DISTRICT 4: South gets past North in Overtime Thriller

Written by: Matt Beltz on Saturday, June 24th, 2023. Follow Matt Beltz on Twitter.

WILLIAMSPORT – Carson Persing finished his outstanding career last fall at Danville in second place in District 4 history in nearly all receiving categories, behind only Julian Fleming. In fact, Persing caught 24 touchdowns in his senior season, which broke the previous mark of 23 originally set by Fleming just three years prior, and sits in third place in state history for both careers receiving yards and career touchdown catches.

So, it was fitting that Persing capped off his high school football career by catching the final pass thrown his way, this one a two-point conversion to put the cap on a 9-7 double overtime win for his South squad over the North in the annual District 4 Football Coaches Association Senior All-Star game.

The modified all-star game rules allowed for two, two-point conversion opportunities for each team following a single traditional overtime period, and on the South’s first two-point try, Persing hauled in a pass from Shamokin’s Brett Nye to end the game.

“We talked it through which route I was going to have and I knew that route was going to be open with how they were playing defense and how they’re limited playing man coverage, so it was just going out there, seeing alignment and executing my route was all I had to do and get open and catch the ball,” said Persing, who is bound for Lafayette in the Patriot League in the fall.

Last year, in the return of this all-star game following a two-year hiatus, the South squad was shut out 36-0 by the North when the game was played at Danville. Persing was among those in the crowd at last year’s game and was motivated to make sure his team this year didn’t suffer a similar result.

“We certainly didn’t want to lose 36-0. We had a good team with talented kids and so did the North team,” said Persing. “We knew it was going to be a physical game and seeing it last year helped us prepare ourselves, so to come out here and execute and win is big for your last high school game.”

Persing hauled in 10 catches for 136 yards, not including the last catch on the two-point conversion, to earn overall game MVP honors. Tossing him the ball for most of the night and picking up South offensive MVP honors was quarterback Brett Nye of Shamokin, who completed 17-of-33 passes for 174 yards and a touchdown.

“I worked out with Brett in the offseason the last couple of years since we’re local guys and he’s a good quarterback, so just coming back for the week and getting used to it and things went pretty smooth this week,” said Persing.

Early on, it looked like it might be a shootout rather than a defensive struggle. But after the North squad scored a touchdown on its first possession of the game, they wouldn’t find the end zone again on the night and were plagued by a couple of missed field goals. The South, meanwhile, had a long 13-play drive on their first possession of the game stall despite taking nearly half of the first quarter.

The North countered by Canton’s Weston Bellows finding Jersey Shore’s Kooper Peacock on a beautifully thrown pass down the right sideline that Peacock caught in full stride and raced two defenders all the way to the end zone to put the North up 7-0.

Breck Miller of Jersey Shore then came up short on a 45-yard field goal attempt on the North’s next possession early in the second quarter, and from there, the South took advantage, going 80 yards in nine plays capped by Nye’s seven-yard touchdown pass to Danville’s Mason Raup to tie the game. Persing, who was not a kicker during his high school career, nonetheless showcased his outstanding athleticism by serving as the South’s placekicker and successfully converting the PAT.

Neither squad was able to get back into the end zone after that. The North’s Austin Allen of Canton and Corbin Frey of Montoursville made interceptions on the South’s last two first-half possessions while the South blocked a North punt and also picked up an interception when CMVT’s Shane Tomlinson picked off Bellows in the end zone just before the half.

Miller again came up just shy on a 33-yard field goal attempt for the North early in the fourth quarter.

In the traditional overtime, the South came up short on its first possession as Nye tossed three straight incompletions following a yard gain on first down. The North then appeared to have won the game as Jersey Shore’s Brady Jordan ran it into the end zone on the first play, but it got called back due to a holding call. The North then fumbled and recovered but lost seven more yards and despite Jordan picking up 20 on third down, elected to forgo another field goal attempt on fourth down and the South stopped Jordan for a loss on fourth down.

The North attempted its two-point conversion first, and Bellows was barely stopped just shy of the goal line after scrambling when the pocket collapsed.

South 9, North 7, 2OT

Final	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	OT	2OT	T
South	0	7	0	0	0	2	9
North	7	0	0	0	0	0	7

First quarter

5:25 – (N) Kooper Peacock 71-yard pass from Weston Bellows (Breck Miller kick), 3-74, 1:31

Second quarter

7:09 – (S) Mason Raup 7-yard pass from Brett Nye (Carson Persing kick), 9-80, 2:55

Second overtime

:00 – (S) Carson Persing pass from Brett Nye

Statistics
                             S                       N
First downs                      17 9
Rushes-net yards          31-44 26-139
Passing yardage             237 125
Passing                      21-42-1-2 10-22-1-1

Fumbles-lost 0-0 2-0

Penalties-yards 4-40 4-35

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING — South: Isaac Schaeffer-Neitz (Shikellamy) (13-31), Toby Zajac (CMVT) (9-11), Greyson Shaud (Central Columbia) (2-7), Brett Nye (Shamokin) (2-1), Carson Persing (Danville) (2-(-2)), Jon Melendez (Mifflinburg) (1-6), Luke Kaiser (Hughesville) (1-(-5)), TEAM (1-(-5)); North: Brady Jordan (Jersey Shore) (8-14), Weston Bellows (Canton) (6-66), Nasir Hennigan (Williamsport) (5-30), Riley Parker (Canton) (5-28), Kooper Peacock (Jersey Shore) (1-3), Matthew Conklin (Montoursville) (1-(-2))

PASSING — South: Brett Nye (Shamokin) (17-33-174-1-1), Luke Kaiser (Hughesville) (4-9-63-0-1); North: Weston Bellows (6-12-87-1-1), Brady Jordan (Jersey Shore) (4-9-38-0-0), TEAM (0-1-0-0-0)

RECEIVING — South: Carson Persing (Danville) (10-136), Ryder Zulkowski (Shamokin) (5-67), Jake Toczulousky (Southern Columbia) (2-15), Nick Rice (Selinsgrove) (2-11), Mason Raup (Danville) (1-7-1), Brett Nye (Shamokin) (1-1); North: Kooper Peacock (Jersey Shore) (4-121-1), Sam Lawrence (North Penn-Mansfield) (1-20), Luke Horton (Athens) (1-3), Breck Miller (Jersey Shore) (1-1), Nasir Hennigan (Williamsport) (1-0), Connor Griffin (Jersey Shore) (1-(-2)), Matthew Conklin (Montoursville) (1(-5))

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