’Hounds fall short at Sharpsville
Wilmington (14) vs. Sharpsville (20)
Written: Oct 13, 2012
By Dan Irwin
New Castle News
SHARPSVILLE — A makeshift offense hampered Wilmington High’s ability to score last night.
Meanwhile, Sharpsville wide receiver Tyler Luchey wreaked additional havoc on the Greyhounds’ defense.
Luchey caught seven passes for 113 yards and two touchdowns in leading the Blue Devils to a 20-14 District 10 inter-region matchup.
Luchey’s prowess helped stake the Class A Blue Devils (6-1) to a two-touchdown, fourth-quarter lead. However, the Class AA ’Hounds quickly pulled back to within a single score, then had two chances pull out a win in the final four minutes. One opportunity, though, ended with a red zone fumble and the other failed when Sharpsville linebacker Derrick Smith dropped Nic Pugh for a 3-yard loss on second-and-goal from the 4 on the game’s final play.
“It was a great win because we respect their coaching staff and players,” Sharpsville head coach Paul Piccirilli said. “I regard them as the best staff, and they get their kids ready better than anybody else I know, so it’s definitely a privilege for us to be able to battle them and come out on top.”
Wilmington was playing without quarterback Cody Llewellyn, who is dealing with a blood disorder. Coach Terry Verrelli alternated between using freshman Dom Gargiulo under center and running a single-wing formation with his running backs taking direct snaps.
The Greyhounds’ 14 points represented just half of their 28.5 per-game output for the season.
“That’s a pretty tough spot to put a freshman in, but I thought he did a heck of a job,” Verrelli said. As for the single wing, “we weren’t quite ready to run that yet, but we had to have it ready and give it a try.
“We’ve worked on it a little all year, but we got to the point were we thought the kid we had at backup quarterback could handle it, and as time went on, we could see he couldn’t. So I started to work a little more on it and practice it. I’d like to have waited a couple more weeks to use it, but I thought we did pretty good with it. All you can do is get better from this.”
Piccirilli hadn’t expected Wilmington’s emergency offense, either, but said the fact that ’Hounds’ passing game was comprised by a missing quarterback didn’t make them any easier to defend.
“Did you ever see the size of their line?,” he said. “Oh my gosh, and (Tyler Donati) is a hard-nosed, straight-up-the-field runner.
“No, we didn’t know they were going to do that; that was a little trickery they came up with to counteract that, but we tried to pack the blocks and force them to pass because it’s something they don’t do a lot of.”
Wilmington (5-2) went up 7-0 on Donati’s 1-yard run three plays after an interception by Jimmy Pitzulo. Sharpsville quarterback Bryan Stafford countered, though, with TD throws of 25 and 21 yards to Luchey, while a 20-yard, third-quarter hookup between the two prefaced a 25-yard Joey Pagliaroli run.
Pugh cut the deficit to 20-14 on a 17-yard run on Wilmington’s next series, then gave his team a chance for a go-ahead score when he intercepted Stafford and returned the ball 43 yards to the Devils’ 16.
Gargiulo fumbled the ball away on first down to end that threat, but the ’Hounds still got more chance, reaching the Sharpsville 4 with one second remaining. Smith, though, wrapped up Pugh in the backfield to preserve the win.
“We told them to bring the house,” Piccirilli said of the game’s final play. “We thought 33 (Donati) was going to run it, because he’s a son of a gun back. But I give these guys all the credit. They could have gone down after losing last week (to West Middlesex) but they battled back and played with heart.”
(Email: d_irwin@ncnewsonline.com)
WILMINGTON SHARPSVILLE
13 First downs 14
246 Yards Rushing 157
20 Yards Lost 33
226 Net Rushing 124
9 Passes Attempted 17
3 Passes Completed 9
0 Passes Intercepted 2
63 Yards Passing 132
289 Total Yards 256
4-3Fumbles-Lost 1-0
1-37 Punts-Average 3-27.7
3-30 Penalties-Yards 5-35
WILMINGTON 7 0 0 7 — 14
SHARPSVILLE 7 7 0 6 — 20
Scoring plays
WILMINGTON — Tyler Donati, 1-yard run (Slavi Pontius kick).
SHARPSVILLE — Tyler Luchey, 25-yard pass from Bryan Stafford (Joey Pagliaroli kick).
SHARPSVILLE — Luchey, 21-yard pass from Stafford (Pagliaroli kick).
SHARPSVILLE — Pagliaroli, 25-yard run (kick failed.)
WILMINGTON — Nic Pugh, 17-yard run (Pontius kick).
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