WAYNESBORO – After Waynesboro relinquished a double-digit lead to Greencastle-Antrim on Friday night, it appeared that the Indians – and their enthusiastic and loud student section – were going to start the high school football season with an L.
The game clock showed 1:13 to play. Waynesboro started its final possession of the game at its 17-yard line. The Tribe had to score a touchdown; they trailed 27-23. Waynesboro had two time-outs, and they would need both.
On first down, it turns out that the hook-and-lateral play worked to perfection. Calvin Myers caught the hook, and Nathan Nolan took the lateral and finished a 33-yard gain and a first down at midfield.
“We were looking at it,” said Waynesboro head coach Mark Saunders of the hook-and-lateral play. “That’s one of my staple plays. They were playing back. You gotta have a good route on the hitch. Calvin did a good job.”
On first down, Rayshawn Frazer-Smith completed a 15-yard pass to wideout Keyan Mobley. Mobley caught the ball near the line of scrimmage and finished out the play with his feet.
On third-and-3, Nolan caught a 12-yard pass, making the first down at the 16. On first down, Frazer-Smith threw an incomplete pass. Then, on the next play, Frazer-Smith used his feet to run 16 yards for the game-winning touchdown with eight seconds to play.
Alex Torbica’s point after touchdown closed out the scoring.
Final score: Waynesboro 30, Greencastle-Antrim 27
“I’m happy for him, I’m happy for our guys,” said Saunders. “Rayshawn didn’t play well at times. We probably missed two or three touchdowns. He gets happy feet. The last touchdown the spotlight was on him.”
Waynesboro received the opening kickoff but lost nine yards and had to punt from its 11 yard line. If it was the kind of game that might be determined by starting field position,Fou the Blue Devils would have the advantage. G-A started its possession from Waynesboro’s 39. Four plays later, quarterback Sean Marshall tossed a 9-yard TD pass to Carter McCauley for a 6-0 lead with 7:59 remaining in the first quarter.
Waynesboro failed to get anything out of its second series from scrimmage. But Greencastle did.
The Blue Devils took advantage of nice field position, starting at the Indians’ 33. It took eight plays to cover the 33 yards, and on second down at the 14, McCauley ran into the end zone to give G-A a 12-0 lead after the two-point conversion pass was incomplete.
Upon receiving the kickoff, Waynesboro’s offense started moving the ball. Nolan had rushes of nine, eight and five yards that put the ball at midfield. On second down, Frazer-Hewitt connected with Mobley for a 41-yard pass and run. But the yards were few, and a fourth-down pass fell incomplete with the Indians at the 6.
Teams traded punts, and the Blue Devils took possession at its six with two and a half minutes to play in the first half. Waynesboro stuffed a first-down run. On second down, a play went backwards, and Waynesboro’s Owen Shockey tackled Mason Gelsinger in the end zone for a safety, making the score 12-2.
The Tribe defense came through again, this time as Tank Benedict finished off a five-play, 56-yard drive with a 10-yard touchdown run. Frazer-Smith completed the two-point conversion pass to Hayden Nolan to cut the deficit to 12-10.
Waynesboro missed a field goal on its next possession, and on Greencastle’s next offensive series, Waynesboro’s Anthony Ausherman was at the right place at the right time as he intercepted a pass and ran it back untouched 23 yards for the touchdown to give the Indians their first lead, 16-12.
“That was awesome,” Saunders said of Ausherman’s heads-up play. “He’s another kid who started for us as a freshman. That was a great play by him. We have kids who can make plays for us.”
It was another big defensive play that set up a Waynesboro score. Hayden Nolan intercepted a pass with Greencastle driving. Nolan came down with the ball at the Indians five.
Nolan Smith had runs of 7 and 23 yards to get the ball closer to midfield. On the next play, Nolan ran to daylight, evading tackles and sprinting the rest of the 62 yards to extend the lead to 23-12 after Torbica’s extra point.
The Blue Devils received new life when Waynesboro fumbled the punt and G-A marched 53 yards in seven plays capped by a 1-yard touchdown by Lars Galinanes. Waynesboro turned the ball over with a fumble recovered by Blake Reuter. Marshall and McCauley combined on three pass plays totaling 49 yards. None was bigger than a 20-yard touchdown play that put the Blue Devils out front 27-23.
“We’re going to keep working,” Saunders said. “The defense played well. I was pretty excited about that.”
NEXT: Waynesboro hosts Gettysburg next Friday at 7 p.m.
