Mustangs win on Russell’s 24-yard FG
The Irish aren’t always lucky, you know. Sometimes they are just good. Senior kicker Alex Russell, a native of Ireland in his first year of American football, nailed a 24-yard-field goal with seven seconds left to play to lift host Laurel Highlands to a thrilling 13-10 win over Derry in the teams’ Keystone Conference opener Friday night.
“This is my first year kicking for a football team,” said Russell, who played soccer and rugby growing up in Ireland before his family moved to the United States in June of 2005. “I decided this year to give it a shot and see how it went.”
And how does he like it so far?
“It’s awesome,” he beamed. “Especially on nights like this.”
Russell’s boot put the finishing touches on a spirited, hero-filled second-half comeback that saw the Mustangs (1-0, 1-2) rally from a 10-0 halftime deficit.
The Mustangs’ winning possession was the product of near perfection in every facet of their game – defense, offense and special teams.
LH’s defense capped off a smothering second half by forcing Derry to punt from its own 24 with just over a minute to play in regulation. Randy Rankin, who entered the game as the WPIAL’s leading receiver, returned the ensuing punt from his 45 to the Derry 36.
That put the ball in the hands of senior quarterback Dan Pegg with 51 seconds left to play. He quickly found Rankin for seven yards and Eric Yarborough for four more to set up first-and-10 from the 24. A holding penalty pushed the ‘Stangs back to the 35. Undaunted, Pegg came right back and hit Stephen Lewis on a slant at the 20 that Lewis carried all the way down to the seven, bringing Russell onto the field.
“That’s all we do, baby, pass,” said Pegg, who finished 14-of-27 for 124 yards.
“He’s a senior,” said coach Jack Buehner of his quarterback. “Whether it’s high school, college or pro, you want the guy with experience in those situations. And boy, did he perform down the stretch … as did all of our players.”
Only the most diehard Mustang fans could have envisioned such an ending after a miserable first half.
Derry (0-1, 0-3), which hadn’t scored a point in its first two games, put three up on its first possession, never leaving the ground on a 10-play opening drive. Running back Joshua Hemminger was the Trojans’ horse, carrying six times for 29 yards before Dakota Rhoades lollipopped a 34-yard field goal through the uprights.
It appeared that score would stand up until halftime, as the Mustangs mustered only one first down through the first two quarters. But with 23 seconds left in the half, disaster befell the home team. Throwing from his own 19, Pegg was picked off by Robert Mroskey, who returned it to the 14. On the next play, Derry’s Scott Yeckley lobbed a perfect fade to Zachary Matusak, who outjumped Yarborough for the ball in the end zone to send Derry into the locker room with a 10-0 lead and a mother lode of momentum.
“I told them at halftime that we were being more spectators than being aggressive,” said Buehner. “I said you have to step up and play your game.”
After struggling for the first 10 quarters of the season, the Mustangs finally found their game in the second half. Pegg led LH on a 13-play, 62-yard drive to open the third quarter, completing three passes and running four times himself for 20 yards. Russell then kicked his first-ever field goal from 29 yards out to put LH on the board.
The Mustangs defense, meanwhile, never let Derry catch its breath, yielding only one first down and just 36 yards over the final two quarters. And Yarborough was the leader, intercepting a pair of passes from his cornerback position, the latter of which set up the Mustangs’ first touchdown.
“Maybe (Derry’s) staff saw something they thought they could come back to later,” said Buehner. “Eric was having none of that.”
“I tried to redeem myself (after Derry’s first touchdown),” said the soft-spoken Yarborough. “I was a little down in the locker room at halftime.”
Yarborough’s second pick, which came early in the fourth quarter, set up the Mustangs at the Derry 11. Three plays later, Pegg found Rankin over the middle from four yards out to knot the score and set the stage for Russell’s last-second heroics.
“That’s how our conference is,” said Buehner. “We might have difficulty outside our conference, but in the conference, every game is exciting.
“This is what high school football is all about.”