Perretta changed all of that with one hook and go on the final South offensive play that ended in the endzone.
\nThe comparisons are endless. Michael Jordan hitting the final shot in the NBA Championship. Joe Carter hitting the game winning home run to win the World Series. The game may not have been at that scale, but to a high school kid in Central Pennsylvania, the Lezzer Lumber game is big.
\n\u201cI told our trainer (Craig Sechler) on the sideline that with 1:51 left, there was still plenty of time left,\u201d said Mertiff on the final drive. \u201cCoach (John) Franco called a hitch and go. I came out and Perretta was in one-on-one coverage, I pump faked and he was wide open and made the catch. That is why he is All-State and going to the Big 33 game.\u201d
\nTo finish your high school career on your home field with the final throw to be a touchdown pass to win the game had to be special for Mertiff.
\n\u201cThis is the best thing to ever happen to me in football besides winning the State Championship,\u201d said Mertiff. \u201cNot many kids can say they won their last game on their home field, let alone an All-Star game on the last pass they ever threw in their high school career. It is pretty special.\u201d
\nAfter a scoreless first quarter, Punxsutawney quarterback Joe Martin led the North All-Stars on a five-play 35-yard drive, culminating with Martin hitting Justin Wilson of Central Mountain for a 14-yard touchdown pass. Adam Andrasko of West Branch added the PAT and the North had a 7-0 lead.
\nWith the clock winding down in the second quarter and the South offense struggling, Sean Pacifico brought the South squad into the huddle with :55 seconds remaining in the half. On the first play, Pacifico fired deep to All-State wide receiver Brendan Perretta. After the catch, Perretta, who will be walking on at Penn State this fall, side-stepped two North defenders and easily trotted into the endzone. Tom Foor, a Notre Dame walk-on, booted the PAT to tie the score at 7-7 to end the scoring in the first half.
\nAfter a scoreless third quarter, it was Foor who would give the South their first lead. The Bishop Guilfoyle kicker booted a 43-yard field goal to give the South a 10-7 lead.
\nThe North came rumbling right back.
\nDave Richards, who ran for over 2,000 at Clearfield last season broke through the line, spun off a tough hit in the South secondary and cruised in for a 46–yard touchdown run. Andrasko added the PAT and the North held a 14-10 lead.
\nPacifico tried to lead the South squad down the field, but was sacked on a fourth down pass attempt to turnover the ball to the North.
\nNorth head coach Chris Dworek tried to run the clock out. Martin was dropped for a loss of one on first down. Richards gained six on second down to bring up a third and five with just over two minutes remaining. Richards came through the line and was stopped by the penetrating South defense for no gain and the North had to punt with 1:45 remaining.
\nNorth punter Andrasko had the snap sail over his head and roll 20-yards behind him. Andrasko reached down grabbed the ball and punted the ball to the South 42-yard line to set up the final drive for the South.
\nOffensive coordinator John Franco, Tyrone\u2019s head coach sent Mertiff on the field to lead the final chance for the South squad.
\nAfter an incomplete pass to Foor on first down and a center screen for a loss of three yards to Perretta on second down, Mertiff threw for Huntingdon\u2019s Jon Riley down the seem. Riley didn\u2019t look back for the ball and the pass fell incomplete setting up a fourth down and 13. Mertiff, dropped in the shotgun, looked right and found Forr on for a 15-yard gain to move the chains and keep the drive alive. On first down, Mertiff hit Perretta on a hitch for seven yards to set up the final offensive play of his high school career. After receiving the shotgun snap, Mertiff pumped right as Perretta hitched then fired deep to Perretta who made the catch in the endzone to give the South the lead. Foor added the PAT to give the South a 17-14 lead with :36 seconds left.
\nThe North tried to make a comeback, but Cole Cook of Brookville\u2019s pass was intercepted by Altoona\u2019s Joey Kleiner to put the final nail in the coffin. Mertiff would take a knee twice and the South would walk off of Gray-Veterans Memorial Field 17-14 winners in the final high school football game for most of the players.
\nTyrone head coach John Franco was happy to see the Lezzer Classic played at Gray Field.
\n\u201cIt was really nice to play here,\u201d said Franco. \u201cIt is a nice setting and it is centrally located. We have such a great facility and I hope we can keep it.
\nFranco had the tough task of juggling three great quarterbacks in Altoona\u2019s Kleiner, BG\u2019s Pacifico and Mertiff.
