Published: September 06, 2008 12:28 am      

Forest Hills trumps Johnstown in OT

SIDMAN — There were plenty of peaks and valleys for both Forest Hills and Greater Johnstown on Friday night in a Laurel Highlands Athletic Conference thriller at G.H. Miller Field.

In the end, two big plays in overtime – a Jared McCombie interception and 10-yard Scott Mehall touchdown run – helped the Rangers hang on for a 27-21 victory over the Trojans.

“It was a tale of two halves,” Forest Hills coach Don Bailey said. “I think we got complacent in the second half. It was a big win for our team. It’s a young team and we’re going to get better each week. We beat a quality football team in Johnstown.”

Forest Hills won the toss for the overtime and chose to be on defense first. On first down, Johnstown quarterback John Siciliano threw a pass that was picked off by McCombie.

On the Rangers’ first offensive play in overtime, Mehall took the handoff from junior quarterback Zack Glessner and rumbled into the end zone.

“All through practice at camp, we had drills for each quarter and told them for overtime they had to dig down deep, and they bought into it,” Bailey said. “Fortunately for our kids, they rose up to the occasion and made some big plays. Sophomore Jared McCombie made the interception in the corner and Scott Mehall on first down went in. I was only playing for a field goal and was going to kick it on third down.”

The Rangers got on the board in the first quarter, as Glessner lofted a pass between two Trojans defenders to Tyler Rosenberger for a 50-yard score. Patrick Donoghue added the first of his three kicks.

On their first possession of the second quarter, the Rangers marched 75 yards on seven plays, capped by a 25-yard Rosenberger reception from Glessner to put Forest Hills ahead 14-0.

The Sidman squad was also able to capitalize on its second possession of the second quarter, moving 51 yards on six plays, with Mehall scoring from the 1 for a 21-0 lead at the half.

The Trojans had seven penalties, including three holding infractions, for 65 yards in the first half.

“We made some mistakes early, but we bounced back,” Johnstown coach Kevin Marabito said.

Kashmir Pretlor picked off a Glessner pass and returned it for a 35-yard score to open the Johnstown scoring in the third quarter. Jon Maurizio’s kick pulled the Trojans to 21-7.

Pretlor left the game on a stretcher with 8:41 on the clock in the fourth quarter. Reports from the press box said the injury was a broken ankle.

Johnstown added two more scores in the fourth quarter as Siciliano connected with Carlton Wyatt on touchdown passes of 10 and 17 yards, the second with 1:06 left in the fourth. Maurizio hit both extra-point kicks to even the game at 21, setting up the overtime.

“The kids did a great job,” Marabito said. “We weren’t ready in the first half, and we could have folded our tents, but these kids came back and played their hearts out. I asked them to give it everything they had in the second half and that’s what they did. What more can you ask?”

Rosenberger finished with six catches for 138 yards, 93 in the first half.

“We couldn’t move the ball in the second half because they were putting nine guys in the box,” Bailey said. “We didn’t want to throw it, but sometimes we had to. They outplayed us in the second half. We were fortunate to win.”