JOHNSTOWN —
Greater Johnstown quarterback Gervon Simon didn’t look at home at the onset of Friday’s Ken Lantzy Finest 40 high school football all-star game at Trojan Stadium.
But after settling his nerves, Simon led the South squad’s offensive onslaught, scoring three times as the South routed the North, 44-6.
“It’s great to go out the way I did,” said Simon, who was playing his final game at his home stadium. “I was a little nervous at first and I wasn’t playing my best. But once I settled down, I picked it up and just started having fun.”
The South opened the scoring on a 1-yard run by Windber’s Colin Bryan at the 5:12 mark of the first quarter. The two-point conversion try failed, leaving the South ahead 6-0.
The North seemed to be in a great position at the start the second quarter after the South mishandled a punt snap, handing the North the ball on the South 24. However, on the second play of the ensuing drive, North quarterback Brad Hengst of Chestnut Ridge fumbled a snap right back to the South.
“Football games are a lot about momentum and we made too many mistakes,” said North head coach Ernie Fetzer of Penn Cambria. “We dropped seven passes, including two first downs and a touchdown early on. When you look at those little things and see them add up, it changes the game.”
The South showed its explosiveness on the first play of the following series when Rockwood’s Ben Miller lofted a perfect pass down the middle of the field to Bishop McCort’s Jerqual Wilson, who broke open behind the secondary. Wilson easily covered the 76 yards for the score, giving the South a 14-0 advantage with 14:04 remaining in the second quarter.
“Coaching these kinds of athletes is like playing a video game on your Xbox,” said South co-head coach Brandon Bailey of Richland. “We just tried to design plays that would get the ball into their hands in space and allow them to make plays.”
The North got back into the game when Anthony Unger of Forest Hills scored on an 8-yard run to cut the deficit to 14-6 at 9:37 of the second quarter.
However, the South scored four consecutive touchdowns to pull away.
Simon scored on runs of 4 and 2 yards in the second and third quarters, respectively. Miller followed up Simon’s runs with a 19-yard touchdown pass to Meyersdale’s Brandon Miller, giving the South a 36-6 lead at the end of the third quarter.
Simon added his final touchdown, and the final one of the game, on a 2-yard run with 5:31 remaining in the fourth quarter.
The North’s offense was inconsistent throughout the game and had trouble maintaining long drives. The South’s defense held the North to just 235 yards of total offense.
“Our kids are some really talented athletes,” Bailey said. “Coach (Stacy) Schmitt and the defensive staff had the kids ready to play. They held us in check all week in practice, which actually had me a little concerned about our offense coming into this game.”
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Related Photos
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Windber’s Colin Bryan of the South scores a touchdown while being defended by Tussey Mountain’s Joshua White of the North. Todd Berkey
Discussion
South all-stars roll to easy Lantzy victory
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