Derry scores 21 in final quarter to rally past North Catholic

By: HSSN Staff
Friday, November 9, 2018 | 11:18 PM

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Things looked bleak for Derry midway through the third quarter of Friday’s WPIAL Class 3A semifinal at Hempfield’s Spartan Stadium.

Derry (11-1) trailed Big East Conference rival North Catholic by three touchdowns, and its season was slipping away in the cold, damp night.

But the Trojans didn’t blink and pulled off one of the most improbable comebacks in recent WPIAL history.

Derry scored 21 points in the final quarter to stun North Catholic, 36-29, to advance to the WPIAL Class 3A championship game at Heinz Field for the first time. Waiting is perennial power Aliquippa, which defeated Beaver Falls, 42-14.

Running back Justin Flack was held in check, but he still scored three touchdowns, including the winner on a 30-yard interception return with 1 minute, 42 seconds left. Flack, who had a 76-yard kickoff return to set up Derry’s second touchdown, sealed the win with an interception at the Derry 9 with 43 seconds left.

North Catholic (10-2) looked like it had clinched its berth in the championship by scoring two touchdowns early in the third quarter to build a 29-8 lead.

“We just kept battling,” Derry coach Tim Sweeny said. “They kept believing. They looked tight and flat. We got the momentum going our way.”

But Flack’s kickoff return and Paul Koontz’s 25-yard touchdown pass to Jason Geary on fourth-and-goal started the comeback to make it 29-15.

Things were just heating up for Derry.

Onreey Stewart raced 60 yards with 10:21 left to cut the North Catholic lead to 29-22. Stewart racked up 203 yards on 13 carries.

“This is great and why we work so hard,” Sweeney said. “What Justin (Flack) and Onreey (Stewart) did, you expect that from your senior captains.”

The next time Derry touched the ball, it marched 83 yards in 12 plays to trim the lead to 29-28 with 2:37 left. Derry gambled and went for two, but North Catholic’s Eamon Straub sacked Koontz to stop the 2-point conversion.

“I would have done the same thing on the 2-point conversion,” North Catholic coach Pat O’Shea said. “It shows you have a lot of confidence in your team.”

Sweeney then counted on his defense to make a stop, and he got more than he expected when Flack intercepted Zack Rocco’s pass and returned it Troy Polamalu-style by weaving through the North Catholic players to the end zone. Colton Nemcheck added the 2-point conversion to make it 36-29 with 1:42 left.

“That’s a tribute to Derry’s coaching staff and their program,” Shea said. “When things are stacked against you, sometimes you give up. Derry didn’t give up.”

Flack’s second interception sealed it after North Catholic drove to the Derry 24.

North Catholic, which lost to Derry, 27-0, during the regular season, took a 7-0 lead when Rocco hooked up with Nikhai Hill-Green for a 5-yard touchdown pass to open the scoring.

Rocco connected on his first five attempts and finished 15 of 21 passes for 244 yards.

“I can’t say enough about North Catholic and its staff,” Sweeney said. “I thought we were outcoached, and we did some uncharacteristic things out there. I thought we fixed things at halftime, but we finally got the momentum late.”

After Flack scored late in the first half to give Derry an 8-7 lead, Rocco connected on a 49-yard touchdown pass to Hill-Green to give North Catholic a 15-8 lead at halftime.

Paul Schofield is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Paul at pschofield@tribweb.com or via Twitter @Schofield_Trib.

Tags: Derry Area