Blue Bomber rally sinks PA
Down by two scores at halftime after a touchdown and a long gain inside the Pen Argyl five were both nullified by penalties, Palmerton could have easily packed it in.
The players held their own halftime huddle and bounced back not once, but twice to pull out a 21-19 Colonial League win for the Bombers second victory in a row to start the season."This is a big win," Palmerton head coach Chris Walkowiak said. "Paul Reduzzi is a good coach. They've been is the district finals and playoffs for five year straight. We're trying to get where they're at and this was a great measuring stick."I'm just proud of our kids and our effort. They faced adversity and responded. We lost our composure in the first half a little bit and I told them at halftime lets just play football. We got caught up in some undisciplined stuff on our end and we fixed that."Things didn't look pretty for Palmerton with just over three minutes remaining in the second quarter. A run by the Dominic Shivone down near the goal line was called back by a holding penalty and then two plays later, the Green Knights fell on a fumble at their own 28 to stop the threat.After the Bombers made the Green Knights go four and out, they took over on their own 49 with 1:33 left in the half.On the first play, sophomore quarterback Garrett Perschy found Sean Doherty wide open for what looked like a touchdown, but it was called back by an illegal player down field penalty.Things unraveled a bit with the Bombers being flagged once again giving the Knights the 13-0 halftime lead.Both Pen Argyl TDs in the first half were pass plays. Logan Ruppert connected with Chris Wallbillich for a 23-yard strike with 5:20 left in the first quarter, followed by a 5-yard pass into the end zone to Alex Bartleson with 4:42 left in the half."I said it last week and I'll say it again, we're going to look ugly at times, but we're gritty, we'll fight and that's all you can ask for as a coach."Halftime was intense. They got on themselves, looked each other in the eye and that to me was the growth of this team. They didn't panic, they were upset with themselves and their leadership came out of that."The Bombers grabbed the momentum right out of the lockerroom as they held Pen Argyl on its first possession and took over at their own 47.They marched right in for their first score of the night on an 8-play drive, with Tre Nelson running in from 13-yards out. Rich Roselli's PAT cut the Pen Argyl lead to 13-7.Pen Argyl could do anything on its second possession of the third quarter giving the ball right back to the Bombers on their own 34.On first down, Mike Stasko found a big hole in the Green Knight defense and outran everyone for a 66-yard TD. with 5:24 left in the quarter, the Bombers had their first lead after Roselli's PAT, 14-13.Still looking for their initial first down of the second half, Ruppert dropped back to pass and found Logan Sterner wide open for a 70-yard TD, but a try for the two-point conversion failed giving Pen Argyl the lead back, 19-14.The Bombers answered with a nine-play 80-yard drive that was converted when Perschy hit Nick Sander for a 36-yard completion on a fourth down play down at the Green Knights' one.On the second play, Nelson took it in, Roselli booted the PAT and the rest was history."We knew we didn't play up to our potential in the first half," said a calm, collected Perschy afterwards. "In the second half it was anybody's game. We came out of that lockerroom at half with energy and it was a great win for us."The entire team came together, it was great to see that."