HERSHEY, Pa. — It was a sweet victory for Ohio in Chocolatetown, USA.
Trailing 21-7 with 29 seconds left in the third quarter, Ohio roared back with two fourth-quarter touchdowns and won 24-21 on Tyler Grassman’s
39-yard field goal in overtime to capture the 55th Big 33 Football Classic in Hersheypark Stadium.
Grassman, a Buffalo recruit from Gahanna Lincoln, booted Ohio to its fourth straight win over Pennsylvania and gave the red-and-white visitors a 7-6 edge since 2000, when honorary captain Ben Roethlisberger played in the game for Ohio.
Roethlisberger was on hand to present coach Bill Albright with the Big 33 trophy. The Steelers QB gave Albright a big hug, seconds before an Ohio assistant coach emptied a container of ice water on the veteran coach from Midview.
“What can I say? We have great kids,” said Albright, the second Lorain County coach to lead Ohio. “To win the fourth straight. The coaching staff did a great job.
“It’s been an exciting week. We talked about it on the bus ride here. Even if we got down, because Pennsylvania had some great kids, too, to stay together. We did and got the job done.”
Albright couldn’t single out any of his players, even his own Arlington McClinton of Midview, or T.K. Burk of Avon Lake or Matt Eckhardt of Avon.
There were too many heroes to go around, the most unlikely of whom was Grassman, whose long kickoff in the fourth quarter led to Ohio’s second touchdown.
Grassman pinned Desmon Peoples (Archbishop Wood, Rutgers) in the corner. Peoples fumbled it on the 1, then stepped into the end zone and decided to come back out before he was leveled on the 3. E.J. Junior (Middletown, Cincinnati) recovered in the end zone to make it 21-21 with 6:10 left in the game.
On Ohio’s previous series, MVP Tyler O’Connor sneaked in from the 1 to make it 21-14 with 6:27 left after linebacker Mason Monheim came up with an interception deep in Pennsylvania territory with 8:59 left.
Andre Jones (Cincinnati Colerain, Ohio State) and Nana Keyremeh (Thomas Worthington, West Virginia) had two interceptions to keep Ohio in the game.
It was a big play by Ohio State-bound Najee Murray (Steubenville) that got Ohio started.
Trailing 14-0 with 4:35 left in the third quarter and Pennsylvania seemingly in control, Albright sent Murray, primarily a defensive back, into the game on offense.
Murray beat his defender down the middle and O’Connor (Lima Central Catholic, Michigan State) hit him in stride on the deep post for an 85-yard touchdown.
“I told them I could play some slot,” said Murray, who along with De’Van Bogard and Jones put on a show for their future coach, Urban Meyer, who was in attendance.
Another Ohio State recruit, Warren Ball (St. Francis DeSales), ran hard, but the Pennsylvania defense, led by Nyeem Wartman (Valley View, Penn State), Treyvon Hester (Penn Hills, Toledo) and Tyrique Jarrett (Alderdice, Pitt) were stingy against the run.
After Ohio’s opening drive ended with a 37-yard missed field goal by Grassman, Skyler Mornhinweg (St. Joe’s Prep, Florida) put Pennsylvania on the board in a flash. Rushel Shell (Hopewell, Pitt) ran 18 yards to the 39 before Mornhinweg found Kevin Gulyas (Allentown Central Catholic, Villanova) on a crossing pattern for 61 yards and the score.
With 2:49 left in the half, Pennsylvania MVP quarterback Blake Rankin (Bloomsburg, Rutgers) hit wideout Shakim Alonzo (Woodland Hills, Cincinnati) for a 13-yard touchdown at the front corner of the end zone. Rankin went twice to Alonzo in the end zone, with Connor Noe (Mason, BYU) breaking up the first play, but not the second.
O’Connor completed 8 of 16 first-half passes for 76 yards, with Ball leading the way with 29 yards on four first-half carries.
For the game, Ohio ran 37 times for 144 yards and completed 10 of 27 passes for 176 yards.
Pennsylvania was held to 35 yards rushing for the game on 16 carries, but passed for 269 yards.
H.S. Football: Midview’s Bill Albright leads Ohio to comeback win in Big 33
