FARRELL, Pa. – Farrell’s defense can put up a zero, too.
Sharon’s defense came into Saturday’s Steel Bowl showdown against Farrell having authored four shutouts on the season, but it was the Steelers’ who put up the goose egg in a 20-0 win over their rivals that clinched the Region 3 title.
“It feels great,” said Simeir Wade during the Cole Orthodontic Associates postgame interview. “Our defense always comes to play every week. Our defense is our heart and soul. It starts with the line up front and our linebackers as well. As DB’s, we just have to cover, so it works for us every week.”
See Wade’s full postgame interview:
Kabron Smith’s 41-yard touchdown pass on fourth-and-six to Wade, coupled with the Smith to Danny Odem 2-point conversion with 10:48 to go in the fourth quarter made it 20-0 Steelers. It wasn’t Smith’s most prolific statistical night, as he finished 7-of-13 for 81 yards and the score, but he did become Farrell’s all-time leading passer, surpassing Alex Myers, who set the mark in 2015.
“Alex Myers was the first quarterback where we installed this type of offense,” said Farrell coach Amp Pegues. “Before we were just an “I” team and we went to a spread. That record’s been up since 2015. Kabron’s a special kid. He’s almost a 4.0 student, a great academic kid, a true leader of football. If I wasn’t there to call plays he could do it on his own. He’s the true leader of this team.”
Special teams were also special on this night for the Steelers (8-0).
With both teams slogging through a scoreless first half, it was Juju Andrada who scooped up a blocked punt by Aidan Marshall and scampered 12 yards to the end zone to make it 6-0 with 1:28 to go before halftime.
“That kind of got us going,” Pegues said. “It’s one of those games, a rivalry game, where sometimes whoever makes the biggest mistake is going to cost you the game. We grinded it out today.”
The score remained 6-0 until Andrada recovered his second fumble of the game, this one at the Sharon (6-2) 44. Just a couple of plays later, Wade broke free, scoring on a 29-yard touchdown run taking a direct snap and it was 12-0 Steelers with 1:17 to go in the third quarter.
“We talked about making some adjustments,” Pegues said. “They like to stack the box and pinch their ends, so we were going to open it up and run some quarterback leads and that was our game plan. At one point we had four different guys take direct snaps, and sometimes when you have athletes like we have, that’s all you need.”
The special teams continued to be special for the Steelers, as they recovered the ensuing onside kick.
Four plays later, it was Smith to Wade to make it 20-0
“That’s a good defense, they have a good scheme,’ Pegues said. “It took us a little while to crack it, but once we were able to crack it, we were able to get it going.”
JuJu Johnson was a workhorse for the Steelers, carrying the ball 21 times for 108 yards, while Wade finished with four carries for 44 yards, Smith 12 carries for 45 yards and Brandon Chambers five carries for 41 yards.
For Sharon, Mister Ham was 6-of-12 through the air for 33 yards and also had 14 carries for 58 yards.
As a team, the Steelers limited the Tigers to 145 yards of total offense, while Farrell amassed 319 yards of offense.
“It’s never going to be the cleanest in a rivalry game,” Pegues said. “I want to give Sharon a lot of props. Their defense is legit. There were times when we should have blown it open but their defense played really, really good. But good teams find ways to win and we did that tonight.”
GROVE CITY 50, SHARPSVILLE 14
GROVE CITY, Pa. – Grove City scored on its first seven possession en route to a 50-14 win over Sharpsville.
Hunter Hohman had 110 yards on the ground and three touchdowns for Grove City covering 27, 6 and 31 yards, while throwing for 283 yards and three more touchdowns.
Hohman threw touchdown passes to Gavin Lutz (27 yards), Nathan Greeer (34 yards) and Clayton Martin (58 yards).
Dominic Garzarelli scored on a 1-yard plunge late in the first half for the Eagles to make it 35-6.
Caullin Summers scored on a 3-yard run for Sharpsville in the first half and Jaiden White a 3-yard run in the second half.
Martin led Grove City with 147 receiving yards.
Summers threw for 161 yards on 17-of-29 passing for the Blue Devils, while White had 40 rushing yards and 44 receiving yards.
