BRADFORD — When the committee for the Don Raabe Big 30 Charities
Classic met with this year’s coaches, it made one empathic
point.

“We were told they wanted an exciting game,” recalled Wellsville
coach Frank Brown, who handled the New York team.

Message received.

On Saturday night before the usual large crowd at Parkway Field,
New York delivered a 46-37 victory that was one of the most
compelling in the game’s 37-year history.

“I think this is exactly what the committee wanted,” added
disappointed Pennsylvania coach Tony Tridico of Youngsville.

The win ended a two-game Pennsy win streak and put New York up
19-16-2 in the all-time series.

And the reason is that the Olean High tandem of quarterback Kevin
Stevens and wide receiver Ryan Carney proved to be too much for the
Pennsylvania defensive backfield.

Stevens, the Big 30 Player of the Year as a junior before playing
sparingly due to an injury as a senior, was 6-of-12 passing for 202
yards with three touchdowns. He had scoring strikes of 49 and 32
yards to Carney, and a 27-yard connection to West Valley’s Ben
Boberg seconds before the half to put New York up 22-14 for
good.

Carney, a 6-foot-3 hoops star for OHS bound for the JCC-Olean team,
caught six balls for 202 yards with three TDs, the third a 20-yard
connection from Wellsville’s Zac Roberts.

“I DIDN’T think we’d give up 37 points,” Brown admitted, “but I
felt we would score. That’s what happens when you have all-stars
and a defense (5-2) that limits what you can do.

“We couldn’t stop Kevin and Ryan in practice. I got four
quarterbacks on my original roster (and only needed two) and it was
obvious in right away that they had a connection and both fit our
system.”

He added, “In practice, we couldn’t cover (Carney) we’d have two
guys on him and he’d still come down the ball.”

That was the same lament of Pennsylvania defensive coach Luke
Alex.

“He’s 6-3 and I had a guy (in the secondary) who’s 5-8 and nobody
near his height,” he said. “We had two guys back there on him, at
times, and he just out-jumped us for the ball.”

Pennsylvania, though, actually threw the ball more (34 times to 23)
and had 276 yards through the air to New York’s 282.

But in a game that produced a staggering 813 yards total offense,
rushing was the difference.

Boberg, besides the TD catch, scored on a 55-yard run to start the
third period — the two scores coming in less than two minutes of
elapsed time — and his 12 carries for 92 yards helped New York to
187 on the ground, compared to Pennsy’s 72.

Cameron County’s Andrew Lippert led the way for Pennsylvania with
33 yards on eight carries, but scored on runs of 12 and four
yards.

Pennsy quarterback Cody Crosby (12-of-23 for 241 yards) had
touchdown connections of 16 yards to Sheffield’s Jimmy Hahn (plus a
two-point conversion) and 45 yards to Kane’s Arie Paup.

Crosby also had a one-yard sneak for a TD and hit Youngsville’s 
Mike Gibson on a two-point conversion.

For New York, Portville’s Justin Taylor added a pin-balling 27-yard
run for a score and had a two-point conversion off a fake PAT kick
from Allegany-Limestone’s Connor King.

PENNSYLVANIA actually led 7-0 when Eisenhower’s Mike Rulander
returned the opening kickoff 76 yards and Crosby cashed the
possession with a 16-yard connection to Hahn on third down.

But on the ensuing possession, Stevens almost immediately hit
Carney for the 49-yard TD and New York took the lead on its next
drive when Roberts hit Carney for that 20-yard score, on a
possession kept alive by TWO roughing-the-kicker infractions
against Pennsylvania.

Pennsy tied it  at 14 on Lippert’s 12-yard run, but when Stevens
hit Boberg for that 27-yard score three seconds before the half,
and King connected with Taylor, New York was up 22-14 and ahead for
good.

Indeed, Pennsy was down 32-14 before rallying to make it a game
late in the third period.

“WHEN WE got down early, they sort of punched us in the mouth …
they made a bigger play than we did,” Brown allowed. “Big plays
happen in a game like this, but I’m big on punching them right back
when they do.

“And it turned it into the game the Big 30 Committee wanted it to
be.”

Except, of course, for the penalties.

The Pennsylvania-based officiating crew called a staggering 23
infractions that were marked off (one below the game record) and
that doesn’t count two off-setting penalties and several others
that were refused.

When it was over, both teams had been flagged for 213 yards (four
below the game record) and Pennsy had been penalized 13 times for
133 of them.

And while the three roughing-the-kicker flags against Pennsylvania
were legitimate, the four holding penalties against Pa. evoked an
outburst of boos from that team’s fans.

Tridico was particularly annoyed.

“We lost four first downs in the first half on penalties (three  of
them holds) that’s my issue,” he said. “How can you call all of
those holds in a charity game when you’ve got only two weeks to
practice. I think that’s bush league.”

But Tridico added, “It was a great game between two high-powered
offenses and we had two key passes dropped and another short throw
intercepted in the end zone or we might have scored 60.”

AS FOR the penalties, after a win, Brown was less critical.

Of the two roughing-the-kicker infractions that kept an 80-yard
scoring drive alive, he mused, “the refereeing gods were with
us.”

Then, turning serious, he added, “There’s a lot of emotion in a
game like this (there were a handful of unsportsmanlike conduct
calls, two of which were offset).

“A lot of these kids won’t play football again … they were out of
gas because they left it all out on the field.”

And even Tridico, while critical of the officiating, concluded,
“This was the game people wanted to see.”

With a few less flags, of course.