Spring-Ford stuns State College on late TD
It took shots to the jaw throughout the game.
Never wilting, Spring-Ford made sure it landed the knockout punch in a 28-25 victory over State College that saw three lead changes in the final eight minutes.
“I just talked in there (locker room) about resilience,” Spring-Ford head coach Chad Brubaker said. “Resilience is a huge thing for teenagers. We made a ton of mistakes in the first half but our kids didn’t get down, our kids just kept battling and it was great to see kids picking each other up.”
“We were extremely resilient,” Spring-Ford quarterback Ricky Venuto said. “We never gave up, we were dedicated to get the win. Football is about being smart and having heart, we had both tonight.”
Venuto sparked the Rams in the second half, throwing for 149 yards and three scores in the final 24 minutes as Spring-Ford overcame first-half mistakes and a botched snap on a punt in the final six minutes to pull out the win against the team that felled them a season prior in State College.
That year, Spring-Ford and the PAC-10 went 0-10 in Week 1 play.
This year, there was no chance of that happening, even with the seemingly back-breaking miscues.
Rams after the game. Alma mater must sound sweet pic.twitter.com/BSjUkm3Iuo
— Sam Stewart (@Samuel_Stewart7) September 5, 2015
It started with a poor tackling exhibition by the Rams secondary that allowed State College running back Jordan Misher (20 attempts, 150 yards) to break free for a 65-yard score. It continued with Noah Woods finding himself wide open down the sideline and hauling in a 68-yard touchdown pass from Tyler Snyder to make it 19-7 before the half.
The would-be-back-breaking miscue came late in the fourth with the Rams holding a 20-19 lead as a high snap on a fourth down sent athlete Stone Scarcelle racing back to pick up the bouncing ball near his own goal line before making a desperate attempt to punt the ball away. He got the punt off, but only to the 16 where Snyder and Jay Shoop made quick work on a two-play scoring drive, culminating with a 10-yard touchdown pass that made it 25-20.
But this was Spring-Ford’s night.
Fresh off throwing two touchdown passes to Teddy Dylinksi on subsequent drives to give the Rams the aforementioned one-point edge, Venuto delivered again, hitting Scarcelle on a drag route before he broke through two arm tackles and scampered 37 yards for the eventual game-winning score.
FB: @SFRamsFB pumped post game pic.twitter.com/UIJZ2g6x3f
— Sam Stewart (@Samuel_Stewart7) September 5, 2015
Nick Salomone and Trey Jarmon then stood tall defensively the next possession with Salomone getting a critical quarterback hurry that forced Snyder to throw the ball into the turf on third down before Jarmon jarred the bar loose from Brandon Clark on a fake punt attempt to help seal the win.
“In terms of regular season wins, this is right up there,” Brubaker said. “But we have to play Phoenixville next week, it’s coach talk but its true. We can’t have a let down and we’ll have fun with this tonight, come in Sunday, see what we did wrong and try to get better next week.”
NOTES >> Venuto finished the game 14-24 for 189 yards and four touchdowns in his first career varsity start. Selywn Simpson finished with 56 yards on 13 attempts. Scarcelle made the game-sealing interception with 13 seconds left on a heave from Snyder (16-31 for 211 yards and two TDs).
Dylinski made a sensational catch on a seam route that made it 20-19. On the same route he ran the play prior, Dylinski beat out the safety in a one-on-one situation, caught the ball and toed the sideline for the score.
“That was a huge play,” Brubaker said. “We just saw that we had a Cover 2 on that side and we felt that the safety was hugging the hash a bit and we could go back to it. That was a check at the line on both of them. We didn’t think we’d get the same coverage, but we did and we went back to him.”
“We saw them on film and we knew they were slow off their break,” Dylinski said. “I knew I could shake him.”
