Published Sunday, Nov. 24, 1996 The Greyhounds responded with a 20-yard Wyatt Campbell field goal 1:20 into the second stanza. The score was set up when McElwain, in punt formation, was swarmed over by T.D. Mitcheltree when the former could not handle a low center snap, providing Wilmington with possession at Tyrone's 17-yard line. Campbell's kick trimmed Wilmington's deficit to 7-3.
On the second play from scrimmage following the ensuing kickoff, Demetrious Rich picked off an Anderson aerial and returned it 18 yards to the Tyrone 37-yard line.
Nine plays later, Smargiasso, on a 3rd-and-11 pass from the 16, split Golden Eagle defenders Owens and Matt Sharer with a laser in the right corner of the end zone that a sliding Shawn Bauer speared. Campbell's conversion afforded Wilmington its lone, and last, lead of the season, 10-7, with 5 1/2 minutes remaining to the intermission. There the score remained until Tyrone's decisive drive.
Wilmington's five second-half possessions ended, respectively, in a fumble, interception, punt, fumble and interception. During its dozen wins, Wilmington outscored foes by a 176-0 aggregate margin during the second half, including 47-0 during D-10 playoff wins over Eisenhower and Northwestern and the opening-round PIAA verdict over Redbank Valley.
The longer he spoke, the more painful the loss became for Verrelli as he referred to a club composed of 13 seniors.
``There's nothing you can; they don't
It was pointed out to the veteran Verrelli that his club was not firing on all cylinders against Tyrone, or for that matter in the last couple weeks. Linebacker T.J. Meese was lost for the duration when he injured a leg in the Sharon game; 816-yard rusher Sammy Koi was a non-entity on offense against Tryone after spraining a knee in last week's win, and Tekac's troublesome right shoulder flared early in the second half, limiting his offensive production to 23 yards rushing on only three carries and one 3-yard reception.
``I think it hurt us, obviously, especially the second half of the game,'' Verrelli asserted. ``Several of those guys were injured and proably shouldn't even have been playing but wanted to go back in and play. But, hey, you know, they're all tough games from here on out. We had our chances and sometimes you just come up short, that's all.
``But it's a great year,'' Verrelli assessed. ``It's just a difficult time when you lose. Obviously it was a tremendous year and we're proud of that. When there's games to be played, nobody wants to lose any of them.''
Notes: On the drive, Tyrone _ which will meet Aliquippa next weekend at a site and time to be announced _ converted a 3rd-and-17 on a 19-yard
PIAA Class AA Quarterfinals
TYRONE.........7 0 0 7 14
WILMINGTON.....0 10 0 0 10
Scoring plays
T _ Owens 9 run (Friday kick)
W _ Campbell 20 field goal
W _ Bauer 16 pass from Smargiasso (Campbell kick)
T _ Owens 10 run (Friday kick)
Team stats
TYRONE....................WILMINGTON
12.........First downs.......10
97..........Rushing yards.......118
128........Passing yards.......62
15-8-1.......Att-comp-int.......15-7-2
1-12.......Sacks-yards lost.......1-2
211.......Total yards.......000
0-0.......Fumbles-lost.......4-2
3-34.......Penalties-yards lost.......3-28
Individual stats
Rushing:
WILMINGTON _ Dudash 10-48, Smargiasso 11-43, Tekac 3-23, Garvin 5-4;
TYRONE _ Owens 21-80, Wyland 9-27, An derson 4-7, McElwain 1-(-19).
Passing:
WILMINGTON _ Smargiasso 15-7-2-62;
TYRONE _ Anderson 15-8-1-128.
Receiving:
WILMINGTON _ Dudash 3- 23, Rich 1-19, Bauer 1-16, Tekac 1-4, Mitcheltree 1-1;
TYRONE _ Wyland 4-76, Sharer 2- 21, Woomer 1-19, Larosa 1-12.
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Updated Nov. 23, 1996.