Citizens' Voice from Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania • 66

PIAA Football Playoffs Second-half surge sends Berwick back to Altoona a a I) Berwick's Dave Robbins sneaks over the Manheim line for pass at the Manheim 48-yard line with 48 seconds left on the clock to send the 'Dawgs to the PIAA championship game for the second year in a row. Berwick will try to become the first team in Pennsylvania to win back-to-back state titles Friday night, when it faces Sharon at Altoona 's Mansion Park. "That game was everything it was built up to be," Curry said. "They were pointing to us for 365 days. They've got a helluva good football team, and that quarterback's outstanding.

They're a good football team." The 'Dawgs have met the Barons in the Eastern Pennsylvania championship game four times. All four times, Berwick has won. "Beating Berwick is almost unattainable," said Manheim coach Mike Williams, whose team ended the season 13-1. "We've gotten close and could have won three out of four. You only get a couple shots at a legend.

Until you beat them, it still seems unattainable." "Everyone thought the law of averages had to work out," Manheim senior wideout Eric Zeigler said. "But the season's over. It was a great season, but you have to go on." Berwick quarterback Dave Robbins completed all seven of his passes for 114 yards and rushed for a pair of fourth-quarter touchdowns as the 'Dawgs improved to 14-0. Smith rushed for 52 yards on 16 carries, senior tailback Ross Stoico picked up 50 on 13 carries and senior split end Brian Remley caught three passes for 77 yards. Manheim rolled up 198 yards of total offense in the first half and took a 17-0 lead into the locker room.

Berwick, meanwhile, managed just 34 first-half yards and fumbled the ball away twice. But the 'Dawgs held the Barons By RANDY YANOSHAK Citiuns' Voiet Staff Writer This story will not do justice to the football game it's about. And how could it? When two high school football teams teams that one year ago played one of the best games ever battle for the third time in four years for the right to advance to the state championship football game, it should be an intense game. When the two top-ranked Class AAA teams in Pennsylvania meet, it should be a competitive game. When two teams that have combined to win more than 80 games in the last three years play, it should be a pride-filled game.

When Berwick faced Manheim Central on the Wilkes-Barre Memorial turf Saturday afternoon, it was all of that. The 'Dawgs scored three second-half touchdowns and used two late turnovers one with less than a minute left to play to seal a thrilling 18-17 victory over the Barons and advance to next weekend's PIAA championship game. "It was a great game, with two good two good programs and I don't think the game let anyone down," Berwick coach George Curry said. "That's two years in a row now. We played them four times, and three of them were like this.

You cannot get better entertainment from a high school football game." Exactly one year after Jason Canouse picked off a Matt Nagy pass in the end zone with less than a minute to play to seal a 37-30 Berwick victory in the 1994 PIAA semifinal, Nagy again was intercepted in the last minute to end Manheim 's playoff run. This time, Berwick cornerback Bryan Smith stepped in front of a Berwick 18, Manheim Central 17 Manheim Central 10 7 0 0 17 scoreless in the final two quarters, ground out 206 yards of offense and scored three touchdowns to win their 24th straight game. "Our whole defense was mad," said junior defensive tackle Ryan Mason, whose fumble recovery with seven minutes left to play set up the game-winning touchdown drive. "We knew we could play better than that, so we just stepped it up. We all got psyched up, probably like we never were before.

We came out firing." A one-yard run by Chris Barnett, a 21-yard Chris Thompson field goal and a 22-yard Nagy pass to Zeigler gave the Barons a 17-0 halftime lead, but in the second half, neither of Manheim's two rushers Barnett and tailback Joe Dougherty -touched the ball. Nagy completed 14 of 22 passes for 157 yards and rushed for another 57 yards, but in the second half passed for 29 yards. Fullback Brett Kolk had 33 yards on six carries. The Berwick defense's renewed vigor and an overpowering offensive line helped the 'Dawgs score on their first three second-half possessions. Stoico capped Berwick's first possession of the second half with a two-yard touchdown plunge to cut the Manheim lead to 17-6.

The Barons were on the doorstep of putting the game away when they moved the ball to the Berwick 9. After three plays, the Barons were on the 3, but instead of trying a field goal that could have made it 20-6, they went for the end zone. But the Berwick defense read Nagy's shovel pass to Zeigler, and ended the drive at the 4. "We talked about kicking the field goal," Williams said. "But we felt if we kicked it and then they came back and scored, that they have such a good kicker they still would have beaten us." MLJ the first of his two TDs "It's 20-20 hindsight," Curry said.

"He figured he could make it. I'm glad they didn't." Robbins then marched the 'Dawgs 95 yards on an 11-play drive that took nearly five minutes off the clock, and capped the drive with a one-yard run. "We figured we had to run the ball a little more," Stoico said. "We only had 30 yards rushing (in the first half) so we gutted it up the middle, took some outside the end. The line did an outstanding job in the second half." Clinging to a 17-12 lead with 8:15 left to play, the Barons wanted to move the ball and take time off the clock.

On a third-and-one from his own 40, Nagy took an option left but lost the football after getting hit. Mason pulled it from between the legs of a Baron lineman and the Berwick offense came back on the field with 43 yards separating the 'Dawgs from Altoona. Thirteen plays later, after converting a fourth down and two third downs, Robbins scooted left and put the ball across for a one-yard score, giving Berwick an 18-17 lead and bringing the Manheim offense back on the field with 1:29 left. "I don't think our team was doubting ourselves one bit," Robbins said. "The second half, a couple of us looked at each other and said, 'This is it, this is our senior year.

We've got to do With some help from the defense, the 'Dawgs did. Nagy picked up a first down with a four-yard scramble on fourth down, and had the Barons on their own 42. But as he rolled right looking to pass, Smith stepped up and picked off his throw, sealing Berwick's fifth trip to the state finals. "They've got be talking to themselves after that game," (See BERWICK, page S-l I) lift aJ4l i 3 'iW-Wr-w-wmd Berwick 0 0 4 12 1 First Quarter Manheim Barnett, 1 yard run (Thompson kick), 5:50 Manheim Thompson, 21-yard field goal, 1:07 Second Quarter Manheim Zeigler, 22-yard pass from Nagy (Thompson kick), :45 Third Quarter Berwick Stoico, 2 yard run (Boop kick failed), 5:20 Fourth Quarter Berwick Robbins, 1 yard run (RoDbins pass failed), 8:25 Berwick Robbins, 1 yard run (Robbins pass failed), 1:36 MC Ber First downs 13 17 Rushesyards 28 125 47-126 Passing yards 157 114 CompAttlnt 1422) 7-70 Interceptions Ret 0 0 1 22 Fumbles-Lost 31 22 Penalties Yards 6 48 3 INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS RUSHING-Manheim, Dougherty 33, Barnett 4 6, Nagy 11 57, Kolk 6 33, Zeigler 3 21, Ginder 15. Berwick, Stoico 13 50, Robbins 18 24, Smith 16 52.

PASSING-Manheim, Nagy 14 22 157, 1 TO, 1 INT. Berwick, Robbins 7 7 114. RECEIVING-Manheim, Keating 3 49, Zeigler 5-56, Barnett 1 10, Kolk 2 11, Shaub 3 31. Berwick, Remley 3 77, Seely 213, Amen! 113, Smith 1 11. Brian Remley (81) catches a pass from Dave Robbins, setting up Berwick's second TD.