H.S. FOOTBALL: Greencastle-Antrim edges Chambersburg, 32-29, in overtime thriller

CHAMBERSBURG >> Kickers usually have one of three personas – they're the heroes, they're the enemies or they're the unknowns.

Greencastle-Antrim's football team wasn't sure what to expect of Austyn Smith, who made his varsity debut on Friday night.

But Smith delivered each time his number was called, and he took on the hero persona after his 18-yard field goal in overtime lifted the Blue Devils to a 32-29 victory over Chambersburg in non-league action at Trojan Stadium.

"Before I came out, I felt a lot of pressure, but once I came out on the field, I calmed down," Smith said. "It was basically the same distance as an extra point, so that's all I thought about. I wasn't worried about it; I just thought about making the kick."

The game was back and forth all evening; the teams traded the lead twice, and the scoreboard was knotted four times.

With just over two minutes remaining, the Trojans (0-1) faced the uphill battle of a 29-21 deficit starting from their own 15-yard line.

On third and short, Chambersburg quarterback Kaden Hoover found a highly-contest Clay Myers down the right sideline. Myers jumped up for a 42-yard grab to bring the Trojans into enemy territory. They followed that with a 23-yard run by Warren Lee to get into the red zone.

Brandon Miller then bullied out three short runs, ending in a one-yard score. Hoover then ran around the right side for a successful two-point conversion that tied the score, 29-29 with 50 seconds left.

"We've seen (Brandon) do some things in practice, and we always tell our kids that they have to be ready," Chambersburg coach Mark Saunders said. "He's a power runner, and he did his part. That's a tribute to him coming off the bench basically cold and doing his job well."

Greencastle (1-0) won the overtime toss and elected to set up defensively first. The Trojans were hit with an especially costly holding penalty on second down that backed them up to the 25-yard line. Two plays later, Nazeer Taylor attempted a 42-yard field goal that went wide left, giving Greencastle a chance to win it all.

The Blue Devils used their hard-nosed run game to get within inches of the end zone before Smith earned the victory.

"I knew it was going to come down to the end," G-A quarterback Spencer Meyers said. "Especially after that first half happened, I knew it was going to be close. I thought it might come down to one possession or even a field goal, and it happened."

Retrospectively, there was one play that made a big difference for the Blue Devils.

Chambersburg struck first on a 50-yard touchdown pass from Hoover to a wide-open Sam Blevins late in the second quarter. With less than a minute left in the first half, it looked like the Trojans would go into the locker room with an unexpected lead.

Starting at midfield, Kyrin Zimmerman sliced through the middle for a 16-yard game, and then Greencastle pulled off some magic. Meyers chucked the ball to Tyler Jeffreys in the left corner about seven yards out of the end zone. Jeffreys tore through three defenders to push his way into the end zone as time expired.

"I knew they'd be sitting back, and I thought I would give them a little pump fake and see what happened," Meyers said. "Jeffreys made a hell of a catch and a hell of a play to get through those defenders like that. I threw the ball, but he made that play happen."

Despite the loss, Chambersburg seems to have made strides in the offseason. Compared to a year ago, the Trojan offense looked well put together. Last season, Greencastle held Chambersburg to just 164 total yards of offense, including only 17 rushing yards. This year, Chambersburg amassed 276 yards, split almost evenly. It had 139 passing yards and 137 on the ground.

"I think last year, we didn't have the heart," Lee said. "Now, we have that. We believe in each other, and we know what we can do."

NOTES >> Greencastle committed 14 penalties, including 11 illegal procedure calls; Meyers said, "My voice is kind of bad right now, but their band is loud. It was a mixture of the two, so our line just struggled hearing me." ... Chambersburg's Darius Johnson had 68 yards on just 3 carries ... The Blue Devils committed 3 turnovers.

Greencastle 32 Chambersburg 29, OT

Greencastle077153—32Chambersburg077150—29

Second Quarter

Ch — Sam Blevins 50 pass from Kaden Hoover (Nazeer Taylor kick), 5:32

GA — Tyler Jeffreys 34 pass from Spencer Meyers (Austyn Smith kick), 0:00

Third Quarter

GA — Derek Measell 5 pass from Myers (Smith kick), 6:04

Ch — Brandon Miller 1 run (Taylor kick), 2:53

Fourth Quarter

GA — Meyers 3 run (Smith kick), 11:24

Ch — Reggie Adams 46 fumble return (Taylor kick), 9:01

GA — Christian Gleichman 64 pass from Meyers (Matthew Christian run), 7:33

Ch — Miller 1 run (Hoover run), 0:50

Overtime

GA — Smith 18 field goal

GAChFirst downs197Rushes-yards37-19132-137Passing12-21-19-24-0Passing yards200139Total yards391276Punts5-33.47-28.3Fumbles-lost5-21-0Penalties-yards14-955-43

Individual statistics

Rushing — (GA) Demetrius Burton 10-56, Measell 6-55, Kyrin Zimmerman 3-40, James Hines 7-31, Bailey Parker 4-23, Meyers 5-6, Team 2-(-20), (Ch) Darius Johnson 3-68, Warren Lee 15-59, Miller 5-8, Darren Gardner 2-6, Carter Edmondson 3-3, Hoover 4-(-7).

Passing — (GA) Meyers 12-21-200-1, (Ch) Hoover 9-24-139-0

Receiving — (GA) Burton 4-64, Brae Peck 2-17, Parker 2-15, Measell 2-6, Gleichman 1-64, Jeffreys 1-34, (Ch) Clay Myers 2-48, Johnson 1-6, Sean Vessah 2-2, Blevins 1-50, Lee 1-30, Edmondson 1-3

Interceptions — (Ch) Sean Vessah