\n\u201cWe had three great quarterbacks who all deserved to play quarterback,\u201d said Franco. \u201cJuggling three QB\u2019s isn\u2019t conducive to a consistent offense. The thing that was amazing was that we didn\u2019t throw an interception or have any fumbles by our backs or receivers. The offensive line came through when we needed them to provide protection.\u201d
\nMertiff along with Brian McManigal and Dan Grazier played their final game on Gray Field and Franco had plenty of praise for all three.
\n\u201cThese kids are winners,\u201d said Franco. \u201cI was so privileged to coach them one more time. They made it so much fun last year. If I was going to diagram what I wanted in a football player, Tyler, Danny and Brian would be the role models I would use. They are what football players in high school should be.\u201d
\nBellwood-Antis receiver Ryan Myers had one catch for the South squad for 13 yards.
\nNotes: Shippensburg recruit Dave Richards, ran for 111 yards on 12 carries to win the offensive MVP for the North. Perretta hauled in eight passes for 130 yards to win the South offensive MVP… John Altemus of Clearfield (North) and Matt Davis of Hollidaysburg (South) were named defensive MVP\u2019s by the media who covered the classic… Kerry Blaisure of Punxsutawney (North) and Tom Forr of Bishop Guilfoyle (South) were winners of scholarships. Nick Yocum of State College and Dimitri Patitsas of Huntingdon, were winners of the co-Sponsor scholarships. Cory Bailor of Curwensville and Drew Aurand of Mount Union, were awarded scholarships from the Central Pennsylvania Coaches Association scholarship. The first Lezzer Lumber Classic at Gray-Veterans Memorial Field, attendance was estimated at nearly 4,000. There were over 5,000 tickets sold for the game, but with Saturday\u2019s afternoon rain, many stayed home.
\nLezzer Lumber Classic
\nat Gray-Veterans Memorial Field, Tyrone
\nSouth 17, North 14
\nScore by quarters
\nSouth – 0 7 0 10 – 17
\nNorth – 0 7 0 7 – 14
\nScoring summary
\nSecond quarter
\nNorth – Justin Wilson (CM) 14 pass from Joe Martin (P). Adam Andrasko (WB) PAT. N 7-0.
\nSouth – Brendan Perretta (A) 52 pass from Sean Pacifico (BG). Tom Forr (BG) PAT. 7-7.
\nFourth quarter
\nSouth – Tom Forr (BG) 43 Field Goal. S 10-7
\nNorth – Dave Richards (C) 46 run. Andrasko (WB) PAT. N 14-10
\nSouth – Perretta (A) 36 pass from Tyler Mertiff (T). Forr (BG) PAT. S 17-14\/
\nIndividual Statistics
\nRushing
\nSouth: Matt Fetzer (IV) 7-26, Thad Mitchell (A) 4-13, Jon Riley (H) 3-8, Joey Kleiner (A) 4-4, Tyler Mertiff (T) 1-(-4), Sean Pacifico (BG) 2-(-14).
\nNorth: Dave Richards (C) 12-111, Curt Varner (SC) 11-58, Jason Ganter (SC) 1-3, Cole Cook (B) 6-1, Joe Martin (P) 3-(-3).
\nPassing
\nSouth: Tyler Mertiff (T) 9-18 95 1 TD, 0 Int.; Sean Pacifico (BG) 7-15 132 1 TD, O Int.; Joey Kleiner (A) 1-6 (-4) O TD, 0 Int.
\nNorth: Cole Cook (B) 9-17 92, 0 TD 1 Int.; Joe Martin (P) 8-13 87 1 TD, 0 Int.; Curt Varner (SC) 0-1 0, 0 TD, 1 Int.
\nReceiving
\nSouth: Brendan Perretta (A) 8-130, Tom Forr (BG) 4-59, Dan Grazier (T) 2-13, Ryan Myers (BA) 1-13, Tim Lee (PC) 1-7, Thad Mitchell (A) 1-3.
\nNorth: Justin Wilson (CM) 6-89, Corey Santoriello (B) 6-62, Todd Passmore (MV) 2-7, Ryan Smeltzer (BE) 2-7, Curt Varner (SC) 1-13.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Throughout the week of practice leading up to the 19th Lezzer Lumber Classic, the three Golden Eagles kept saying how sweet it would be to walk of the Gray Field one last time a winner. With two minutes to go, it didn\u2019t look good for the home team, but Tyrone quarterback Tyler Mertiff and Altoona […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-46213","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports-news-in-the-tyrone-pennsylvania-area"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46213","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=46213"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46213\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=46213"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=46213"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=46213"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}