Videos:

Articles:

Greensburg Salem loses OT thriller to Thomas Jefferson 34-28

Written by: Ben Lubinsky

November 04, 2011

JEFFERSON HILLS - The #11 seed Greensburg Salem Golden Lions traveled to Thomas Jefferson to take on the perennial AAA power Thomas Jefferson Jaguars who were the # 6 seed in the opening round of the WPIAL football playoffs.

It seemed like a battle comparable to David vs. Goliath as Thomas Jefferson had made it beyond the first round in every season since 1995. Greensburg Salem had not made it out of the first round since the year 2000.

The first round match up certainly didn't disappoint.

Thomas Jefferson drew first blood after forcing a Greensburg Salem three and out when quarterback Dom Presto found his outstanding wide receiver Zach Schadaman for a 29 yard TD pass. The Thomas Jefferson extra point was blocked and Thomas Jefferson had an early 6-0 lead.

Greensburg Salem however came right to take claim their first lead of the evening. The big play on the drive was a 33 yard run by quarterback Josh Falotovich compounded by a personal foul penalty against Thomas Jefferson that netted Greensburg Salem 48 yards on the play. Falotovich found his tight end Waylon Fink three plays later from 10 yards out. Lukas Mangery added the extra point and Greensburg Salem led 7-6 with 4:53 remaining in the first quarter.

Only 39 seconds later Greensburg Salem struck again and once again it was Fink scoring, this time off a tipped pass that he intercepted and returned 15 yards for a TD. Mangery added the point after and Greensburg Salem had Thomas Jefferson reeling with an early 14-6 lead.

Thomas Jefferson answered right back in what appeared to be a heavyweight slugfest with a long sustained 10 play drive capped off by running back Ryan Ruffing’s 3 yard TD run. Thomas Jefferson converted the 2 point conversion when Ruffing ran it in with the help of a Greensburg Salem face mask penalty on the previous 2 point conversion that had failed to tie the game at 14-14 with 11:13 remaining in the first half.

Thomas Jefferson took a 21-14 lead as Ruffing scored his second TD of the evening a 29 yard jaunt. Shelpman added the TJ extra point with 3:38 remaining in the first half.

Greensburg Salem was quick to answer and was aided by a TJ personal foul penalty that nullified an interception of quarterback Falotovich’s pass. Falotovich took advantage of the second chance and found wide receiver Will Maschmeyer from 6 yards out with only 56 seconds remaining in the first half. Mangery added the point after in what was a back forth, exciting first half that ended deadlocked at 21-21.

Greensburg Salem started out the 3rd quarter with their second big defensive play of the night when Denzell Jackson blocked a Thomas Jefferson punt and Michael Kizzie fell on it in the end zone for a touchdown. Mangery’s extra point put Greensburg Salem up 28-21 only a minute and 25 seconds into the second half.

The Greensburg Salem lead would hold up until the first minute of the 4th quarter when Presto found wide receiver Zach Schademan for his second TD of the evening from 39 yards out. The Shelpman point after once again tied up the see saw affair at 28-28 with 11:18 remaining in the game.

The game turned into a defensive battle for the remainder of the 4th quarter as TJ held Greensburg Salem and turned them over on downs at the TJ 29 yard line.

Ruffing broke free on a 20 yard run but fumbled the football and Greensburg Salem’s Maschmeyer recovered with 8 minutes remaining in the game. But Thomas Jefferson’s defense once again came up big turning Greensburg Salem over on downs once again, this time at the TJ 26 yard line with 5:55 remaining.

Thomas Jefferson would then go on a long drive that consumed the remainder of the time left in the game and ultimately set up for what would be a game winning field goal attempt from 31 yards out with 3.5 seconds remaining.

Golden Lions head coach Casey Cavanaugh opted to call timeout in an effort to ice TJ kicker Shelpman. It seemed to be effective as Shelpman missed the kick - which may have been partially blocked by Greensburg Salem's Tyler Shook - and the game went into overtime.

Greensburg Salem got the first possession of the extra frame.

On their first play from scrimmage, quarterback Falotovich was sacked and was injured which required him to sit out at least one play. Michael Nowicki replaced him at quarterback and after a false start penalty pushed Greensburg Salem to 18-yard line, a run by Nowicki picked up two yards to the TJ 16.

Falotovich returned to the game and completed an 11 yard pass to Maschmeyer to the TJ 5 yard line. But Thomas Jefferson held when Falotovich’s 4th down pass fell incomplete.

Thomas Jefferson then took their possession from the 10 yard line and after two runs by Ruffing of 2 and 7 yards, quarterback Dom Presto called his own number and snuck it in from the 1 yard line to win a thrilling overtime affair 34-28.

Thomas Jefferson dominated the game from an offensive standpoint as their quarterback Presto completed 13-26 passes for 222 yards and 2 TDs along with 1 interception, as well as the game winning rushing TD in overtime. Schademan had 7 receptions for 161 yards and 2 TDs and running back Ruffing carried 34 times for 211 yards and 2 TDs.

However, Greensburg Salem managed to hang in and actually led much of the contest on the strength of two defensive TDs as well as a tremendous defensive effort from defensive end Waylon Fink who had 3 sacks in the game and also scored twice, once on offense and once on defense.

Both teams now have overall record of 7-3 however Thomas Jefferson advanced into the semi-finals of the WPIAL AAA playoffs as a result which ends Greensburg Salem’s season.

SCORE BY QUARTERS    1     2     3     4     OT     F

Greensburg Salem.............14    7     7     0      0      28

Thomas Jefferson................6   15    0     7      6      34