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Warwick edges Hempfield, 31-24


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LANDISVILLE — The Hempfield Black Knights closed to within seven points of the Warwick Warriors on three separate occasions in the final ten minutes of Friday night’s Section One football contest.

Warriors’ quarterback Tyler Trimarchi and his steady arsenal of skill players never flinched, however, as Warwick (4-2) held on to spoil Hempfield’s homecoming, 31-24.

“An emotional roller coaster for sure,” Trimarchi said of the final quarter. “I thought we did a great job moving the ball, line made some key blocks, and got some running backs some space to run.”

“I got a lot of respect for those guys. Our line just played really good tonight,” added linemen Tyler Borg. “We figured out what we needed to do, got schemes down, we just played great. Just love those guys, we can do whatever we want if we put our minds to it.”

The Warwick defense stopped Hempfield (1-5) on fourth down late in the third quarter, and looked poised to stop the Black Knights again in the fourth when Borg sacked Knights’ quarterback Mark Himmelsbach at the 15-yard line.

But Himmelsbach (13-20 passing, 182 yards; nine rushes, 56 yards) was able to cut the deficit to 17-10 on a nifty burst up the middle with 8:52 left on the game clock, capping off a 13-play, 91-yard drive in the process.

“I thought the defense up and until that point of time bailed us out,” said Warwick coach Bob Locker. “We struggled offensively early on in the game … I have to give credit to Hempfield’s defense, they did some things very well so it made us got to Plan B and fortunately we had a Plan B.”

Warwick responded when Trimarchi (19-22 passing, 207 yards), who credited the zone-read with opening things up in the fourth quarter, improvised on a pass play by scrambling to his right, then back to the middle, finding Tyler Gerhart for a key 23-yard score to extend the lead to 24-10.

“Gerhart did a fantastic job just posting up in the middle of the field,” Trimarchi said. “Got wide open and that was a big answer for us, gave us a lot of momentum.”

Hempfield again cut into the deficit on a well-timed swing pass to David Robinson from 38-yards out, leading to the first of two Black Knights’ onside kicks. But Warwick recovered, and Trimarchi ran in from the four-yard line after Nick Fucci (7 rushes, 48 yards), ripped off a 33-yard run up the middle to open the drive that started at midfield.

“Facing adversity we’re a pretty good football team,” Trimarchi said. “We never back down no matter what the challenge. I got a great line, a great group of receivers, I got a backfield that’s four-deep at running back that can do some special things. I’m confident in the guys I have around me.”

Still, Hempfield’s Nick Kauffman returned the subsequent kickoff 90-yards to again close within seven points and setup the second onside kick opportunity with 2:16 to go.

But Warwick’s Evan Popalis snagged the ball during an effective scrum and Trimarchi closed it out with a 29-yard run up the middle for the last first-down the Warriors would need.

“A kid said that Pop ripped it out of some kid’s hand,” Locker said of the all-important onside recovery. “I thought they were going to come down with it and that would have made the game really interesting.”

“Let’s just say it was fun,” Borg said of the back-and-forth ending. “I love those games. Had to make it interesting, but it was fun.”

Game Notes:

Isaac Rissinger rushed 13 times for 100 yards for Warwick… Trimarchi completed his first 14 passes, including going 10-for-10 in the opening half that included to touchdowns to Carter Forney (8-111). Hempfield’s Brendan Flores rushed for 83 yards on 17 carries.

_Q1_Q2_Q3_Q4_—_FINAL

WW       _00_14_03_14_—_31

HM        _00_03_00_21_—_24

Q2 (11:06) – HM, FG, M. Sheerin 28, 0-3

Q2 (10:46) – WW, C. Forney 59-yd pass from T. Trimarchi (W. Mobley kick), 7-3

Q2 (0:31) – WW,               C. Forney 4-yd pass from T. Trimarchi (W. Mobley kick), 14-3

Q3 (7:11) – WW,               FG, W. Mobley 37, 17-3

Q4 (8:52) – HM, M. Himmelsbach 15-yd rush (M. Sheerin kick), 17-10

Q4 (5:55) – WW,               T. Gerhart 23-yd pass from T. Trimarchi (W. Mobley kick), 24-10

Q4 (4:23) – HM, D. Robinson 38-yd pass from M. Himmelsbach (M. Sheerin kick), 24-17

Q4 (2:30) – WW,               T. Trimarchi 4-yd rush (W. Mobley kick), 31-17

Q4 (2:16) – HM, N. Kauffman 90-yd return (M. Sheerin kick), 31-24

WW       HM

FIRST DOWNS —                            19           19

RUSHES / YARDS —                      32-203  32-149

COMP / ATT / INT —                      19-22-0 14-24-0

PASSING YARDS —                       207        190

TOTAL YARDS —                          403        334

SACKED / YDS LOST —                1-7         1-5

PUNTS / AVG —                              3-47       3-34.3

FUMBLES / LOST —                      1-0         1-0

PENALTIES / YARDS —                5-41       0-0

RUSHING — WW, I. Rissinger 13-100, T. Trimarchi 10-50, N. Fucci 7-48, R. Long 2-5. HM, B. Flores 17-83, M. Himmelsbach 9-56, D. Robinson 6-10.

PASSING — WW, T. Trimarchi 19-22-0-207. HM, M. Himmelsbach 13-20-0-182, D. Robinson 1-4-0-8.

RECEIVING — WW, C. Forney 8-111, J. Cruz 4-28, T. Gerhart 3-39, P. Quinn 3-21, E. Popalis 1-8. HM, D. Robinson 3-70, H. Mauck 3-44, M. Crespo 2-18, C. O'Brien 2-15, M. Sheerin 1-12, Z. Rodriguez 1-12, D. Ressler 1-11, S. Whitehead 1-8.