Maryland wins BIG 33 Thriller in 2OT

Written by: EasternPAFootball.com Staff on Sunday, June 15th, 2014. Follow EasternPAFootball.com Staff on Twitter.

When Reggie White Jr. saw the ball coming at him he did what was expected of an all star receiver, he caught the ball. His touchdown catch in the 2nd OT helped Maryland defeat Pennsylvania in the Big 33 game for the first time since 1991. “Oh man, it was a great game. I had a blast all week” said White of his experience. With tears in his eyes he told me what the week really meant to him. “I never expected it to be like this, the whole buddy experience came as a total surprise to me. You get so close to your buddy and that intensifies your bond with your team. I’ll never forget this.”

The 31-24 victory didn’t surprise Maryland head coach Brian Van Deusen. “Last year we came up here and got embarrassed. Those kids didn’t really know the meaning of this game. This year we tried to instill the importance of the game. We picked a really special bunch of kids and they responded”.

Maryland got of to a fast start opening up a 24-0 lead, but PA stormed back with 24 unanswered points of it’s own in the first ever double OT in Big 33 history. Game MVP Chase Edmonds got the scoring started for Pennsylvania with a 28 yard TD run. Maxwell Football Club award winner Mark Pyles added to the scoring with a 20-yard run and PSU bound Joe Julius’ 20 yard field goal tied the game with just over 1 minute remaining to send the game to overtime.

Christian Lezzer of Clearfield will use the experience to help him be a better player and teammate at Boston College. “I learned so much in this short week. It’s such a different game playing with and against people that all have extremely good talent”.

Noah Beh of Scranton Prep will also cherish the experience. “We had fun, and that’s what this game is about. This and our buddies. We all connected with our buddies. High school football is over now and it’s off to Penn State for me. I’ll cherish this experience”.

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One Response to “Maryland wins BIG 33 Thriller in 2OT”

1. Paul Sausmann says:
   June 17th, 2014 at 2:18 pm

   well hopefully this isn’t a sign of whats to come with the Big 33 but I have a feeling this game is about done. The only thing that might save this game would be a new format that might attract some fans and interest of top notch players. The sad part is this; 21 out of 25 of PA top players did NOT partake in the game. 20 out of 25 of Marylands top guys did not play. I was at this game and the attendance was poor to say the least, probably the worst I have ever seen at the Big 33.

   Here’s the fix – open this game up to “Juniors Only/Seniors-to-be” and make it a Western PA v Eastern PA game. This will do two very important things; first all top notch players will play since they are going to be able to showcase what they will have their senior season and cause more fans going to their games to see them throughout the regular season. Second, an all-PA all-star game would fill Hershey and probably cause standing-room only for many of the games. Who cares about MD or OH players, we dont’ know them or see them throughout the season so again who cares about them. All PA players would bring everyone to the game because these are players we will now see all season (b/c its juniors playing now instead of out going seniors) and know from the previous seasons.

   I for one will find it hard to go back to another Big 33 game from here on out. Don’t care for another game either to be honest, its lost its luster.

   I hope someone with some sense can step in and save this game!!!