Frazier victorious in epic OT battle with South Side Beaver
John F. Brothers | Herald-Standard
Frazier’s Hunter Patterson returns an interception 30 yards for a touchdown against South Side Beaver in the first quarter of their WPIAL Class A first-round playoff game at Frazier on Friday night. Patterson also threw a pair of touchdown passes and ran for two scores, including the game-winner in overtime as the Commodores won, 33-32.
John F. Brothers | Herald-Standard
Frazier’s Tim Broadwater (4) sacks South Side Beaver quarterback Robbie Heberle (19) for a 10-yard loss during Friday’s WPIAL Class A playoff game at Frazier High School.
John F. Brothers | Herald-Standard
Frazier quarterback Hunter Patterson (12) breaks through several tacklers on a quarterback keeper and makes a first down to keep a Commodores drive alive during Friday’s WPIAL Class A playoff game against South Side Beaver at Frazier High School. Frazier is in action tonight vs. Shenango at Chartiers-Houston at 7:30 p.m.
John F. Brothers | Herald-Standard
With five seconds left in the first half, Frazier’s Damon Lovis takes a 24-yard pass in for a touchdown and ties the score at 19-19 during their WPIAL Class playoff game against South Side Beaver, Friday, at Frazier High School.
Frazier's Damon Lovis (14) returns a punt during the second quarter of their WPIAL Class A playoff game against South Side Beaver Friday at Frazier High School.
Frazier tight end Tim Broadwater (4) hauls in a 17-yard pass in the end zone for a Commodores touchdown during Friday's WPIAL Class A playoff contest against South Side Beaver at Frazier High School.
PERRYOPOLIS — Frazier and South Side Beaver battled each other for four quarters and into overtime on Friday night.
Finally their epic clash came down to one play, a two-point conversion, the Rams’ offense against the Commodores’ defense.
Frazier’s defense rose to the occasion … and the Commodores will move on in the WPIAL Class A playoffs thanks to a thrilling 33-32 victory.
Cameron Roebuck and a red sea of Frazier defenders stopped South Side Beaver’s Cole Campbell cold on the two-point try and the fourth-seeded and still unbeaten Commodores (10-0) celebrated their first-round win as the 13th-seeded Rams (6-4) walked dejectedly away.
“Our players willed that victory to happen,” Frazier coach Mike Steeber said. “They refused to lose tonight, no matter what happened. I couldn’t be more proud of our kids.”
Frazier will play fifth-seeded Shenango in the quarterfinals.
“That was a great football game,” Rams coach Glenn McDougal said. “I’m happy I was part of it. It’s great to see teams compete like they did tonight. You keep your heads up. Our kids did a great job. Their kids did a great job. The game could’ve gone either way.”
The game was tied 26-26 after regulation and Frazier got the ball first in overtime, starting at the Rams 10. Commodores quarterback Hunter Patterson ran for six yards around left end, then plowed into the end zone from the 4-yard line on the next play. Joshua Cox’s extra-point kick put the Commodores up 33-26.
“My mindset was I wasn’t going to be stopped,” Patterson said. “I was going to get into that end zone.”
South Side Beaver answered quickly with Quae-Shawn Thompson scoring on a jet sweep from the 10 to pull the Rams within one, setting up the winner-take-all two-point conversion try.
That’s when Frazier showed why it led the WPIAL in scoring defense while recording six shutouts this season.
“We didn’t get a shutout tonight, but our defense made plays when it had to,” said Patterson, who opened the game’s scoring with a 46-yard interception return on the second play from scrimmage. “That’s the way it’s been all year.”
Patterson had a hand in all five Frazier scores with a pair of touchdown passes and two TD runs in addition to his pick-six.
“I shocked myself,” Patterson said of the interception. “I haven’t had a pick all year. I just saw a slant coming and I read the quarterback’s (Robbie Heberle) eyes.”
Cox had a rare miss on the extra-point kick, though, leaving the hosts up 6-0.
South Side Beaver shook off the quick 6-0 deficit and scored the next 19 points.
Campbell capped a nine-play drive with a 1-yard TD run, although Brett Hubbard’s extra-point kick was blocked, tying the score at 6-6 in the first quarter.
Frazier came back with a 10-play drive that stalled at the Rams 9, where Cox’s 27-yard field goal attempt was ruled to be wide right.
South Side Beaver scored on back-to-back drives in the second quarter with Heberle hitting Thompson for a 26-yard TD pass on a third-and-24 play and A.J. Crider taking advantage of a Frazier fumble by running for a 24-yard touchdown.
Down 19-6, the Commodores refused to panic, thanks in large part to Patterson, who took his team on consecutive scoring drives late in the half.
