Yorty leads Lisbon over Dalton, 14-6

By TOM WILLIAMS
VINDICATOR SPORTS STAFF
CANTON -- Jay Yorty may not really be a magician, but the all-purpose Lisbon High football star used a little sleight of hand and some powerful moves with his legs to help conjure up a playoff victory.
Yorty scored two touchdowns, tricked Dalton's defenders with his shifts and pinned the Bulldogs with his lengthy punts as the eighth-seeded Blue Devils defeated fourth-seeded Dalton 14-6 in Friday's Division V Region 17 semifinal at Canton Central Catholic's Klinefelter Stadium.
The Blue Devils (11-1) advance to play second-seeded Warren Kennedy (10-2) Friday at a site to be announced Sunday. Dalton finishes 10-2 after ousting Columbiana, the only team to defeat Lisbon.
Linebacker Andy Garwood said the victory "was more intense" than last week's 21-12 triumph over top-seeded Gilmour Academy.
Uplifting
"I can't describe it -- it's the best feeling I've ever felt," Garwood said of the Devils advancing to the state's Elite Eight.
Not that Lisbon didn't survive several close calls, especially at the end.
The Blue Devils avoided an overtime scare late in the fourth quarter after Dalton's star tailback Derek Jackson bulled his way into the end zone with a 1-yard touchdown. The score came on Jackson's 11th-consecutive carry to cap a 41-yard drive.
A bad snap on the extra-point kick led to a wobbly hold and kicker Jeremy Wenger booted the ball off the left upright to preserve Lisbon's 7-6 lead.
"It's luck," Lisbon coach Jim Tsilimos said. "You need luck this time of the year. We're lucky."
Lucky or magic?
"It could be magic, I don't know," Tsilimos said. "Once you get into the playoffs, anything can happen. Our kids have worked hard to get to this point. We beat a good football team tonight."
Yorty said, "When I saw that ball bounce off, I couldn't believe it. We went crazy. That got the momentum back to us."
The danger wasn't over.
Dalton tried an onside kick that bounced off several hands before the Devils recovered at their 40. Lisbon marched deep into Bulldogs territory, gobbling the clock and forcing Dalton to use their timeouts.
Walk-in TD
With a minute to go, no way to stop the clock and only one sure way to get the ball back, Dalton allowed Yorty to walk into the end zone for a 17-yard score.
"I was lost," Yorty said, surprised when no one approached. "When I saw the defensive formation, I knew they were up to something tricky."
Jacob Wycoff's extra-point kick gave the Devils an eight-point lead.
Dalton quarterback Cory Carmichael threw four straight incompletions to seal Lisbon's win.
After a scoreless first half, Yorty sparked the Devils with a 31-yard kickoff return to midfield. Five plays later, Yorty executed a brilliant fake handoff to fullback Frank Gallo then burst untouched through the center of the field for a 34-yard touchdown.
Yorty said guard Jared Sweeney and tackle Andrew Ketchum opened a hole "a truck could have gone through. I ran midline, the tackle pinched in and tackled our fullback. There was nobody there -- I could see for 20 yards and there was nobody around."
Tsilimos said, "It was an option play and he read it, kept it and ran all the way. He's been playing there for four years so after more than 40 games, he's capable of doing a lot of good things. He made some mistakes but he survived."
Ground leader
Yorty, who alternates at quarterback and tailback, led the Devils with 137 yards on 18 runs. He completed two passes for 17 yards, but threw three interceptions, all by Dalton's P.J. Zaleski.
Yorty's three punts included a 60-yarder on a line drive in the second quarter.
Jackson rushed for 172 yards on 39 carries.
"He's a good back -- it took all we had to shut him down, but we did a pretty good job of it," defensive tackle Cody Dailey said.
Garwood credited Dailey and Chris Brown for leading the defense.
"Our defensive line was stopping him so [well] that they would take him down and there would be no one for us linebackers to block," he said. "It was a great feeling."
williams@vindy.com