Published Sunday, Dec. 6, 1998
BACK TO HERALD...
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Tigers' year comes to a sudden halt
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INDIANS GET A LATE TD TO STOP SHARON'S RUN
Herald Sports Writer
SHADY SIDE 7 7 0 7 21 SHARON 7 7 0 0 14 Scoring plays S -- Jackson 54 pass from Valentino (Morocco kick) SSA -- Acie 64 pass from Frederick (kick blocked) SSA -- Acie 45 pass from Frederick (Acie pass from Frederick) S -- Phillips 3 run (Morocco kick) SSA -- Frederick 5 run (Bower kick) Team stats |
Though sometimes perceived as hard-bitten, Wildman's voice cracked and his eyes glistened with emotion as he attempted to address him team following Saturday afternoon's setback at Veterans Memorial Stadium.
In and of itself, the loss was not as galling to Wildman, et al, as the manner in which he perceived it.
With the score knotted at 14 and 1:27 remaining in the fourth frame, Shady Side quarterback Adam Frederick's fourth-and-3 pass from Sharon's 34-yard was intended for 6-foot-5 Maurio Medley.
However, officials ruled Medley was interfered with by Sharon's Marlin Jackson, affording Shady Side a first down at the Tigers' 15.
Three plays later, Frederick, flushed out of the pocket on first-and-goal from the 5-yard line, sprinted to his left and dived for the pylon before he was driven out of bounds for the decisive score.
"You tell your kids all year long, 'A call doesn't beat you; you've gotta respond from it,' '' Wildman began. "But when it gives them a first down at the 10-yard line, and our kids shut the (Medley) kid out, essentially, all day except for one pass. ... (Jackson's) got inside coverage on him, No. 88 (Medley) is behind him, goes up over top of him, if anything ...
"You saw the call. Everybody here saw the call,'' Wildman lamented.
"It was holding. The shirt, I saw the shirt go,'' Shady Side head coach Art Walker said. "Not an issue at all. It was holding. There was a lot of holding going on during the game, I guess both ways, and it wasn't called, so they just didn't call holding. They could've called holding up front an awful lot. But that, to me, I saw that, that was a shirt, no question about it.''
The pivotal play was set up by Jarius Acie, who tallied Shady Side's first pair of touchdowns on 64- and 45-yard scoring strikes from Frederick, then applied the clincher.
After forcing a Frederick punt, Sharon assumed possession at its own 48-yard line with 9:17 remaining.
Ten plays later, despite an illegal procedure penalty, the Tigers drove to Shady Side's 15 with 3:51 left and called on freshman placekicker Jim Morocco for a 22-yard field-goal attempt.
However, Acie shot in from the end and smothered the kick, which was recovered and returned by Frederick to the Indians' 37-yard line.
"I came from the left end, and Adam Frederick took in-between the tackle and the wing, and he occupied those two and I just came from the end and laid out,'' Acie explained. "I was in there on the two (point-after) touchdowns that they had, but just missed it. Third time's a charm.''
Acie entered the contest as the Indians' second-leading receiver, having hauled in only a third as many receptions as Medley. However, he twice tamed the Tigers' youthful secondary. The first occurred on a second-and-10 situation from Shady Side's 36-yard line and Sharon leading 7-0. Frederick used a play-action fake to freeze the Tigers' defense and Acie hauled the aerial in stride.
The second score, which provided the Indians with a 12-7 margin, culminated a 12-play, 87-yard, 5-minute, 35-second march on a third-and-5 play from Sharon's 45-yard line. The play again was set up by Frederick's handiwork.
"We've been hiding him all year,'' Walker quipped. "Last year he was AA player of the year, and this year we just haven't gotten him the ball and, really, I take as much blame as anyone. But for some reason, we just haven't gotten him the ball the way we should have. Thank God today he came out. I think he had only three or four receptions today (5 for 131 yards), but he's a helluva receiver, he's a very good receiver, Outstanding.''
Sharon had taken a shocking 7-0 lead less then two full minutes into the contest against a Shady Side team that had yielded only 99 points all season. On a third-and-10 play from his own 46-yard line, senior signal-caller Jeff Valentino used his own play-action ball fake and launched a 54-yard scoring strike to Marlin Jackson. Morocco converted for the 65th time this season.
Shady Side responded 23 seconds later on the first of the Frederick-to-Acie aerials, but Sharon's Russell Porterfield blocked Ashley Bower's conversion kick, preserving a 7-6 Tigers' margin.
Trailing 14-7 with 9:58 remaining in the half, Sharon embarked on a 9-play, 73-yard drive that culminated in T.J. Phillips' 33rd TD of the campaign, a 3-yard jaunt around left end. Phillips toted the ball five times for 52 yards on the march en route to a 32-carry, 187-yard performance. Morocco's second successful conversion with 6:07 remaining until intermission knotted the count at 14.
The Tigers' best second-half scoring opportunity occurred after Mike Roberson pressured Frederick into a hurried fourth-down throw to Acie that fell incomplete at Sharon's 27-yard line with 2:49 left in the third.
Sharon's ensuing 10 plays, highlighted by a 32-yard Valentino-to-Bear Shimrack pass on a third-and-13 play, advanced the ball to Shady Side's 26-yard line. However, on a fourth-and-13 attempt from the Indians' 26-yard line, Valentino's pass down the middle was hauled in by Shimrack for an apparent first down, but the latter fumbled at the 4-yard line 44 seconds into the fourth frame and Acie recovered.
In all, the Tigers committed three turnovers, fumbling the ball on seven occasions and twice losing it.
"You look back, you can look at that call. But, hey, maybe a couple critical mistakes at some other times, but that happens,'' Wildman said.
"There's no question,'' Wildman (177-69-6) responded when asked if this year's club has been the best in his 22-year Tigers' tenure. "This group wanted to go (to state) and they believed could go and they played hard enough today to go. But we're going home.''
Notes: Of his seniors, including Valentino, Phillips, Shimrack, Roberson, Ralph Odem, Jon Murray, Chris Anderson, Jesse Coon, Derrick Lee, George Achenbach, Mike Steiner, John Alan Anderson, Josh Bacon, Ashten Beach, James Houser, Joe Ondich, Robbie Martell, Jim Nelson and Brandon Steib, Wildman said, "It's been a great group. They've been the heart and soul. I mean, this team had a personality, and they played with the personality that they practiced with. I can honestly say I didn't have one discipline problem in the 17 weeks that we were together. And I'm gonna say this,'' Wildman added in conclusion of the '98 Tigers (12-2), "This team of players and coaches, in the last four weeks, has dealt with a lot of distractions. Those distractions have been, for the most part, of a personal and health-related issue with members of players' family and coaches and their families. And our team has overcome the obstacles that have been put in front of us all year. But we couldn't overcome that last interference call.'' ... Phillips finished the season with 2,275 yards, the fourth-best single-season mark in county history. He finished his career with 6,241 yards on the ground. ... Shady Side Academy (14-0) will meet Mount Carmel (13-1) Saturday at noon at Hershey Stadium for the AA crown.
