Sharpsville tops Linesville 21-14 for D-10 title

The Blue Devils had several weapons on offense.
SLIPPERY ROCK -- When Sharpsville and Linesville met in the sixth week of the regular season, the Blue Devils had to come from behind to post a hard-fought 21-18 win.
Meeting for the second time this season in the District 10 Class A final Friday night, the Blue Devils again came out on top, this time by the final of 21-14, to capture the D-10 title and advance to the state tournament.
For Sharpsville (11-0), the district crown was their sixth in the last eight years.
"Right now it feels great and now we are going to meet the rest of the town tonight back in Sharpsville and have a good time," said Blue Devil coach Paul Piccirilli. "I told the guys that winning the district title is another trophy and that everything from here on out is icing on the cake. We are going to try and do as well as we can, but the district title means a lot to us."
One week ago when the Blue Devils tossed a 35-0 shutout at Saegertown in the semifinals, it was Jordan Cataldi who carried most of the mail for Sharpsville as he scored three offensive touchdowns while adding a fourth score on a fumble return.
Valenly, Golub get carries
However, with the Lions paying special attention to Cataldi, Piccirilli and his staff decided to spread the wealth around as they have done for most of the year. That meant more touches for Shawn Valenly and R. J. Golub this time around.
As for Valenly carrying the ball 18 times for 82 yards and Golub chipping in with another 31 yards on five attempts, Piccirilli admitted that wasn't exactly his plan coming into the game.
"No it wasn't the game plan. It just goes by feeling," said Piccirilli. "I knew they were keying on Jordan Cataldi and thank goodness Rickie [Golub] came through with a big run for us down here. Shawn [Valenly] has been our workhorse for the past two years. He wanted the ball tonight so that is why we gave it to him."
The Blue Devils jumped out to a 14-0 lead and they did it with special teams play.
Cataldi ripped off a 64-yard punt return for the Devils' first score before he raced in from 12 yards out to make it 14-0 Devils. The Cataldi run was set up by a 7-yard punt that gave the Devils a short field at the Linesville 20.
"We made three critical mistakes and they were all in the first half," said veteran Linesville coach Dan McCullough. "Just like the first game, we had the stats on them in the first half, but when you make three major mistakes like we did against a team as good as they are, you aren't going to make it."
Time-consuming drive
After seeing their lead cut to 21-14 in the second half on touchdown runs by Ben McMillen and Cody Wheeler, the Devils put on a drive that consumed almost six minutes before the Linesville (9-2) defense stiffened at the Lion 12.
With time running out after picking up a couple of first downs, the Lions were forced to the air lanes. That is when Valenly did his thing on defense as he picked off a Tyler Reynolds pass in the final minute to secure the win.
"The good thing about it [Linesville's last possession] is that they had to throw," said Piccirilli. "If they would have had a 6 or 7 minute drive, then you would have seen '32' [Ben McMillen] pound it down our throats again. If that would have been the case, then it might have been a different game."
For the game McMillen was the workhorse for the Lions, carrying the ball 19 times for 94 yards and the one score. Wheeler finished with 68 yards on a dozen carries and the one score.
"We had quite an effort in the second half," said McCullough. "We cut down our mistakes and we did play some good football in the second half. When you are down by three touchdowns and are able to come back and make a game of it, that is an example of the caliber of kids we have on this team. From that standpoint, we were happy with it."