Greensburg Central Catholic trips up Leechburg in triple-overtime thriller

By: George Guido
Friday, September 13, 2019 | 11:40 PM

A tipped pass proved to be the pivotal play in a wild, three-overtime classic.

Greensburg Central Catholic senior Luke Mazowicki had a pass near the goal line tipped to him for a 27-yard completion and a touchdown and Nate Ward’s extra point gave the Centurions a hard-fought, 42-41 victory in three overtimes over Leechburg in an Eastern Conference contest Friday night.

Moments earlier, Leechburg’s Jake Blumer had scored his sixth touchdown of the game to put the Blue Devils ahead, 41-35, but the point after try by Alex Stramaski hit the left upright.

During the Blue Devils extra-point attempt, an unsportsmanlike penalty was charged to the Centurions and Greensburg Central had to start from the 25-yard-line instead of the 10.

Danny Dlugos was tackled for a 2-yard loss, giving the Centurions a second-and-goal at the 27.

“I don’t know what happened,” Mazowicki said. “I was running down the field and the ball went over my head. I looked and it seemed like it bounced off every person there and it was hit to me and I was in the end zone.”

The win gave Greensburg Central a 3-1 record, 1-1 in conference play. Leechburg slipped to 1-3, 0-2.

“It was a fun game,” said Centurions coach Bret Colbert. “I thanked the kids for their effort. That’s fun football. Even when we were losing, it was fun to watch.”

Greensburg Central looked ready to celebrate a victory, cruising along with a 21-7 advantage late in regulation time.

The Blue Devils, however, got a big break when Ward’s knee hit the ground while attempting a punt from the Centurions 19 with 2:55 left.

After a pass to Anthony Mangee at the GCC 1, Leechburg lost 15 yards on a penalty. Three plays later, Blumer snagged a 23-yard pass from Dylan Cook for a touchdown. A conversion run failed and the Blue Devils trailed, 21-13.

Stramaski’s kick over the Centurions front men was recovered by Ivan Guo and Leechburg was in business at the GCC 32.

Three plays later, Cook hit Blumer’s fingertips on a slant for a 26-yard score. Cook ran in the conversion and the score was knotted 21-21 with 1 minute, 14 seconds left in regulation.

“We talk about Leechburg football to the kids and we’re very proud of them,” Blue Devils coach Mark George said. “At the end, we pulled it together. This team is never going to give up. We started that the second half of last season, and they’re going to fight. We’ve got six more games left this season and we’re going to fight and see what happens.”

Blumer scored on Leechburg’s initial play from scrimmage in the first overtime. GCC answered with Zach Kuvinka’s third touchdown of the game.

Blumer scored in the second overtime on a 4-yard run. Danny Dlugos answered with a 10-yard run to set up the climactic third overtime.

A 51-yard pass from a scrambling Nate Dlugos to LaCarte to the Leechburg 7 finally gave Greensburg Central some momentum as Dlugos scored on a keeper on the following play to tie the game 7-7 with 1:49 left in the first half.

“That was huge,” Colbert said. “Nate stepped up. He’s a playmaker and he’s still a freshman.”

“They had the momentum at the half and we tried to fire up our guys,” George said. “We told them we could win this game. They started to believe it as the game went on.”

Blumer had 60 yards rushing and 68 receiving yards. Cook passed for 118 yards.

Kuvinka had 86 rushing yards for the Centurions and Nate Dlugos had 93 passing yards, none more crucial than the final 27.

Tags: Greensburg C.C., Leechburg