Quakers move on to PIAA title game
wreck Quaker Valley’s momentum. But it rejuvenated the Quakers — and Guss. He was 14 of 24 for 200 yards against Sharon, rushed for 68 yards on 17 carries and made some nice plays at linebacker.
“Ricky threw the heck out of the ball,” Quaker Valley coach Jerry Veshio said.
The Quakers scored more points on Sharon (104) than any team this season. Quaker Valley had 215 yards rushing. Receiver Isaiah McNair caught five passes for 80 yards and Ryan Jackovic four for 63.
“People were asking me if I would rather have the bye or not. Absolutely, I’d rather have the bye,” said Veshio, in between bites of a Hershey’s chocolate bar. “This is 15 or 16 weeks of football for a high school kid. He needs to give his body a little rest, and more importantly, give his mind rest. They were tenacious in practice this week, maybe as tenacious as they have been in the last 10 weeks.”
Guss hit McNair with a 12yard pass for Quaker Valley’s first touchdown, set up by Smith Johnson’s interception. Sharon had two turn overs on its first five plays.
Guss scored on a 1-yard run in the second quarter and Quaker Valley took a 14-10 lead into halftime. Guss scored on another 1yard run in the third quarter and Jordan Taylor turned a fourth-down screen pass into a 30-yard touchdown to make it 29-10. Guss threw touchdowns of 32 yards to McNair and 30 to Jackovic in the fourth quarter.
Quaker Valley’s defense also did an admirable job. Sharon’s brutish 5-foot-10, 210-pound running back, Jordan Wilson, rushed for 100 yards on 18 carries in the first half. But he had only 30 on six attempts in the second half. Receiver Ziyon Strickland was a standout for Sharon with eight catches for 168 yards. But in the end, it wasn’t nearly enough.
“We actually could’ve played last Friday if we had to, but after that ‘Quip game, we were a little banged up and sore,” Guss said. “The bye helped us. It made us more amped up because we were just ready to play.”