The Solanco football team suffered an excruciating 42-35 loss to undefeated Shippensburg in the first round of the district playoffs at Veterans Memorial Park Friday night, November 1. The 14th seeded Mules missed out on a chance to score a touchdown in the chaotic final seconds. Solanco used its final timeout while facing a 1st and goal from the 9 with 24.4 seconds left. A running play lost two yards but ballcarrier Ronnie Fulton was knocked out of bounds to stop the clock with 18.2 seconds to go. After an incomplete pass in the end zone took 4.6 seconds off the clock.
On 3rd and goal from the 11, Nick Yannutz burst up the middle for seven yards but the clock kept ticking. The Mules spiked the ball in order to stop the clock with 1.5 seconds left – not realizing it was fourth down. "That's my fault," Solanco coach Tony Cox said. "That blame goes on me. I would not put that on any kid. I should've known what down it was. I was yelling out to get back on the ball. We had went over it before about spiking the ball. And I was yelling at them again [to] get on the ball and then when I realized when it was fourth down I tried to yell back out there but it was too late. That's on me." It was a frustrating final 13 minutes for the Mules. Down 28-14 late in the second quarter, Fulton scored 11.4 seconds before halftime and added a pair of touchdowns in the third quarter to put Solanco ahead 35-28. Third-seeded Shippensburg responded immediately. Alex Sharrow took a double handoff and broke several tackles on an 80-yard scoring scamper to tie it with 55 seconds left in the third quarter. Fulton, who finished with four touchdowns, made another big play, returning the ensuing kickoff to the Greyhounds' 27. On 4th and 3 from the 8, Chad Carter was tackled for no gain. Shippensburg gained 27 yards on another double handoff and the drive culminated with a 20-yard scoring strike from Zack Manning to Nick Gustafson which gave the Greyhounds a 42-35 edge with 3:18 remaining in regulation. Aided by a 21-yard pass from Grady Unger to Ryan Smith on 3rd and 13, the Mules moved into Shippensburg territory with less than two minutes to go. Six straight running plays took the ball to the 22. Yannutz gained 13 on 3rd and 4 to put the Mules in position, but Solanco ran out of downs before running out of time. "There's not much we can do," Fulton said. "We didn't realize it was fourth down. We all thought we could spike the ball and get one more play off. But things happen. It's football." Solanco struggled early. Down 7-0, the Mules came up a yard short on 4th and 4 from the Shippensburg 13 and Kyle Sharrow scurried 90 yards for a TD on a double handoff to make it 13-0. That's when Solanco got going. Zach Turpen returned the kickoff to the Greyhounds' 24 and Unger galloped 17 yards for a TD on the first play of the second quarter. Shippensburg went up 20-7 by capitalizing on a Mules fumble on their own 13. There were three touchdowns in the final 3:08 of the first half. Fulton ran five yards for a score before the Greyhounds added a TD and two-point conversion with 43 seconds to go in the half. Solanco answered thanks to a trick play. With Mason St. Clair lined up at quarterback, Unger took a pitch to the right, stopped, and threw back across the field to a wide-open St. Clair. St. Clair ran to the 7 for a 48-yard gain and Fulton scored two plays later to narrow the gap to 28-21 at intermission. Fulton scooted 13 yards for a TD midway through the third quarter. The junior halfback hauled in a 46-yard scoring strike from Unger with 1:17 left in the third quarter but the Mules did not score again. "We had our opportunities," said Cox. "We did some great things, surprise onside [kicks] twice got them. I think the kids played hard. They went hard. They never gave up like they haven't all year. It's a tribute to the seniors. We came into the game expecting to play our hearts out and give everything we possibly could and I told the kids they did. It just came down to little mistakes and that's usually what wins games, whoever makes the least amount of mistakes. They made the least amount of mistakes." Solanco (5-6) ends the season on a four-game losing streak, but five of the defeats came to playoff qualifiers including Northeastern, Lampeter-Strasburg, Cocalico, and Manheim Central. The other loss was to Conestoga Valley. "I'm just thankful for the group of seniors that we had," Fulton said. "And for everything they have done for us. They are the best group of leaders I have seen on any football team I've played on. They led us through this year and they pushed us to reach this point. Everybody said we had a young team but our seniors had faith in us underclassmen. They kept pushing us to do better." Said Cox: "It's a learning process. These kids have grown this year more than any team I've ever coached. They came together, and again, like I said, the seniors did a great job." Comments are closed.
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