Merkle, Mailman set records as York Suburban clinches title share
Collin Mailman kept running, and running, and running. His partner in crime, quarterback Thomas Merkle, kept finding him. And by the time they were done, both were atop the record books.
Merkle threw for 285 yards, Mailman pulled in 159 receiving yards, and York Suburban defeated Gettysburg, 45-14, for the Trojans' seventh straight win to clinch a share of the YAIAA Division II title.
It's York Suburban's first division title since 1989.
"In our minds, we haven't clinched it yet. We still have to play one game against a division team," York Suburban head coach Andy Loucks said.
It was a historic night for the Trojans (7-2, 5-0). A 13-yard pass in the third quarter gave Merkle the York County record for career passing yards. The record was previously held by former Spring Grove quarterback Matt Marshall, who coincidentally serves as an assistant on the Trojans' staff.
Mailman's six receptions give him 102 for his career, breaking the previous school record of 100. All of Mailman's receptions came in the first half.
"Those have been two awesome players for York Suburban for the past three years, so it's great to see them do something like that," Loucks said.
It wasn't easy for the Trojans. The team hit traffic on the way in, throwing their pregame warm-ups off by about 25 minutes, Loucks said. When the game did start, Gettysburg (1-8, 0-5) scored on its first possession to take a 7-0 lead. Warriors quarterback Tyler Wilt turned a quarterback sneak into a 16-yard touchdown run.
Suburban responded on its next play, when Mailman ran right past his defender for a 70-yard reception to tie the score at seven.
The game looked like it could get out of hand late in the second quarter, when Suburban was up, 21-7, and about to get the ball back. However, Mailman fumbled a punt, and Gettysburg recovered on the Trojan 17-yard line. Three plays later, running back Edny Celius punched it in to make it 21-14.
The second half was all Suburban, which used big runs from Teague Hoffman and Dajour Henderson to go up 45-14 going into the fourth quarter.
"We did very well in the beginning, but we didn't execute very well afterwards. They did, so credit goes to them for continuing up with their execution," Gettysburg head coach Matt Heiser said.
Suburban was able to grind the game out in the fourth quarter. Even without scoring, the Trojans controlled the clock and didn't turn the ball over. When the clock was at zeros, the Trojans were champs.
York Suburban717210—45Gettysburg7700—14
First Quarter
YS — Collin Mailman 70 yard reception from Thomas Merkle (Jonas Atkinson kick) 4:14
Get — Tyler Wilt 16 yard run (Dillard Ravoughn kick) 4:32
Second Quarter
York Suburban — Colin Deardorf 8 pass from Merkle (Atkinson kick) 10:35
YS — Mailman 51 pass from Thomas Merkle (Atkinson kick) 7:01
Get — Edny Celius 3 run (Ravoughn kick) 5:23
YS — Atkinson 29 yard field goal 2:27
Third Quarter
YS — Teague Hoffman 2 pass from Merkle (Atkinson kick) 8:15
YS — Hoffman 53 yard run (Atkinson kick) 4:32
YS — Dajour Henderson 36 run (Atkinson kick) 1:20
YS Get First downs227 Rushes-Yards18-12741-150 Passing20-28-17-20-1Passing Yards30742 Total Yards434192 Punts39 Fumbles-Lost02-2 Penalties-Yards03
Individual Statistics
Rushing — YS, Dajour Henderson 7-63, Teague Hoffman 3-53, Jake Taylor 5-5, Ben Igo 3-6. Get Tyler Wilt 15-43, Edny Celius 13-42, Oakley Marsh 9-24, Elijah Jackson 2-27, Wesley Gayle 2-14.
Passing — YS, Thomas Merkle 18-25-285-3-1, Ben Igo 2-3-21. Get Tyler Wilt 7-20-42-0-1,
Receiving — YS, Brad Smith 7-109, Mailman 6-159-2, Deardorf 3-17-1, Hoffman 1-13, Knaub 2-8, Team 1-1. Get Khalil Hill 1-20, Tyler Kiser 1-5, Devin Ringler 1-5, Patrick Heidecker 2-3, Edny Celius 1-9