Springfield-Montco defeated Bristol 15-14 to capture the District One AA championship. To view photos of all the action, click here or on any photo to visit the Photo Gallery.
Stats used in the article below are provided courtesy of Calkins Media. For a complete game story and stats, please visit the web site www.PhillyBurbs.com<http://www.PhillyBurbs.com>.
LEVITTOWN – Chris Shelly’s pride was unmistakable as he spoke of his team’s performance in its dramatic 15-14 win over Bristol in Friday night’s District One Class AA title game.
“This means so much to me for our kids because Suburban One is such a hard thing for us,” the Springfield head coach said. “We give everything we have. It’s a war of attrition.
“All the kids – the toughness and the heart. We knew this would be a battle. That’s a heck of a Bristol team, they’re classy kids over there. It was a great game tonight and a great win for our program. I can’t say enough about our kids and how proud I am. We always point to this game because it’s a district championship. It’s nice to see it come to fruition.”
Friday’s win over the top-seeded Warriors was a testament to the character and determination of a Spartan squad that spends its SOL season playing bigger schools. The Spartans were 2-5 in league play and 5-6 overall entering Friday’s title game at Harry S Truman.
“This is great for the community, it’s great for Springfield,” said senior Martin Worgan, whose 105 yards rushing led the Warriors. “Not many teams go this far. We came through a really hard schedule – playing 3A and 4A teams and got beat up on all year. It prepared us for this moment to show what we can do in 2A. We got it done.
“The schedule they went through playing 1A teams – it’s not preparing them like our schedule is. Our last regular season game, we stood up to PW. It was 7-0 going into halftime. They beat us in the second half, but it proved to ourselves we could stick with a team like that.”
Almost as impressive as their determination was the Spartans’ response in the second half when Bristol standout Donte Simmons – who had 1600 yards rushing entering the game – threatened to take over the game. His 60-yard touchdown run in the third quarter put the Warriors on the scoreboard, but a failed two-point conversion allowed Springfield to stay on top, 7-6.
But not for long.
Simmons, who finished with 312 yards on the ground, delivered another big run, and this one set the stage for his three-yard touchdown run that put the Warriors – after another failed two-point conversion – on top 12-7 with 8:14 remaining.
The Spartans responded with a touchdown drive of their own. Worgan once again was the workhorse, picking up tough yardage and taking his team to the Warriors’ 11 where Brett Righter took it in for a touchdown. Chris Stone found Drew Toutkoushian for the two-point conversion, and the Spartans led 15-12 with 5:34 remaining.
“We just knew we had the players to step it up, and we had the players to get it done,” Stone said. “We had confidence in each other. Our running back, Martin Worgan – he killed it. He started breaking tackles, he started doing everything he could. He’s a senior, he’s a captain along with me and two other kids, and he kind of knew he wanted to get it done for himself and the team, and he stepped up big on that drive.”
According to the Spartans’ senior back, anything less was not an option.
“They scored a touchdown, so we knew we had to step up,” Worgan said. “The offense had to eat the clock up and score. We were running the running backs both ways, me and the fullback, and they couldn’t really handle it because they wanted to cheat to one side, so that was working. We stuck with that. We brought it back into the middle. It was great play calling by the offensive coordinator.”
Shelly credited his team for its gutsy response after falling behind.
“That was a big drive to come off of that,” the Spartans’ coach said. “The crowd got into it. The Bristol kids feed off of Donte. I loved how our kids responded to that. We told them, ‘Listen, he’s that good. He’s going to break one. You just can’t get down.’ We had a problem earlier in the season – we’d get sad sack after a big play. The momentum coming back to us was huge.”
The game was far from over.
The Warriors marched down the field to the Spartans’ 15 where – on fourth-and-three – Bristol quarterback RJ Collins completed a short pass to Jake Faight, who was stopped inches from a first down by an inspired Spartan defense that was led by senior captain Louis Haase.
“We put him at nose today – he usually plays end,” Shelly said of Haase. “We let him go. We felt like we could kind of expose them. They’re like us. They have weaknesses, we have weaknesses. We tried to get the matchups right because they have some nice looking kids over there.
“I watched a lot of film on them. They’re a good team, so you have to get the right matchups at the right spots. It was 7-0 at half, but it’s a matter of time before Donte gets you. When he gets you, it’s that quick. He’s a phenomenal player. I wish that whole team the best. It was nice to see us come out with a win. It was back and forth. Those kids have a lot to be proud of.”
With eight seconds remaining, the Spartans took a safety. The Warriors returned the ensuing kickoff to the Spartans’ 18, but their 35-yard field goal didn’t come close, and the historic win was in the books.
“This is great,” Haase said. “It’s been a long time coming. We have been through a lot of challenges this year and really fought through it. It feels amazing. It just feels great.
“There were a few big plays they had, and I think fighting through the Suburban One has really taught us not to leave our heads down but to pick our heads up after a big play, whatever play it is. That was a true testament, and it really helped us this game.”
The Spartans set the tone early, capping a scoring drive with a five-yard touchdown run by Worgan.
“It was huge to get those points up early,” Stone said. “I think coming into this game it was a mix of two things. We knew we had to get a fast start. We went through a tough schedule. We gave them a tough matchup clearly – the score tells it, but I really think we took it to them in the first half.”
The Spartans took that 7-0 lead into halftime.
“The first half I felt like we were wearing them down,” Haase said. “We did a lot of hurry-up offense. We really executed that well.
“In the second half, Donte is a running back you have to respect. He broke a couple of runs, and that gave them some momentum. We came back and fought through. “Coming into every season, this is what you dream about. It just feels great to see it. We’re going to states, and it’s a great feeling.”
“This means a lot,” Stone added. “I’ve had a lot of success in track, but this is the ultimate team sport, and to get a win like this and come out and get it done with your family of 40 kids is really incredible.”
The Spartans (6-6) will face the District 12 champion – either Prep Charter or Neumann-Goretti – in an opening round state playoff game next Friday.
Springfield (Montco) 7-0-0-8 15
Bristol 0-0-6-8 14/em>
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