Cornell’s Tylor Godfrey
Wild game features four scores in six plays
loses his helmet while tackling Sto-Rox’s Jaidon Berry Friday night. E.J. Dawson is on the right.
For a team that didn’t even make the WPIAL playoffs a year ago, Sto-Rox has big aspirations for this season and they’re not shy about letting their goals be known.
After Friday night’s game, every StoRox player got on the ground, lined up across the goal line and did push-ups in unison in front of coach LaRoi Johnson. And with every push-up, the players yelled out a letter that eventually led to “s-t-a-t-e c-h-a-m-p-s.”
Well, the PIAA finals are a long way away. But hey, things are just perfect for Sto-Rox so far.
Visiting Sto-Rox ran its record to 4-0 with a big 28-25 victory against upstart Cornell in a WPIAL Class 1A Big Seven Conference game at Frank Letteri Stadium in Coraopolis.
It was a game that had oddities and craziness. It started in pregame when the PA announcer asked for three volunteers from the crowd to work the sideline sticks for the game. It was wild at one point in the first half when four touchdowns were scored in six plays.
But about that spelling lesson after the game.
“State championship is our goal. Every single year it’s going to be our goal,” said Johnson, whose team now is 3-0 in conference. “We have the kind of talent and I know we have the kind of leadership that we’re moving in the right direction. We’re a young team that’s just learning how to win. When you look back if you’re a championship team, these are the type of games that ultimately win you a championship.”
Another big performance from quarterback Eric Wilson and a strong second-half performance from the Sto-Rox defense helped the Vikings turn back a valiant effort by Cornell, a school that did not even have a team four years ago. The Raiders folded their program for four years before bringing it back in 2016. Cornell was off to a 2-0 start and a 1-0 mark in conference.
Wilson, a 6-foot-2, 190-pound senior, completed 16 of 31 for 340 yards and four touchdowns. He led the WPIAL in passing yardage last season and is the leader again this year.
GAME OF THE WEEK
“We expected to win by more, but we’ll take this,” Wilson said. “We set our goals to be 16-0 and win the state championship. We’ve got four wins now and we’ll just keep pushing. This was a nice win because we know a lot of the kids on Cornell. Some of them played in [midget] leagues against us. It’s like a little rivalry.”
Sto-Rox won, despite not having Amahd Pack, one of the team’s top receivers who was out with an injury. Jaidon Berry, who came into the game tied for the WPIAL lead in receptions, finished with 7 catches for 149 yards.
But it was a 26-yard touchdown catch by freshman Zay Davis in the fourth quarter that proved to be the difference in the game. That made it 28-19 before Cornell scored with 1:18 left in the game when Amere Hibbler, a freshman, recovered a blocked punt in the end zone for a touchdown.
“Sometimes it’s hard to get a freshman to buy in. For him to go out there and make a play like that is great,” Wilson said.
Sto-Rox led at halftime, 21-13, The craziness of four touchdowns in 1:29 of the first quarter went this way:
• Cornell’s Savon Wilson took a screen pass from Harrison 63 yards for a score. Harrison finished 11 of 28 for 186 yards, but was intercepted three times.
• On the third play after the kickoff, Berry turned a short pass into a 46-yard score.
• On the first play after the kickoff, Hibbler ran 68 yards for a touchdown.
• On the first play after the kickoff, Wilson and Berry hooked for a 67-yard score.
When the smoke had cleared, Sto-Rox held a 14-13 lead with 4:09 left in the first quarter.
Sto-Rox scored once in the second quarter on when Diontae Givens caught a pass and turned it into an 85-yard score.
The five scoring plays in the first half averaged 66 yards.