Patterson connected with Damon Lovis for a 43-yard gain and then hit Tim Broadwater for a 17-yard touchdown on the next play with 4:55 left to make it 19-13.
After Frazier’s defense forced a punt, Patterson completed passes of 18 yards to Broadwater and 14 yards to Cox on successive plays to the Rams 24. Four plays later from the same spot on fourth down Patterson completed a pass to Lovis who fought into the end zone for the tying touchdown with five seconds remaining in the half. \
The extra-point kick was blocked, leaving the game tied 19-19 at halftime.
South Side Beaver stunned Frazier again at the start of the second half by recovering an onside kick and then scoring four plays later on a 14-yard run by Thompson, who rushed for a game-high 82 yards. Hubbard’s extra point put the visitors up 26-19.
The Commodores defense clamped down for the rest of regulation, however. The Rams next six drives ended with two turnovers and four punts.
The Rams’ defense stiffened as well. Frazier’s first three drives of the second half ended with a pair of punts and an interception of a Caleb Cox pass on a gadget play by Thompson.
Frazier’s Chris Pierce recovered a fumble at the Rams 24 late in the third quarter, though, and Patterson scored on a determined 24-yard run down the left sideline two plays later. Joshua Cox’s extra point tied the game at 26-26.
The Rams put together a strong 12-play drive that traveled from their 16 to the Frazier 16, but another fumble was recovered by Roebuck midway through the fourth quarter.
South Side Beaver threatened two more times in Frazier territory, once when Thompson returned a punt 16 yards to the 41 and again when Cameron Smith intercepted a long Patterson pass at the 45.
Both times the Commodores defense slammed the door, forcing three-and-out punts to keep the score tied.
“There was a lot of adversity in that game and they were so resilient to play through it,” Steeber said of his squad.
“That’s what great team’s do,” Patterson said. “They overcome adversity.”
A clever call by Steeber almost allowed Frazier to pull out the victory in the final seconds of regulation.
A 30-yard run by Patterson and a nine-yard pass to Joshua Cox put the ball at the Rams 47 with 13 seconds left. Joshua Cox gathered in a pass from Patterson and lateraled to Caleb Cox, who had an open field, but Thompson just tripped him up at the 36.
“It’s something we practice,” Steeber said. “It was a shoestring tackle.”
From there, Patterson’s Hail Mary pass into the end zone fell incomplete to set up the exhilarating overtime.
Patterson completed 10 of 19 passes for 162 yards and ran for 74 yards. Joshua Cox had five receptions for 43 yards.
Heberle connected on six of 12 passes for 96 yards.
“It feels pretty amazing,” Patterson said. “We haven’t won a playoff game since 1983 at Frazier. We’re accomplishing all of our goals this year, beating Beth-Center, winning the conference, winning a playoff game.”
Patterson won’t soon forget Friday night’s game.
“No, I won’t,” he said. “This is the greatest game I’ve ever been in.”
WPIAL Class A Playoff Sum
South Side Beaver 6-13-7-0-6 — 32
Frazier 6-13-7-0-7 — 33
First Quarter
F: Hunter Patterson 46 interception return (kick failed), 10:55
SSB: Cole Campbell 12 run (kick blocked), 6:01
Second Quarter
SSB: Quae-Shawn Thompson 26 pass from Robbie Heberle (Brett Hubbard kick), 7:41
SSB: A.J. Crider 24 run (run failed), 5:50
F: Tim Broadwater 17 pass from Patterson (Joshua Cox kick), 4:55
F: Damon Lovis 24 pass from Patterson (kick failed), 0:05
Third Quarter
SSB: Thompson 14 run (Hubbard kick), 10:07
F: Patterson 24 run (Cox kick), 1:08
Overtime
F: Patterson 4 run (Cox kick)
SSB: Thompson 10 run (run failed)
RUSHING: SOUTH SIDE (152): Quae-Shawn Thompson 18-82, 1 TD; A.J. Crider 15-41, 1 TD; Cole Campbell 8-21 1 TD; Cameron Smith 3-8; Matt Roach 1-5; Robbie Heberle 3-(5). FRAZIER (67): Hunter Patterson 22-74, 2 TDs; Lucas Klorczyk 4-4; Chris Pierce 1-(11).
PASSING: SOUTH SIDE (96): Robbie Heberle 6-12-1-96, 1 TD. FRAZIER (167): Hunter Patterson 10-19-2-162, 2 TDs; Chris Pierce 2-2-0-5; Caleb Cox 0-1-1-0.
RECEIVING: SOUTH SIDE: Quae-Shawn Thompson 3-52; Cameron Smith 3-44. FRAZIER: Joshua Cox 5-43, Damon Lovis 2-67, 1 TD; Tim Broadwater 4-40, 1 TD; Caleb Cox 1-17.