DEC. 13
PIAA CLASS AAA FINAL
Wood 22, Harrisburg Bishop McDevitt 10
(At Hersheypark Stadium)
  Here's guessing you never expected to see these two names -- Steve Devlin, Wilt Chamberlain -- in the same sentence. Footsteps beyond the scoreboard end of the football field is the arena where Wilt created a worldwide buzz in 1962 by dropping a 100-point bomb on the New York Knicks for the ol' Philadelphia Warriors. Well, folks, this was Devlin's 100th game as Wood's coach and what he created a statewide buzz by claiming his second state crown in three years. As any hoops fan knows, Wilt, a wickedly bad foul-shooter over his career, somehow went 28-for-32 (87.5 percent) at the line en route to those 100 points. Steve is in that ballpark because he now owns an .840 winning percentage. Two years ago, also in the final, the Vikings sliced and diced this opponent by 52-0. This victory came in much more difficult fashion, witness that Wood went scoreless in the first half. Somehow, the almost always explosive Vikings gained at least 10 yards on just ONE play in those first 24 minutes and that didn't happen until the final 11 seconds as jr. RB Jarrett McClenton took a left-side sweep 18 yards to McDevitt's 38. At halftime, though of course the players didn't see it because they were in the locker room, sr. basketball player Matt Funk offered a good example of how to rally from a deficit. One rooter from each school was chosen for an on-the-field contest: Punt the ball from the end zone to wherever it lands, then throw it from there to a target at midfield. Closest throw wins. Matt punted second and his effort was shorter than the McDevitt kid's. But his throw came within a few yards of the target and the other kid's -- whoa -- sailed way past it. Vike wins! Vike wins! So, what happened when the real football guys returned to the field? You got it. The Vikings came out of their Funk (smile). They opened the second half with an 11-play, 72-yard drive that was capped by McClenton with a 4-yard run. Three times within the first six plays, all to the left side, McClenton reeled off biggies of 22, 10 and 12 yards. Most teams are righthanded, of course, but the Vikings often chose the left side and made no secret of what they were doing. Again and again, the top two grunts -- jr. G Ryan Bates and sr. T Deion Oliver -- were switched back and forth from right to left to right (and even between the G-T spots) and a few times McDevitt's defenders could be heard calling out their location shortly before snaps. Also, jr. TE Jake Cooper often lined up as a wingback -- sometimes going in motion -- to the side where the play would be headed, so he could take out guys on the edge. Hey, if you play with passion and skillfully carry out your assignment, it doesn't matter if the opponent knows what's coming. The best thing about Wood's second-half production was that the drives ate major clock. The first drive took 5 minutes, 11 seconds. After the Crusaders were limited to one first down, Wood took over again with 4:11 left in the quarter and maintained possession for more than a quarter! Twelve minutes and 6 seconds, to be exact. This drive started on the 3 and featured 21 plays. On the second play of the fourth quarter, McClenton raced 39 yards with a draw, placing the ball at McDevitt's 40. Thanks in part to a hold, Wood soon faced third and 13. To that point, soph QB Tom Garlick had thrown just one pass all night (incomplete). Would Devlin knock on the youngster's door? Indeed. And Garlick would respond. On a right-side out, he hit sr. WR Kendall Singleton for a 15-yard gain. Next, just before what would have been a fourth-and-2 play, a procedure penalty moved the ball back to the 25. Garlick then faked a handoff to McClenton and completed a short, left-side flip to sr. FB Josh Messina, who netted nine yards. Rejuiced, the Vikings continued on their merry way. With Cooper leading the way, McClenton zipped 12 yards to the 4. McClenton added two yards, Messina bagged 1 (officially), then Garlick surged ahead a half-yard for the score. The kick by jr. Dan McDonald made it 14-3 at 4:05 and Wood's rooters offered a trifecta -- the it's-all-over chant, the goodbye song, and the I-believe-that-we-will-win ditty. McDevitt's three-and-out included two incomplete passes, a 6-yard sack (for sr. DE Chris Gary) and another incompletion on fourth and 16 from the 24. McDevitt's own 24. It was desperation time, folks. McClenton carried four consecutive times and a 15-yarder got the ball into the end zone. Then came what some would call the play of the night -- a conversion pass by jr. Cody Fitzpatrick. Who? Fitzpatrick, a mad-bomber guard for the basketball team, is the the holder and if a story relayed to me earlier this season is correct, he came out for the team only to be the holder for his best buddy, McDonald. Well, on this occasion, the snap went a shade awry. Fitz controlled it, scrambled to his right and, under pressure, lofted a flip toward the back part of the end zone. The ball was a little short, but jr. TE Christian Lohin lunged turfward to make the catch. What a moment. It was Wood's first two-point conversion of the season. Owning a 19-point lead with only 1:35 remaining, the Vikes were in early-ecstasy mode and star jr. RB Andre Robinson -- strangely, he was given just eight carries after totaling 42 yards on his first six -- took advantage to return the kickoff 82 yards for a touchdown. Uh-oh time? Were the Vikings setting themselves up for the all-time Friday the 13th experience? Hardly. Cooper gathered in the bouncing onside kick and kneeldowns ran out the clock. As Devlin and the players/assistant coaches surged onto the field to celebrate, they all felt as tall as Wilt.
  TITLE TIDBITS: McClenton carried an outrageous 40 times for 238 yards (both numbers are records for AAA title games, according to numerous sources) and the two TDs. The yardage total is the best by a D-12 rusher in quarters/semis/final, topping 230 by Wood's Brandon Peoples in a 2010 quarterfinal . . . Wood's other grunts were jr. C Ryan Neher, jr. T Tom Cardozo and jr. rotating Gs Jack Kenney and Shawn Scroger . . . The Vikings caught an early break when Robinson's 12-yard TD run was nullified by a procedure penalty (only six men on the line of scrimmage). Singleton then broke up a pass, Lohin made a tackle that limited Robinson to a 1-yard gain, Gary broke up another pass, then McDevitt settled for a 33-yard field goal by sr. Bobby Zwigart . . . Late in the second quarter, Zwigart made a leaping, one-handed snag of a way-too-high snap, preventing sure disaster . . . Wood's students turned out in force with the help of 12 buses . . . Overall, Wood's crowd was not as big as McDevitt's, but that was entirely understandable. Harrisburg is Hershey's neighbor . . . Because of he way-too-early deadline, Ace Carter had to watch this one from the pressbox and craft parts of his story while the game was unfolding. He hustled downstairs to get some quotes at game's end, then bustled back upstairs to pump out the final version . . . Huck Palmer watched the game on TV and kept defensive stats . . . Gary had two sacks and four other stops. Sr. LB Tyrone Dean logged a sack among four tackles. Cooper (at LB, six tackles) and jr. DL Devon Cobb split a sack. Spahits (six) and Justin Rubin (five) combined for five stops . . . Wood ran 62 plays to McDevitt's 34 . . . McClenton carried 64 times in Wood's final two games. He needed the previous seven games to log that many totes. Six of the seven games, save a 22-7 loss to Ryan, were blowout wins . . . Sr. DE Mike Perloski, one of McDevitt's captains, is related to Tom Taylor, who has helped us (for decades) to keep track of city basketball scoring. Mike is headed to Princeton. He's the son of Tom's wife's cousin.