Sep 22, 2018 4 min read

HOOKSTOWN – When the football game between Burgettstown and South Side Beaver was suspended in the middle of the third quarter because of lightning Friday night, Blue Devils’ defensive coordinator Rich Druga studied more game film for the rest of the night and Saturday morning.

He was trying to find a way to stop what Burgettstown called a “super power play,” where South Side Beaver pitched the ball to a wingback, who followed at least two lead blockers off tackle to slowly churn out yards.

“We schemed all (Friday) night and (Saturday) morning for that play,” Druga said.

Burgettstown had a 20-7 lead with 8:35 remaining in the third quarter when the game resumed at noon, Saturday.

“We watched it on film even more, diagramming how we wanted to attack it. We went to work right away and worked our butts off trying to stop that play. We spent all of our energy doing that.”

But even Druga couldn’t imagine the impact it would have.

As the Burgettstown linebackers dug their cleats in at the goal line, they crashed into the SSB front on the snap and were joined by a penetrating defensive line to stop the stretched arm of South Side Beaver wingback Derek Franchek inches short on a two-point conversion with no time remaining to hold onto a 23-21 win and move into first place in the Three Rivers Conference.

The Rams cut the deficit to two points when Franchek scored from four yards on the exact same play as time expired, capping a 13-play, 70-yard drive in their two-minute offense.

“They scored on it and we knew it was coming again,” Druga said, yelling to his defense for one last stop from the sideline.

“It’s tough because there isn’t a lot of time to think up a perfect play,” said South Side coach Luke Travelpiece. “You go to a play that has been consistent for us for a long time. You are putting faith in your guys against their guys. Their guys made the play.”

Rebounding from a sloppy performance over the last quarter and a half before play was halted because of inclement weather, South Side Beaver (2-1, 4-1) scored a TD and converted on a broken two-point attempt to narrow the Blue Devils’ lead to seven points. Franchek broke loose for a 52-yard run, which set up a powerful seven-yard touchdown run by Jake Botkin. Then, a snap on the extra-point attempt slipped through the hands of Jordan Bruce, who picked up the ball, rolled out and passed to Ajay Cooper to cut the deficit to 20-15 with 9:48 remaining.

“(Our players) believed (Friday) night that we could (come back),” Travelpiece said. “We knew if we played defense, then our offense would be able to score points. Unfortunately, we put ourselves in too big of a hole.”

Burgettstown (3-0, 4-0) built its lead Friday on a pair of touchdown runs of six and 30 yards by quarterback Jake Lounder just over four minutes apart in the second quarter. An 80-yard kickoff return for a touchdown by Cole Shergi opened the second half to push the lead to 13 points.

Maybe the most important points the Blue Devils scored came off the right foot of Seth Phillis, who nailed a 29-yard field goal from the left hash mark with 1:51 left to give Burgettstown a 23-15 advantage.

“Easy,” Phillis joked.

Phillis made a 37-yard game-winning field goal as time expired in the first round of the WPIAL playoffs to give Burgettstown a 31-28 victory over Neshannock and snap a 40-year victory drought in the playoffs for the Blue Devils last season.

He was originally lined up for a 43-yard try on fourth-and-four but the Blue Devils caused South Side to jump on a hard count for a penalty that extended the drive.

“He continues to improve,” Burgettstown coach Mark Druga said about Phillis. “We were going for it from 43 but got much closer and it’s almost money. If the hold is good and the snap is good, Seth is going to put it through the uprights.”

Through four games this season, the Blue Devils’ defense has only surrendered 27 points. The two points that they didn’t allow Saturday afternoon put them in a prime position to win the conference.

“We have been in three different conferences in four years and have never been in outright first place,” Mark Druga said. “We have several tough teams remaining. We can’t look at the end of the season right now, but getting some of these teams out of the way at this point and being victorious is incredible. We are in the driver’s seat for this conference.”