SCRANTON – Eventually Lackawanna Trail was able to trade touchdowns with Steelton-Highspire when the state’s top two Class A teams, according to PennLive.com, met in a Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association quarterfinal Nov. 24 at Scranton Memorial Stadium.
The Lions, however, were never able to overcome the fast start by an explosive Steamrollers offense that kept churning out yards and alternated touchdowns with Lackawanna Trail over the last 27 minutes.
Naval Academy commit Alex Erby showed why he is the state’s all-time leader in career passing yards and touchdowns and got plenty of help as Steelton-Highspire ended Lackawanna Trail’s season and continued its path to another state championship game appearance with a 43-25 victory.
“I thought our kids were resilient,” Lions coach Steve Jervis said. “They played the full 48 minutes. I wouldn’t expect anything less. It’s a great group of kids.”
Erby hit 20 of 25 passes for 337 yards and four touchdowns. He also ran for another score and got plenty of help.
Three other Steelton-Highspire players accounted for more than 150 yards as the Steamrollers piled up 534 yards in total offense in the meeting of 13-0 teams.
Ronald Burnett carried 19 times for 166 yards and a touchdown. Jaeion Perry caught seven passes for 162 yards and two touchdowns. Durrell Ceasar Jr. caught nine passes for 151 yards and two scores.
Erby ran for one touchdown and passed to Ceasar for another in the first quarter, then Burnette broke a 57-yard touchdown run midway through the second quarter for a 22-0 lead.
Although Lackawanna Trail scored four times to Steelton-Highspire’s three as the teams alternated touchdowns the rest of the way, it was too much for the Lions to overcome even in the most successful season in terms of wins and losses in school history. Under Jervis, the Lions have advanced further, making it to a state final and making a separate trip to the semifinals.
“I’m very proud of them,” Jervis said of a perfect regular season and championships of Lackawanna Football Conference Division 3, District 2 Class A and the District 1-2 Class A Subregional. “They’ve been the only undefeated team in school history. There’s been a lot of good football teams come from Lackawanna Trail, even long before me.”
The Lions simply could not stop Erby and the Steamrollers.
When a punt pinned Steelton-Highspire in an 8-0 game in the first quarter, the Steamrollers drove 99 yards for a touchdown. When Lackawanna Trail got within 22-6 on a Stephen Jervis touchdown, Steelton-Highspire used the remaining 2:29 of the second quarter to score on the final play of the half on an 11-yard, Erby-to-Perry pass.
Isaac Ryon returned the second-half kickoff 84 yards for a Lackawanna Trail touchdown. Ryon picked up 145 yards on his four kickoff returns and was also active defensively with three tackles, five assists and a pass break-up at the goal line.
Lackawanna Trail produced 216 yards rushing. Demetrius Douglas carried 11 times for 99 yards while Lukas Gumble carried 14 times for 66 yards, including a 1-yard touchdown.
Stephen Jervis passed 18 yards to Max Kimmel for the other score.
“Coming in, we knew we had to limit the big play and we knew we had to score,” coach Jervis said. “They were better than us tonight.”
