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HORSHAM – They were covered with mud from head to toe, the red numbers on their black uniforms barely legible after a morning of football on a soggy, muddy field.
Kevin James didn’t bother to wipe the mud off his face before posing for post-game photos with his family, and teammate Jim Pagliaro’s smile revealed that he even had mud on his teeth.
No one, it seems, was the least bit worried about a little mud. This was a time to revel in the moment for James, Pagliaro and their Hatter teammates. All that mattered was that their football team – thanks to an electrifying 71-yard touchdown drive in the final 1:17 of Thursday’s Thanksgiving Day game - had earned an improbable 15-14 come-from-behind win over archrival Upper Moreland.
As wins go, they don’t get much sweeter than this.
“It’s great,” Pagliaro said. “It feels so good. I have been playing with these guys for so long, and just to end it with a win, especially in this game, it feels so good.”
The play the Hatters will freeze frame in their memories for a lifetime came on first down at the Golden Bears’ 28-yard line with 30 seconds remaining in regulation. That’s when Matt Hollenbeck lofted a high arcing pass that seemed to hang in the air forever before miraculously landing in the outstretched arms of a leaping Zach Shaner at the five.
Not content to simply go out of bounds, Shaner fought his way into the end zone, making it a 14-13 game and sending the Hatter fans into a frenzy.
“I had someone in my face, and I got the ball higher than I wanted to,” Hollenbeck said of the throw. “Shaner’s got a nice set of hands. I knew he could go up and get it if he wanted to.”
“As soon as it was up in the air, there was only one defender, and there was no doubt I was going to catch it,” Shaner said. “I was real confident. I knew if it was one-on-one, I could get it.”“I didn’t want to go out of bounds. I fought my way into the end zone. We never gave up during that game-ending drive. We just kept saying, ‘Keep hope, keep hope.’ We wanted to drive down and win, and we did it. This is our championship here. This is amazing.”
The response of an entire stadium when Shaner hauled in that pass could be summed up in two words – stunned disbelief.
“Oh my god, I was speechless,” Pagliaro said. “I was just jumping up and down.”
“I can’t even describe it,” James said. “It was the happiest I’ve been in a while.”
The drama was far from over, however, as Hatter coach Dave Sanderson called for the two-point conversion.
“There was no hesitation whatsoever,” Sanderson said. “And that’s not because we were unhappy with our kicking game. We just wanted to win the football game right then and there.”
Hollenbeck made it look easy as he found Casey Saverio – in motion on the play – with a pass into the end zone, putting the Hatters on top 15-14 and setting off a jubilant celebration on the Hatters’ sidelines while the Golden Bears watched in stunned disbelief.
Things might have been different, according to coach Adam Beach, if the Bears had converted a fourth-and-short play earlier in the fourth quarter, but the Hatters’ defense held.
“Get a yard, win the game,” he said. “That’s our mindset.
“No regrets. If we don’t get it, that’s fine. We put our destiny in our hands.”
The Bears certainly had the better of play early on in Thursday’s game.
While the Hatters’ offense – minus running back Darryl Neville – sputtered, the Golden Bears got on the scoreboard when Matt Sawick found Ronye Dennis with an eight-yard touchdown pass. Dan Cripps’ extra point sent the Golden Bears into halftime with a 7-0 lead.
The Hatters knotted the score, thanks to a 36-yard scoring drive on their opening possession of the second half. The big plays on the drive were nine-yard runs by Nick Dividio and Brett Sevario. Sevario also hauled in a nine-yard pass and then punched it in from one yard out. Kevin Durkin’s extra point knotted the score 7-7.
“The first half was one of those halves – nothing really seemed to go right,” Hollenbeck said. “We came in at halftime and had a positive attitude. We knew we weren’t out of this by a long shot.
“We came out and had a nice drive to start it off. I liked how we answered. It showed a lot of heart.”The Bears appeared to regain momentum after Chris Smallwood, who had a game-high 124 yards on the ground, burst up the middle for a 28-yard TD run on the first play of the fourth quarter, capping a 71-yard drive. The extra point by Dan Cripps put the Golden Bears on top 14-7.
With eight minutes remaining, the Bears came up short on the pivotal fourth down play, giving the Hatters good field position at the Bears’ 40-yard line, but they could not capitalize.
The Bears took over on their own 32 and marched to the Hatters’ 29 but came up empty, setting the stage for the amazing finish.
“Yesterday, it was kind of ironic – we did the hurry-up drill for the first time in a long time,” said Hollenbeck, who completed six-of-nine passes on the drive, including five in a row to close it out. “Coach Sanderson told us after the game he didn’t doubt us for a second, and we didn’t doubt ourselves for a second.”
“We just all came together,” James added. “We wanted to get it done, and we all had faith in each other. We just showed a lot of heart, came out on that last drive and got the job done.”
The Golden Bears' fate was sealed when Shan Scannel came up with an interception, but in the end, the game came down to one play – Hollenback’s TD pass to Shaner.“They threw the deep one – we got a hand in the guy’s face, the ball was hanging in the air forever,” Beach said. “It almost hung there too long. Our kid misjudged it, and they scored.”
With the win, the Hatters evened their record at 6-6.
“I’m thrilled for the kids,” Sanderson said. “I’m thrilled for the community. The people love football here, and they do a wonderful job supporting our team.”
Long after the game had ended, the Hatters remained on the field.
“This is great,” James said. “I’ll remember this for a long time. It was a great win. We showed a lot of character, a lot of heart.
“Upper Moreland played a great game, and so did we. We came out on top.”
“We had a rough start this season,” Pagliaro added. “But coming back and finishing 6-6 and having a .500 season – we played these guys hard, and it was a great win.”
The Golden Bears closed out the year with a 5-6 record.
HATBORO-HORSHAM 15, UPPER MORELAND 14
Upper Moreland 0 7 7 0-14
Hatboro-Horsham 0 0 7 8-15
UM-Dennis 8 pass from Sawick (Cripps kick)
H-B.Saverio 1 run (Durkin kick)
UM-Smalllwood 28 run (Cripps kick)
H-Shaner 28 pass from Hollenbeck (C.Saverio pass from Hollenbeck)
UM H
First Downs 13 9
Rushing Yards 137 39
Passing Yards 94 138
Totals Yards 231 177
Passing (C-A-I) 8-13-1 10-15-1
Fumbles-Lost 2-0 1-0
Penalties-Yds. 4-20 4-42
Punts – Avg. Yds. 3-24.3 3-32.0
RUSHING:
Upper Moreland - Chris Smallwood, 31-124, 1 TD, Pat McKay, 2-8; Matt Sawick, 5-5; Ronye Dennis, 1-0.
Hatboro – Brett Saverio, 10-20, 1 TD; Domenic DeFazio, 2-9; Nick Dividio, 2-8; Matt Coyle, 2-4; Matt Hollenbeck, 10-(-2).
PASSING:
Upper Moreland – Matt Sawick, 8-13-94, 1 TD, 1 INT.
Hatboro – Matt Hollenbeck, 10-15-138, 1 TD, 1 INT.
RECEIVING:
Upper Moreland – Ronye Dennis, 6-80, 1 TD; Kyle Lockard, 2-14.
Hatboro- Joey Palo, 2-51; Zach Shaner, 4-48, 1 TD; Brett Saverio, 3-36; Nick Dividio, 1-3.
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