The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
COMEBACK KIDS
Perry quarterback Drew Schiano runs toward the end zone during a football game against Akron St. Vincent-St. Mary on Sept. 28. The Pirates clinched a 38-35 victory in a thrilling come-from-behind win.
The Perry football team looked at its game against visiting Akron St. Vincent-St. Mary on Sept. 28 as an opportunity to make a statement on a state-wide level.
As fans spilled onto the field to celebrate the Pirates’ thrilling 38-35 come-from-behind win, the statement was clear - at least to the Pirates.
“This is huge,” junior quarterback Drew Schiano said. “We’re 5-1 now. This sends a message to anyone in Division IV that we can compete with anyone if we play like that.”
Schiano threw for 318 yards, including the game-winning touchdown with 58 seconds remaining on the clock.
When Perry’s Stephen Connor stripped SVSM quarteback
Luke Lindsay on the next play, with Noah Gourley recovering, the Pirates were able to kneel
out the final seconds on the clock to put a rubber stamp on what many feel is the signature win of Coach Matt Rosati’s 11-year career at Perry.
“That’s a big one for us, no doubt about it,” Rosati said. “It’s a great tribute to our kids, our football community and our family.”
Perry looked like it was going to run out the clock in a 31-28 win when the Irish’s Garrett Bischoff intercepted a Schiano pass and returned it inside the Perry 10.
When Jumacius Portis scored from the 1 with 2:45 left, the Irish led, 35-31. The Pirates weren’t done. Facing fourth-and-long deep in their own territory, Schiano recovered an errant snap, scrambled around as SVSM defenders chased him and completed a deep pass to Jacob Allen to put the Pirates at the Irish 25 with less than two minutes remaining.
“That was one of the craziest catches I’ve ever see,” Reid said. “I’m still mindblown by it.”
Again, the Irish forced Perry into another difficult situation. Facing fourthand 14 from the 29, Schiano made an adjustment in his team’s huddle, altering the play on which he threw the interception a handful of minutes earlier.
“Drew said, ‘Hey, if Jake runs a post and Anthony (Rosati) runs the corner, it should be open,” Coach Rosati said.
It worked just like Schiano planned. The defenders flocked to Anthony Rosati, Reid ran a post instead of a vertical route, and was wide open in the end zone. Touchdown Perry. “I’ve got to give all the credit to Drew Schiano,” Reid said. “I was like, ‘All right, throw it up and I’ll come down with it.’ That’s exactly what happened.”
When Gourley recovered the late fumble with inside of a minute left, it capped a marvelous second-half defensive performance in which Perry twice held SVSM at bay inside the 15 yard line.
The only Irish points of the second half came on the short field set up by Schiano’s late interception.
“The defense played great in the second half,” Jacob Allen said of his teammates’ effort. “We only gave up seven points.”
Perry trailed, 21-0 in the first quarter. But after Allen hauled in a 71-yard scoring pass from Schiano to make it 21-7, Spencer Kane picked off Lindsay and returned it 32 yards for a touchdown.
“Spencer’s pick-six got it going for us,” Allen said.
It was a 28-21 SVSM at the half after Allen plowed
in from the 1 with six seconds remaining in the second quarter.
That set up Perry’s dominating second half and thrilling comeback.
“I’m proud of our kids tonight,” said SVSM coach Bobby Nickol. “They just made one more play than we did.”
SVSM (3-3) outgained Perry, 463-400, with Lindsay throwing for 347 yards and a pair of touchdowns. Joshua Jones scored twice on long passes in the first quarter, but was held out of the end zone after that.
Reid caught eight passes for 130 yards, while Allen caught three for 115 for the Pirates.
Rosati said his team’s
experience in the last two seasons, advancing to the Division IV state final four in 2016 and to the regional championship game last year, helped his team against the visiting Irish.
“After the first quarter, we believed we were better than they were,” Rosati said. “(The playoff experience) gave our guys confidence to go out there and compete.”
And prove something to not only the state - but maybe also to themselves with a marquee win against a top-notch program.
“We feel pretty good right now, we really do,” Rosati said “I think we’re only going to get better from here on out, too.”