Slippery Rock holds off Hickory, 23-17, advances to District 10 3A football title tilt
GROVE CITY — Slippery Rock High's football players were not shy about their desire to get another shot at Hickory.
The Hornets scored a touchdown with one second left to defeat the Rockets, 27-23, five weeks ago. It turned out to be the only game Slippery Rock would lose in the regular season.
As District 10's top-seeded team in Class 3A, the Rockets received a bye into the semifinals. They awaited the winner of a quarterfinal game between Sharon and Hickory and the Hornets won, setting up a semifinal at Grove City's Forker Field Saturday night.
The Rockets gained their revenge with a 23-17 victory — but it didn't come easily.
Slippery Rock coach Larry Wendereusz picked the perfect moment to remind his team that it wanted to play Hickory again.
Leading the Hornets by six points late in the fourth quarter, Slippery Rock's defense was about to take the field.“I went into the defensive huddle and said, 'You wanted this rematch. You believe you're the better team. Now go out and make a play.”The Hornets drove the ball 49 yards and seemed on the verge of breaking the Rockets' hearts again, reaching Slippery Rock's 28-yard line. A penalty on the Hornets took the ball back to the 38.Facing a 2nd-and-16 with just under a minute to play, quarterback Logan Woods attempted to hit Ramarion Whitehead. The connection had worked earlier for a 58-yard touchdown, but this time, the ball never reached the receiver's hands.Senior linebacker Andrew Massella stepped in front of Whitehead and intercepted the pass at the 15-yard line. All that was left for the Rockets was a couple of kneel-downs to officially send the team to the District 10 championship game with the 23-17 decision.“I saw (Whitehead) running the post and then saw the quarterback's eyes,” said Massella. “He threw it and I said 'I'm gettin' it.”The Rockets will face archrival Grove City, a 35-21 victor over Fort LeBoeuf, for the district title at a site, time and date to be determined.Slippery Rock will play for a district championship for the first time in 13 years.Rockets' senior running back Shane Thompson, who had been out since mid-September with a collarbone injury, had an incredible return to the field. He rushed for 154 yards on just 14 carries, but his biggest play came on special teams.Following Woods' bomb to Whitehead that cut Slippery Rock's lead to 16-14 with 9:36 remaining in the fourth quarter, Thompson returned the ensuing kickoff 90 yards for a touchdown.“One of the positives of having last week off was we were able to spend a lot of time on special teams in practice,” said Wendereusz. “That play was so big for us.”“We had all the momentum, but got out of our lanes (on kickoff coverage),” said Hickory coach Bill Dungee. “We can't give up a touchdown there.”Thompson's big chunks of yardage in the ground game helped the Rockets (7-1) put up a flurry of points, 16 to be exact, in just under two minutes.With the game still scoreless, his 21-yard gain set Slippery Rock up in Hickory territory late in the first half.William Mokel completed back-to-back pass attempts, first for 22 yards to Brendan Earl, then a 21-yard touchdown toss to John Sabo.Two plays into their next drive, the Hornets fumbled and Brody Galcik recovered, leading to Nick Kingerski's 37-yard field goal on the final play of the second quarter as Slippery Rock led 9-0 at halftime.Thompson was at it again on the first play from scrimmage in the third quarter, racing 77 yards to Hickory's 3.Two plays later, Mokel kept the ball on a 5-yard scoring run. Kingerski's extra point pushed the lead to 16-0 with just 53 seconds gone in the second half.“I still need some more work in conditioning, but I took that first hit tonight and I was fine,” said Thompson. “In the first game against Hickory, we had just (30) rushing yards. I knew we needed to run the ball better tonight.”Hickory (7-4) finally got on the board with Sean Kennedy's short scoring run — followed by a successful two-point attempt — with 8:12 left in the third quarter.Trailing 23-14 after Thompson's kickoff return, the Hornets cut their deficit to one score with Lukas Jones' 22-yard field goal with 6:01 left in the game.The Hornets drove to Slippery Rock's 31 on the game's first drive, but Nakeem Jones fumbled and Lucas Allison recovered for the Rockets.“We left a lot of plays out there on the field, especially in the first half,” said Dungee, “but give credit to Slippery Rock. They played a great game.”Hickory 0 0 8 9 — 17Slippery Rock 0 9 7 7 — 23Second QuarterSR — John Sabo 21 pass from William Mokel (run failed), 1:04SR — Nick Kingerski 37 field goal, :00Third QuarterSR — Mokel 5 run (Kingerski kick), 11:07H — Sean Kennedy 2 run (Nash Porada pass from Logan Woods), 8:12Fourth QuarterH — Ramarion Whitehead 58 pass from Woods (run failed), 9:36SR — Shane Thompson 90 kickoff return (Kingerski kick), 9:21H — Lukas Jones 22 field goal, 6:01Individual StatisticsRushing: Hickory, Jackson Pryts 4-14, Sean Kennedy 20-89, Logan Woods 9-42, Ty Holland 6-23, Nakeem Jones 11-29, Daymar Trawick 2-18, Ramarion Whitehead 1-3. Slippery Rock, William Mokel 5-2, Ryan Montgomery 5-19, Shane Thompson 14-154, Maddox Allen 2-(-4), TEAM 2-(-8).Passing: Hickory, Logan Woods 9-18-159-1. Slippery Rock, William Mokel 9-17-85-0.Receiving: Hickory, Ramarion Whitehead 5-136, Nash Porada 1-10, Jackson Pryts 2-14, Sean Kennedy 1-(-1). Slippery Rock, Shane Thompson 2-13, John Sabo 4-40, Colton Glass 1-9, Ryan Montgomery 1-1, Brendan Earl 1-22.
