Nov 3, 2002 By Jim Kriek For The 5 min read

It might have been a cold night to watch a game, but the Connellsville faithful left the stadium with a warm feeling. The sparse crowd of real Falcon fans who showed up were treated to an interesting game that had to go two overtimes before being settled with Connellsville scoring a touchdown in each of the extra sessions to trip visiting Shaler, 21-14, and close the season with a two-game winning run.

Regulation time ended in a 7-7 draw, Shaler scored in the first period, Connellsville in the second, and then the defenses took over with the issue finally being settled four quarters later.

In the fourth quarter of regulation, Connellsville (3-7) drove to the Titans’ 29 and was held on downs, while Shaler (1-9) reached the Falcon 14, where a fourth-down field goal was partially tipped by Frank Kolarik and came up short.

In overtime, the ball is put on the 10 and each team has four downs to try and score.

Shaler won the toss to start the first extra session and chose offense. Brandon McNearney went left for two yards, and QB Lou Massamiani, who did everything but sell tickets, went wide left on a keeper to score. Dave Sibenac kicked the PAT for a 14-7 lead.

On Connellsville’s first down, B.J. Straughters lost a yard, then went ahead for six. A third-down pass was incomplete, but on fourth down, QB Chris Marsinko fired a pass to Dave Show in the left corner of the end zone for the score, and Ben Popson kicked the tying point.

Connellsville won the second OT flip and took offense. Marsinko carried twice for four yards each time, and on third down, Straughters rammed ahead to score and Popson made it 21-14.

On Shaler’s first down, the defense sacked Massamiani for a 15-yard loss back to the 25, a pass to Tony Spagnolo got nine, but on third down, Falcon senior Brent Wilson made the last play of his CAHS career a memorable one, picking off Massamiani’s pass to end the game and the season.

Coach Dan Spanish said, “Give our seniors credit for a great effort. We (coaches) told them all along that we weren’t going to give up on them, and when it came down to the end it was our seniors scoring behind some senior blockers, another senior partially deflecting a kick and a senior making a very big interception.”

The Falcon coach called the win “a good effort overall. We made a couple mistakes early, but we made up for them at the end. Our defense was great. Shaler took it to us on their first series, but then our defense got better, as a lot of our players pitched in to set a good motivational factor for our younger players next year. We had a couple players out with injuries, but the others stepped in for them. It was a great night for our fans.”

Shaler coach Jacque DeMatteo was “proud of the way our seniors hung in all year, they gave us some good games, and they gave us a good effort tonight. You had both teams playing for pride, and they made some tough plays when they were needed.”

The Falcons gained 195 yards on the ground, plus 88 passing for 283 yards total. Marsinko led the rushers with 77 yards on 20 carries, plus completing four of 11 passes for 88 yards and two touchdowns.

Shaler took the opening kickoff from its 35 and scores in 11 plays, Massimiani leading the way with 36 yards on three carries to first down at the Connellsville 1, then going in from there at 7:11. Sibenac made it 7-0.

Connellsville put the ensuing kickoff in play at the 33, and with Paul Micklow (3-29) and Marsinko (2-23) leading the offense, moved to the Shaler 13 but fumbled on the next play, and the Titans recovered at the nine.

With 6:55 to go in the first half, CAHS took over at its 37 after a punt. Marsinko, Micklow and Zack Blackstone led from there to the Shaler 49, from where Marsinko fired to Dwaine Berger, who pulled away from one defender, and went on to score at 3:42. Popson kicked the tying point, and that’s the way it stood until the first overtime.

Shaler took the kickoff to the Connellsville 29, where the Falcon defense dug in and held.

In the third quarter, Shaler reached the Connellsville 14, where a field goal try came up short.

Connellsville drove to the Titan 29 for its deepest move of the half.

As he left the field, Spanish, whose teams have won 195 games in his 29-year tenure, was asked about the rumors that he might not return as Falcon coach next year. He replied “I would like to look at one more year to make it an even 30, but we will worry about that later. Right now, our goal is to get back to the playoffs.”

Hopefully, he will be coaching that playoff team.