Steelton-Highspire moves on to defend title
Written by: David Mika on Saturday, December 6th, 2008. Follow David Mika on Twitter.
ORWIGSBURG – On a cold night in front of 6,600 fans at the Eagles Nest Stadium, it was the defense that shined. Coming into the game, Schuylkill Haven had scored 665 points, but on this night, it was Steelton-Highspire that made the big plays on defense.
No team has held Zach Barket under 200 yards rushing in a game all season, until last night. The Rollers held Barket to 145 yards rushing and one touchdown. With the win by the Rollers (15-0) they move on to defend their state PIAA Class A State Championship next Friday against Clairton who won over Farrell 24-21 Friday night.
Jeremiah Young got the first drive going for Steelton-Highspire. Young capped off the first drive with a 45-yard touchdown run giving the Rollers a 6-0 lead.
The Rollers were off to a good start with 109 total yards of offense in the first quarter. With 11:02 remaining in the first half, star running back Jeremiah Young went down with an ankle injury. Young would watch the rest of the game from the sidelines.
With Young out, who would step up? The answer to that question was the Rollers defense!
The Hurricanes drove inside the Rollers’ 30-yard line three times in the first half, but dropped passes and turnovers hurt their chances. Jordan Perry of Steelton-Highspire blocked Mike Georgevic’s 36-yard field goal attempt.
Schuylkill Haven head coach said, “We had opportunities. Our kids battled and they battled.”
The Rollers weren’t done in the first half. With 52 seconds to go in the half, quarterback Andre Campbell scored on a two-yard plunge into the end zone. Justin Williams’ kick gave the Rollers a 13-0 lead at halftime.
Steelton-Highspire’s head coach Rob Deibler said, “You know our offense really hasn’t been great this year. It’s had a lot of chances because of the defense.”
In the second half the Hurricanes defense stepped up and shut down the Rollers offense. The Rollers were held to 17 yards of total offense in the second half.
The Hurricanes forced a three-and-out on the Rollers’ first possession. Then they blocked a punt that was recovered on the Rollers eight yard line. Two plays later Barket would go in for a four-yard run cutting into the Rollers lead 13-7.
The Hurricanes’ momentum would continue in the fourth quarter when a bad snap to Campbell resulted in a sack in the end zone for a safety. With 11:26 to go in the game the Hurricanes trailed 13-9.
The Hurricanes would drive down to the Steelton-Highspire 29-yard line but Jordan Smith intercepted a Brian Murphy pass ending the Hurricanes drive.
Penalties and turnovers hurt the Hurricanes down the stretch. Farr said, “The penalty kind of put us back on our heels and took the wind out of our sails.”
With 1:22 to go in the game, Campbell fumbled the ball which was recovered by Rob Teijaro at the 17 yard line.
The Rollers defense would step up. Jordan Hill sacked Murphy on the first play to the five-yard line. On the next play Hill chased Murphy into the end zone where Murphy fumbled the ball. It was recovered by William Rozeman in the end zone for a score. The Rollers led 20-9 with 52 seconds to go in the game.
The Hurricanes finished with six turnovers in the game.With the win by the Rollers they moved on to defend their title Friday at 1pm at Hersheypark Stadium. The Rollers are riding a 24-game winning streak.
Barket finish the game with 145 yards and one touchdown. He finished the season with 4,195 yards and 66 touchdowns which qualifies as a new state record. He finished with 8,324 yards for his career.
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December 8th, 2008 at 10:17 pm
i agree taco eater. watch out for haven in two years, murphy, ty naus*, joe king, matt naftzinger,dustin jones,brandon cooper,jake naus,slade bugajinsky they’ll b a big threat.
December 8th, 2008 at 12:13 pm
I woudln’t say the Rollers are as 1 dimensional. They had to throw in a backup, who of course isn’t the calibre player Young is. With Young in the game, that would open up other options because of having to key on him. There would be more of a passing game. Both teams played good defense because only 2 offensive TD’s were really scored. Haven’s TD was really because of the turnover that gave them the ball at the 8 yd line. I think with a week to prepare, if Young can’t go, the offense will look a lot better than last Friday.
December 7th, 2008 at 10:04 pm
In the second half the Hurricanes defense stepped up and shut down the Rollers offense. The Rollers were held to 17 yards of total offense in the second half.
Someone else might be a tad one dimensional as well.Young as does Barkett make a huge difference for these teams.Steel High is the first team to slow Barket but more importantly stop everything else Haven threw at them. Haven receivers dropped a lot of well thrown balls.Steel Highs “D” is very good and managed to stop haven in the red zone on numerous occasions.
Without Young Steel High had little to no offense and those are stats that do not lie.
Good luck Rollers in the State Game. Coal Region will be rooting for you. I hope you get Young back. He’s a tremendous athlete.
December 7th, 2008 at 12:50 am
Regardless of outcome, congrats to Zach Barkett, who according to the NHSFA finished with the second highest rushing AND touchdown total in high school football HISTORY!!!!!
December 6th, 2008 at 9:12 pm
Your right. It is a shame for Steelton that they won’t have Young next week. Haven just couldn’t get anything going, and dropped alot of balls. If Young was there, I think Haven would of been in a world of hurt, and this is coming from a Haven guy. That said, the Haven boys have nothing to be ashamed of, and should hold their heads up high for getting the whole county excited about football again. 25 degrees gametime, and I could count atleast 10 different school jackets walking the stands. Great year Haven, thanks for keeping us excited all year, and watch for Haven in 2 yrs. when Murphy and Fink are seniors.
December 6th, 2008 at 7:58 pm
Be happy Young got hurt or the game would’ve gotten out of hand almost 100 yds before he left with the injury. Didn’t seem like Haven would stop him. You had a nice season, but I stated earlier, being 1-dimensional would come back to get you and it did. Stop Barket (slow him down) and you can beat Haven. The Rollers did just that. Same thing happened with SCA against Riverside, when they stopped SCA in the red zone and forced SCA to throw SCA couldn’t score.
December 6th, 2008 at 7:17 pm
steelhigh u didn’t win the game we lost it.