By Harold Raker
ELIZABETHVILLE -- Technically, Carmen DeFrancesco was proven incorrect.
The Upper Dauphin coach had said that the last team with the ball would win Friday night's de facto Twin Valley Conference championship game with Tri-Valley.
Upper Dauphin had the ball for the final play -- a kneel-down by quarterback Tyler Koppenhaver. That came one play after an incredible TVC game was finally decided on the most bizarre of plays.
Tri-Valley quarterback Matt McGinley, his team trailing 28-22 and time running out on a fourth-down-and-16, managed to release a pass under heavy pressure from Upper Dauphin defensive end Scott Dreher. The ball was intended for tight end Bryn Bowman, who was covered by strong safety Cody Hoffman.
Hoffman slipped and fell, leaving Bowman wide open at the 5-yard line with no other Trojan defenders close enough to make a play. Then Bowman also fell, as did the ball, harmlessly in the end zone.
And that is how the curtain finally fell on this game that could not have been more entertaining had they hired a couple of stand-up comedians and a juggler.
The 28-22 victory denied not only Tri-Valley (6-4 overall, 5-3 TVL), but Line Mountain and Millersburg a chance for a share of the TVC championship. And it gave the Trojans (9-1, 7-1) their first TVC championship since 1989, prompting a victory lap around Trojan Stadium.
Koppenhaver said when he saw that final TV play unfold, "I was like, Oh, my God, no' and then I was like OK.'"
Tailback Tyler Grosser added, "It's like your heart just stops and then you're like please don't let him catch the ball,' and luckily he just fell. That's the stuff that happens in a game. It's amazing."
Amazing is the best way to describe the Trojans' three-year turnaround under DeFrancesco, from a one-win season to a TVC title and berth in the District 3 Class A playoffs.
"There is nothing more satisfying than this," DeFrancesco said. "These kids bought in and worked hard. It was a chess match. And under all this adversity our kids just hung in there."
Tri-Valley coach Mike Kogut said, "We had some opportunities that we thought we could make and we didn't make them. In a game like this with two evenly-matched, hard-nosed teams, you have to make those plays. This one's going to sting a little bit, but we're not done. We qualified for (District 11 Class A) playoffs and we're going to go back to work on Monday."
Upper Dauphin scored on the game's sixth play, a one-yard run by Koppenhaver set up by a 74-yard pass from Koppenhaver to Ty Raubenstine. Tyler Payne booted the extra point. But just three plays later, Tri-Valley tied it as tailback Wyatt Straub scored on a 35-yard run and Scott Ney added the PAT to make it 7-7 with 7:38 left in the first period.
Upper Dauphin regained the lead 14-7 just five plays later on a five-yard TD run by Hoffman, after a 50-yard run by Raubenstine from the Wildcat formation.
After an exchange of punts, the Bulldogs tied it when Straub hurdled a defender on a 6-yard TD run and it was 14-all with 11:18 left in the second quarter.
Tri-Valley later had a first-and-goal at the 5. But the Trojan defense held and Koppenhaver got a piece of Ney's 21-yard field goal try.
Upper Dauphin broke the ice in the fourth with a nine-play, 44-yard scoring drive capped by another one-yard run by Koppenhaver, then made it 22-14 on a two-point conversion run by Grosser with 8:57 left. Tanner Troutman returned the ensuing kickoff for a TD, but it was nullified by a penalty.
The Bulldogs got a break when Troutman recovered a muffed punt at the Trojans' 8. Two plays later, McGinley scored on a one-yard run, then Straub's halfback option pass to Matt Hepler knotted it at 22-all with 5:53 to play.
Upper Dauphin responded immediately, going 72 yards in six plays, capped by a 33-yard TD run by Hoffman with 2:57 left. A conversion try failed, opening the door for the Bulldogs to win it with a TD and PAT.
