Canon-Mac pulls out wild one over PT
petersfootball
Celeste Van Kirk/Observer-Reporter
Celeste Van Kirk/Observer-Reporter
Senior running back Josh O’Hare and Canon-McMillan are aiming for their first playoff appearance since 2008.
Celeste Van Kirk/Observer-Reporter
Canon-McMillan’s Blake Joseph, left, and Trejahn Lewis try to tackle Peters Township’s Corban Hondru during Friday night’s game.
Celeste Van Kirk/Observer-Reporter
Peters Township’s Adrian Williams gets tackled Friday night by Canon-McMillan’s Nathan Zanardelli, left, and Alec Hendal.
Celeste Van Kirk/Observer-Reporter
Peters Township’s Jacob Macosko fumbles the football as Canon-McMillan’s Anthony Zanolia, left, Trejahn Lewis and Dillon O’Donoghue battle to gain possession Friday night.
Peters Township’s Josh Casilli carries the football Friday night against Canon-Mcmillan.
McMURRAY – Sometimes players and coaches will go to extremes to win a football game. Then there’s Canon-McMillan coach Mike Evans.
He’d have given anything to beat Peters Township. Not just because it’s a rivalry game, but because, in his words, it was the next game.
Well, Evans better be ready to cash out.
Canon-McMillan survived a late rally and held off its neighborly rivals to earn a thrilling 35-26 victory Friday at Peters Township High School behind Josh O’Hare’s mammoth 212-yard rushing performance.
“To me, I would’ve sold my soul to the devil to win this game, then backstab him and keep winning,” said Evans, who is a Peters Township graduate. “I would’ve done anything in the world to win this game. It was a big game for us. This is Peters Township. They’re right next door to us.”
The Big Macs (2-3) led throughout, from Drew Engel’s pick-six interception return of a Logan Pfeuffer pass, to the end, but that lead was in serious jeopardy late in the contest.
Ryan Magiske scored his second touchdown of the game for the Indians (4-2), but, after an earlier missed point-after try, Peters Township needed to go for two points, trailing 28-26 with 4:19 to go.
Pfeuffer rolled out on the two-point try, but his pass fell just short at the goal line, and the Big Macs survived for the moment, but still needed to kill the clock.
Indians coach T.J. Plack elected to kick off to the Big Macs, and that’s when Canon-McMillan was able to salt the game away. But it took some doing.
Enter O’Hare.
O’Hare carried the ball four straight times, leading to a third-and-four play at the Big Macs’ 39. Then the Big Macs made the call that essentially won the game, choosing a play-action fake pass, and quarterback Jon Quinque lobbed a pass to a wide-open Alec Hendal, who rumbled 38 yards for a huge first down.
On the next play, O’Hare capped things off with a 23-yard touchdown run, his third of the game.
“Josh is special,” said Evans. “He comes in here, runs hard, and I’m telling you, Peters Township is well-coached defensively, and Josh just breaks tackles. It comes down to a one-on-one, and Josh wins a lot of them.”
Few people were probably happier for the final O’Hare touchdown run than Evans, who made a gutsy call earlier in the fourth quarter, up 28-20, with a fourth-and-five at the Peters Township 22.
Electing to go for it, O’Hare was stopped on a short passing play, and Peters Township quickly marched down the field to make the score to 28-26.
“I’m not giving the game to them,” said Evans. “I’ve done that too much in the last three years. I’ve had too many times where I play it safe and it’s come back. I don’t want to do that anymore, so we took a shot.”
In the losing effort, Pfeuffer completed 22 of 28 passes for 304 yards and two touchdowns.
“I would’ve liked it if he had about 450,” joked Plack. “He’s a great young man and a leader. You had two good teams out here battling. We lost the turnover battle, and that’s exactly what it came down to.”
Quinque also had a nice passing game, throwing for 198 yards on 13 of 21 passing.
Adrian Williams rushed for 107 yards on 14 carries for the Indians.
“It’s murder to prepare for these guys,” said Evans.
“They are so well-coached. I am mentally and physically exhausted.”