Nov 5, 2013 3 min read

Fred Mozzocio called it one of the greatest games he’s been a part of as head football coach at Neshannock High School.

Monessen coach Andy Pacak? Not so much.

The Neshannock Lancers had one of the more remarkable comebacks in the program’s history when Ernie Burkes scored in the final seconds for a 24-21 victory over Monessen in last year’s WPIAL Class A quarterfinal-round playoff game.

The rematch, again in the quarterfinal round, will be at Chartiers-Houston Friday at 7:30 p.m. Last week, Monessen defeated West Shamokin, 37-14, in the first round, and Neshannock rolled over Brentwood, 40-9.

“Last year, it went down to the wire,” said Mozzocio, who led the Lancers (9-2) to a second-place finish in the Big 9 Conference. “It came down to one play.”

Actually, two: a 14-yard pass from quarterback Ernie Burkes to the 1-yard line with seven seconds remaining, and a 1-yard plunge by Burkes on the following play to end it.

“They do a lot of the same stuff (as last year) and execute it real well,” said Pacak, who led the Greyhounds (10-1) to a three-way tie for first place in the Black Hills Conference. “They will mix things up a bit. They do a lot of different things.”

Burkes returns to lead the Lancers after having passed for 967 yards and rushed for 945. Conglose is gone but the Lancers have Steven Jeffries, a massive 6-5, 270-pound tight end who has 14 receptions for 145 yards and a touchdown. Jimmy Medure, a 6-3 junior, leads the team with 18 catches for 215 yards and four touchdowns. Junior Eli Owens (5-11, 170) is averaging nearly 10 yards per carry and has 1,305 yards and 12 touchdowns.

But everything begins and ends with Burkes.

“He’s a real good football player,” said Pacak. “We tend to have difficulty with running quarterbacks. We’re an aggressive defense, so we have to make sure we stay at home and contain him.”

“Ernie is an electric player,” said Mozzocio. “He can do it all, throw the ball, run the ball. He even kicks off and punts for us. He does everything but sell popcorn at halftime. I bet he’d try to do that to raise a few dollars if I let him.”

Clintell Gillaspie, a 6-0, 224-pound senior, is on the minds of the Neshannock coaching staff. Gillaspie rushed for 274 yards on 18 carries and scored four touchdowns in the win over West Shamokin, which was making its first appearance in the WPIAL playoffs. Gillaspie has 1,169 yards on 108 carries, an average of nearly 11 yards per carry.

“He has speed and power,” said Pacak. “He can do anything.”

Noah Rullo has completed 57 percent of his passes for 1,276 yards and 19 touchdowns. He’s been intercepted just four times in 111 attempts.

“We’ll have our hands full trying to stop them,” said Mozzocio.

Even though the Greyhounds put up some good numbers against West Shamokin, Pacak was not particularly pleased.

“I was happy to win,” he said. “But I didn’t think we hit on all cylinders. We have a tendency to slow down when we get a big lead.”

And as the Greyhounds learned last year, the game can quickly change in the final seconds.