Perryville football coach Chris Johnson was so convinced his team got robbed of a playoff berth clinching victory the hyper-intense but always polite coach couldn't wait for his turn to be interviewed. "You can print this," Johnson said to reporters who were talking with the Panthers' TyRell Hollingsworth following Perryville's gut-wrenching 31-27 loss to host North Harford. "Fricking crooked. That interference call was the most crooked call I've ever seen." The call Johnson was referring to came with North Harford facing a 4th down and 9 from the Perryville 28 and the Panthers clinging to a 27-24 lead with less than a minute remaining. A pass down the middle of the field was picked off by Perryville's Hollingsworth who returned it all the way back for an apparent game-sealing touchdown. Instead, Hollingsworth was whistled for a pass interference penalty and the Hawks had a first down from the Perryville 15 with 35 seconds to go "I didn't see an interference call," said Hollingsworth. "I didn't touch anybody. I just made a play for the ball."
North Harford was then called for an offensive pas interference penalty which ousted the ball back to the 30. Having already kicked a 43-yard field goal, North Harford seemed content to settle for a game-tying attempt. A running play gained five yards and the Hawks used a timeout with 25 ticks left. But instead of relying on a field goal that could have forced overtime, North Harford went for the win and connected on a TD pass from quarterback Braden Stinar to Kyle Keating in the front left of the end zone with five seconds left. The PAT made it 31-27. On the ensuing kickoff, Perryville fell on the ball on its own 18 with time for one final play. Hollingsworth, at quarterback for the last play, rolled right but was sacked before he could unleash a desperation heave. Game over. Season over. Minutes earlier, Bohemia Manor completed a 35-8 victory over Edgewood to surpass the Panthers in the region points system and the Eagles claimed the final playoff berth when Perryville lost. It was a stunning blow to the Panthers who were playing without starting quarterback Elijah Johnson and standout lineman Jeff Pollard, who were both injured. "It's horrible," Chris Johnson said. "It was absolutely awful that that dude could throw that flag. I mean, (Hollingsworth) did not touch the (receiver). And the film will show it but what can you do about it. They're not going to change it. Unfortunately we put ourself in this situation. At the end of the day we'll realize if we had beat a Patterson Mill or beat Fallston (it would not have come down to the last game). Injuries really killed us and what I'm really proud of is with all the injuries that these kids fought their hearts out. We battled the last three games these kids battled and fought. We're putting people in everywhere trying to fill gaps and everything like that. We just came up a little short. I'm just completely dumbfounded over that call. What's really upsetting is the flags came out after he was already running for a touchdown. They came out like 10 seconds after the fact. I saw him running down the sideline and then I looked back and I see the flags come. I feel terrible for these kids because they earned themselves (a playoff berth). They had the opportunity to play another week. Get Elijah back. Maybe get Jeff back. But we'll never know that now. Now I'm going to be rooting for Bo and Havre de Grace, hoping that they can represent our conference well and have success." Perryville appeared poised to ice the game when they took over on the North Harford 35 following a poor punt snap with 7:17 to play. On 3rd down and 10. Perryville tried a flanker screen, but quarterback Dominic Gugliotta's pass sailed high and off the fingertips of Hollingsworth. A Hawk player caught the carom for an interception which gave the hosts the ball back with 4:16 left. North Harford converted a 4th and 4 from their own 27 and later moved into Perryville territory on a personal foul penalty. The Hawks advanced to the 23 before being moved back five yards on a false start just prior to the controversial call. It was a back-and-forth affair throughout. Trailing by a touchdown, Perryville tied it on Toby DiMauro's one-yard TD run and Ben Savick PAT with 8:46 left in the second quarter. North Harford regained the lead with a 60-yard run by Scott Angstadt on the play after an interception. The Hawks attempted on onside kick. The ball was mishit but still managed to roll 10 yards before the Panthers' Bryce Reese alertly pounced on it. That led to an 19-yard scoring scamper by DiMauro but the snap on the PAT was mishandled leaving the Hawks ahead 14-13. North Harford 's Sean Bowling booted a 43-yard field goal on the final play of the half to lengthen the lead to 17-13. Perryville went ahead 21-17 when Gugliotta scored on a one-yard plunge and threw to Hollingsworth for a two-point conversion with 7:41 remaining in the third quarter. Another Hawks' interception led to a 70-yard TD run by Ben Taber which enabled North Harford to take a 24-21 edge with 67 seconds left in the third quarter. Perryville reclaimed the leaden a 25-yard jaunt by Tony Smith but missed the PAT. The Panthers led 27-24 with 10:54 left and had chances to get some seal the deal. DiMauro recovered a fumble on the ensuing kickoff but the Panthers were forced to punt. North Harford went three-and-out before the punt snap mishap but the Perryville drive ended with the interception on the deflection. The Hawks then embarked on the game-winning drive aided by the pass interference call. "I feel bad for the kids," Chris Johnson said. "I really do. They fought their hearts out. Only that guy knows why he threw that flag. I hope it's because he really did see interference. I mean, he didn't touch the kid. There was no physical contact between the two players. So I don't understand why they would call it…It will kill me when I see it on film. And I'll send it into the officials. But it doesn't bring back our season." Comments are closed.
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