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Williamsport wins OT thriller over a very tough Shikellamy Brave team

Written by: on Saturday, September 23rd, 2017. Follow EasternPAFootball.com Staff on Twitter.

 

Two heavyweights shake hands before battle

Shikellamy Brave Head Coach Todd Tilford broke his teams post-game huddle, walked two yards and bent over. He stood there at the 40 yard line like that for about thirty seconds, then he stood up, turned around to look at the scoreboard, turned backed to me and let out a winded “WHEW”, That was a classic game man, we just came up a little bit short.”  The class 4A Braves traveled to Williamsport and arrived in the roll of the mighty David, about to take on a recently awakened Goliath, the 6A Millionaires. The battle lasted 3 hours, only this time David left without the win, but their heads were held high after a 45-38 double overtime loss.

After holding Williamsport to 3 plays and forcing a punt, the Braves lined up at their own 23. With Tate Krankoskie behind center, RB Joe Folk went in motion to the left, stopped, turned toward his QB and waited for the snap. Seventy three yards later the Braves took the first lead of the night, a lead that would last through nearly three quarters. “Heavyweight fight, guys standing there slugging” said Millionaire Head Coach Charles Crew.

 

“Spark the fire, coach said Im the one couls spark the fire so I did. I just had to go crazy, didn’t play in two games and I wanted to go crazy” said Folk of his 103 yard, 2 td effort on 18 carries.

The Braves landed punch after punch in the first quarter, holding Williamsport to negative yardage for the first 12 minutes of the game. Another three and out led to a 35 yard field goal from Aiden Cooper to put Shikellamy up 10-0. They nearly delivered the knockout punch when, after a bad snap to the quarterback, the Millionaires lined up to punt from their endzone. That snap too went high and the punter scrambled but only got to the 5 yard line. Williamsport linebacker Ethan Williams snagged a tipped pass at the goal line to stop the threat.  Sophomore quarterback Joe Fagnano brought his team to the line, barked, handed the ball to Lamelle Jackson, then led his team on a masterful 95 yard scoring drive. Blaze Mcclements ended that drive with a powerful 9 yard grind to the 1, dragging Shikellamy lineman Aaron Keeler 7 yards to the goal line. Then he finished it off to make it 10-7 with 3:11 left in the second quarter.

 

The Brave struck back quickly. Gabe Tilford hit Krankoskie for a 52 yard pass play to the Millionaire 5, the Folk carried the ball into the endzone. Cooper hit the pat to put the Braves up 17-7 with 2:04 left in the first half. With the struggles on offense, Crew changed it up and went to a hurry offense. Starting at their 31, Fagnano first hit Ethen Stryker for a 19 yard gaing, Brock Moyer for 4, Stryker for 2, Tanner Esposito for 11, then he found Stryker in the corner of the endzone with just 11 second remaining in the half. 17-14 Braves led at the break. “That’s a good football team there. They had more kids going two ways and they just wore our kids down” said Tilford.

 

“Luckily we had a sophomore make a game changing play. It’s a good feeling to know you have that kinda player” said Crew of his sophomore qb. “We have 2 more years to coach him up, he’s going to be good.”

The third quarter saw both teams throwing punches, neither team landing one until late in the third quarter. Williamsport drove 67 yards to the Brave five, and Fagnano had his second of five tds on the night to put the Millionaires in front for the first time, 21-17 with 1:50 left in the quarter. The Braves landed the next blow, a 37 yard scoring strike from Tilford to tight end Josh Kreiger making it 24-21 Braves to end the third.  It was at the miway point of the 4th when the Millionaires landed a shocking blow. Ethan Williams blocked a Brave punt at the 28, and Williamsport tied the game with this kick from Angelo Girardi:

 

From there, neither team was able to score. In overtime, the Braves struck first as Tilford scored from the one, then Fagnano made a leaping effort on the Millionaire possession to force the second overtime. After Fagnano, who was Fagnano 19-23 for 227 yards with 3 TDs., found Macus Simmons in the end zone to start the 2nd OT, the Millionaire defense came up big. The Braves called time out on fourth down, and when the snap hit Tilfords hands the defense swarmed forcing a desperate throw that landed short of the endzone.

 

Quote worthy:

“I’m not even feelin down man, especially since we lost to a 6A team that lost in the state playoffs, so I think we did pretty good!” Joe Folk

“We have a nice 1/2 punch, no tears here, we played a big 6A team on the road, our kids will now realize we can play with anyone on our schedule. Just so proud of our kids and how they battled all night” Shikellamy coach Tilford

“They were comin off a huge win, we were coming off a disappointing loss. It’s a roller coaster. Its like drinking a beer through a straw. You got the taste but you didn’t get what you wanted. ” Coach Crew

Williamsport will load up and head to undefeated Scranton next week, while Shikellamy comes back into their own weight bracket travelling to Shamokin

Scoring Summary

1st QUARTER

S-Folk 73 pass from Krankoskie (Gittens kick), 9:47

S-Cooper 31 field goal 2:36

2nd QUARTER

W-Mcclements 1 run (Angelo Girardi kick) 3:11

S-Folk 5 run (Gittens kick) 2:04

W-Stryker 13 pass from Joe Fagnano (Girardi kick) 11.4

3rd QUARTER

W-Fagnano 5 run (Girardi kick) 1:50

S-Kreiger 37 pass from Gabe Tilford (Gittens kick) 40.2

4th QUARTER

W -Girardi 22 field goal 7:40

 W- Jackson 21 pass from Fagnano (Girardi kick) 3:09

S—Tilford 3 run (Gittens kick) 32.5

OVERTIME

S-Tilford 1 run (Gittens kick)

W-Fagnano 7 run (Girardi kick)

SECOND OVERTIME

W-Simmons 10 pass from Fagnano (Girardi kick)

RUSHING: Shikellamy: Gabe Tilford 16-53, TD; Joe Folk 18-103, TD; Lucas Tilford 1-3; Josh Krieger 1-2; Tate Krankoskie 1-4. Williamsport: Blaze Mcclements 13-81, TD; Latrelle Jackson 17-59; Joe Fagnano 19-25, TD; Marcus Simmons 5-12.

PASSING: Shikellamy: Gabe Tilford 4-13-2, 83 yds, TD; Tate Krankoskie 1-4-0, 73 yds, TD. Williamsport: Joe Fagnano 19-23-0, 227, 3 TDs.

RECEIVING: Shikellamy: Lucas Tilford 2-15; Josh Krieger 1-37, TD; Joe Folk 1-73, TD; Tate Krankoskie, 1-32. Williamsport: Marcus Simmons, 7-60, TD; Ethen Stryker 5-75; Tanner Esposito 3-33; Latrell Jackson 3-43, TD.

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