Franklin Regional wins
“wildcat” formation. He ran twice and gained 6 yards. Franklin Regional had two timeouts in its pocket, but the Panthers decided against using them. They didn’t exactly seem in a hurry, either.
“I was surprised at first that we weren’t calling timeout,” Leopold said. “It was a little chaotic, but once I got the ball on that last play, I knew I was scoring.”
McKeesport coach Matt Miller said, “It would’ve been interesting to see if they could’ve gotten a play off if we tackled them on that last play. It was a little risky.”
Leopold appeared to be stopped when he ran into the line on his winner. The clock kept ticking and then the pile moved more … and more … and more. Suddenly, Leopold was in the end zone.
“They pushed me in,” Leopold said with a laugh. “These guys do a good job of pushing when I’m stopped.”
But what if that push lasted another second or two and Leopold came up short of the goal line?
“I was going to use a timeout if he didn’t get in, but it took a couple more seconds than I thought. It was just a great effort by Nate,” Botta said. “I was debating back and forth about what to do. I was second-guessing myself to be honest.”
There is no second thoughts about what was a key to the win. It was Franklin Regional’s defense. McKeesport’s vaunted flexbone tripleoption offense accounted for 205 yards of rushing, but the Tigers never were able to break a big run. Franklin Regional star linebacker Bryce Lauer was a big key for the Panthers one year after making 24 tackles against McKeesport. It was questionable Friday morning whether Lauer would play because of an injury.
“We started scheming for McKeesport in the middle of June,” Botta said. “Why Lauer doesn’t have college scholarship offers is ridiculous. If you see a better linebacker around, let me know who it is.”
Lauer also plays center, but he didn’t play on offense in the first half and Botta said that was a reason why the Panthers had only 52 yards of offense in the first two quarters. Lauer played offense the second half. The Panthers moved with more ease and tied the score, 7-7, when Hunter Stonecheck caught a 40-yard touchdown pass from Adam Rudzinski with 9:33 left in the third quarter.
McKeesport was hurt by 13 penalties for 99 yards. The Tigers’ only touchdown came when quarterback John Harper ran 24 yards with 4:19 left in the half.
“I was a proponent of two scrimmages instead of playing last week in Week Zero,” Miller said. “Now, maybe I’d like to get that Week Zero game in just to get rid of the nerves. This game could come back to haunt us. We could be on the outside of the playoff looking in at the end.”