HERMITAGE, PA. Devils look sharp against Hornets

Sharpsville scored 19 unanswered points to down Hickory, 19-7.
By BILL ALBRIGHT
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
HERMITAGE, Pa. -- Good football teams like Sharpsville simply make plays and find ways to win games.
After spotting host Hickory the first score of the game Friday, the Blue Devils scored on the ground, through the airways, and on defense as they tallied 19 unanswered points en route to a 19-7 win over the Hornets.
After the two teams combined for four straight punts to begin the game, Hickory got on the board as it marched 86 yards on a dozen plays with Josh Covert going in from 1 yard out for the score.
Quick recovery: But just that quickly, the Blue Devils bounced back to put together a touchdown drive of 59 yards on 10 plays, with quarterback Mark Anglin sneaking in from the two. The snap for the PAT was "muffed", and the first half ended with Hickory (3-3) still holding onto a slim 7-6 lead.
"That [bouncing back] is the key to us this year," said Sharpsville coach Paul Piccirilli. "We have been down four games at half this year and for some reason, we seem to get the momentum when we need it."
While the Devils made plays, Hickory coach Phil Annarella thought the inability of his team to do just that was a big factor in the game.
"We just don't make the big plays when we need them," said Annarella. "Last week against Wilmington we didn't make them and tonight it was the same thing. It is starting to sound like a broken record, but we just didn't get it done when we had to."
Versatile: One of the keys to Hickory's early success was the running of quarterback Ross Trimmer, who rushed for 72 yards on 10 carries in the first half. However, the second half was quite different for the Hornet signal caller as he finished with a net of 43 yards for the game, showing a net of minus-29 during the final 24 minutes.
"We moved our ends to the outside to contain him because they had a nice scheme against what we were doing," explained Piccirilli. "Our offense did a little bit to get the momentum and field position back for us and that is something that ended up being the turning point."
The Hornets still maintained the lead heading home after a scoreless third period, but the Blue Devils took care of that situation on their first possession of the final period.
Starting from its own 49, Sharpsville (5-1) went the 51 yards in 13 plays, with Anglin finding wideout Jeff Watson with a 10-yard scoring pass. Again the pass failed, but with 8:31 left in the game, Sharpsville had taken the lead for keeps at 12-7.
"We gave them that one drive there that resulted in the winning score," said Annarella of Watson's touchdown.
Shutting them down: If the Blue Devil offense didn't completely take care of the momentum situation, the Sharpsville defense did in the final minutes of the contest.
With Hickory having one last-ditch opportunity to move the ball downfield, defensive back Ron Haywood stepped in front of a Trimmer pass and returned the interception 63 yards for the final score. Ray Rotell added the PAT from placement to set the final at 19-7 Sharpsville.
"We finally got the OK today to play him," Piccirilli said of Haywood, who is nursing a hamstring injury. "He didn't work out too much, but he came to practice and understood what we were doing. The doctor gave him the OK, so we held him out on offense as much as we could and he just did an outstanding job."