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HEARTBREAKER
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Sharon High students wore Tiger Strong shirts at Monday’s playoff game in Erie. The game was postponed from Saturday after two Sharon players were killed in a car accident on Friday.
— high school football —
ERIE, PA.
The scene was set for the Sharon High football team Monday night.
The Tigers were playing a first-round playoff game in honor of their lost teammates, Corey Swartz and Evan Gill, as well as the two healing in the hospital, Craig Osmon and Gregg Osmon. The entire community of Sharon was behind them.
For 2 hours and 15 minutes, the Tigers played the game they love, the game that brought them together.
They were able to, for a little while, put all that has happened to them from a tragic weekend in the back of their minds.
The Sharon student body had called for a “whiteout” as a sign of unity. As fate would have it, Mother Nature decided to take part, too, as a thick layer of snow coated the field at Erie Veterans Stadium.
It was a scene moviewriters couldn’t have scripted credibly.
With 21.8 seconds remaining in the game, Sharon was clinging to a 19-14 lead over Girard and needed just one more stop on a fourth-and-nine from their 22 yard line.
Not one of the hundreds of fans battling the elements was sitting.
Girard quarterback Joe Dunn dropped back with players losing their footing all around him. He scrambled and found Bryan Divido across the middle.
Divido caught the pass and made a pair of Sharon defenders miss, running into the end zone to give the Yellowjackets a 20-19 lead in the District 10 game.
Many Sharon players dropped to their knees, lying motionless in the snow. Some just held their head in their hands. Many fans did the same. That wasn’t what was supposed to happen.
The Tigers football season wasn’t supposed to end like this, not after all they’ve been through, not after the game they played.
Girard added a two-point conversion to make the final score 22-19.
As Tigers quarterback Andrew Tomko heaved one last Hail Mary and time expired, tears were the only thing the Sharon community had left.
Melinda Marie Swartz ran onto the field, tears running down her face, and grabbed Troy Hejazi who was wearing her son’s jersey in his honor. Hejazi was squatting down and she picked him up and embraced him in a way only a mother could.
“She just came up to me and hugged me and said, ‘it’s going to be alright, it’s going to be okay,’ ” Hejazi said. “I couldn’t help it, tears came out.
“I just told her I’m sorry,” Hejazi said. “I felt guilty. It just hurt a lot, but also I felt the love of her and the family.
“I know that he’s still with me today and it’s going to be okay in the long run.”
An emotional Hejazi tried putting into words, after the game what it meant to wear Swartz’s jersey.
“It meant a lot to me, it meant a lot to the family of Corey Swartz,” he said. “He was my best friend and so was Evan Gill. They needed to play on that field on more time and that’s how we were going to do it.”
As the team walked off the field, they were serenaded by one more “SHS” chant.
“I feel that Corey and Evan honestly brought Sharon together,” Hejazi said. “This is the biggest crowd we’ve ever had for my high school career and it’s just amazing that this crowd is here for them and for the Sharon community.”
Tigers coach Jim Wildman gathered his team after the game for one final message.
“We will not use what happened as an excuse, it wasn’t in the cards for us tonight,” Wildman said. “I have nothing but praise for especially you 12 seniors.
“I remember my first class 100 years ago ... believe me I’ll never forget this class.”