By Andy Close

BRADFORD – Improbable!

That’s about the only way you can describe Port Allegany’s comeback 28-21 win over Sharpsville in the PIAA Class A quarterfinals Friday at Bradford’s Parkway Field.

Record-setting quarterback Matt Bodamer’s 11-yard touchdown pass to Tyce Miller with 17 seconds remaining and the subsequent two-point conversion gave the Gators a win they almost didn’t have but one that won’t soon be forgotten.

 “Matt struggled and short-armed a lot of them tonight, but he hit Tyce right in stride with that one,” Port Allegany head coach Mike Bodamer said.

It was a play that a minute earlier seemed impossible.

After Port Allegany missed a potential go-ahead field goal with 2:11 to play down 21-20, Sharpsville seemed to seal the game when Joey Pagliaroli briefly broke free on a fourth-and-1 run from the Sharpsville 29-yard line seemingly picking up the first down that would close the game. But Port Allegany’s Tyler Shaffer, who already had two rushing touchdowns to his credit, came up and delivered a blow as Pagliaroli fought for extra yardage knocking the ball loose. The Gators pounced on it with Nick Conway recovering at the Sharpsville 40 with 1:11 left setting up the game-winning drive.

“I saw him (Pagliaroli) cut it back outside, and I just grabbed him by his shoulder pads and started punching through his arms,” said Shaffer, who came into the game on the drive as a defensive replacement. “When I saw the ball come loose I thought ‘My God,’ I just saw black jerseys piling on it and piling on it.”

Port Allegany, which came into the game averaging over 50 points per game before being held to a season-low six first-half points, took advantage of its second life.

Bodamer completed a pair of passes to Miller and Conway to set up the 11-yarder to Miller that avenged last season’s 35-33 loss to the Blue Devils in the quarterfinals.

“I don’t think we deserved to win the game,” coach Bodamer said. “But we aren’t going to take it back.”

Sharpsville had a last gasp effort from the Port Allegany 40 but a short pass by Tyler Luchey to Pagliaroli was quickly ended on a tackle by Conway.

 “It’s not the best game we’ve ever played, probably one of the worst, but we came together as a team and we won it,” said Port linebacker Alex Gular.

Surprisingly, Port, despite a touchdown on a 90-yard drive on its first drive of the game that ended on a 1-yard Shaffer scoring run keyed by 59-yard yard run by Bodamer, had trouble scoring in the first half being limited to single digits in the opening half for the first time since the 2010 District 9 championship game, a loss to Curwensville.

That allowed Sharpsville to take a 7-6 halftime lead, the first time since a loss to Elk County Catholic in Sept. 2011 that the Gators trailed at the break.

The Blue Devils touchdown came on a 26-yard Luchey to Bryan Stafford pass with just 1:11 left in the half.

“I told the guys at halftime to close their eyes and envision how hard we’ve work,” Matt Bodamer said. “I said ‘We have 24 minutes for the rest of our lives.’”

Port immediately came out in the second half and seemed to take control of the game. 

Shaffer capped a 10-play, 74-yard drive on the first possession of the half with a 9-yard touchdown run, his second of the game and part of a 111-yard effort, that put Port back on top 14-7 after the two-point conversion.

The Gators held Sharpsville on the ensuing possession and went to work again.

After driving the ball to the Sharpsville 15 and facing a third-and-9, Bodamer connected with Conway on a pass down to the five. Conway broke a tackle and dove across the goal line giving Port a 20-7 lead and seemingly taking the wind out of Sharpsville’s sails.

“That was a nice effort,” coach Bodamer said of Conway’s touchdown. “All our kids run well after they catch the ball. At 20-7, I thought the game was in hand.”

But it wasn’t, as the resilient Blue Devils responded in a big way just like they had in 2011 when they erased a double-digit halftime deficit to end the Gators season.

A pair of special teams’ plays helped Sharpsville get back in the game.

First, a short kickoff and a solid return by the Blue Devils following Conway’s touchdown gave Sharpsville the ball at midfield. That turned into seven points when Pagliaroli scored from seven yards out to make it 20-14.

Then Sharpsville’s defense, as it did much of the night, flustered Port’s offense on its next possession, forcing it into a three-and-out.

The originally punt by Bodamer was good one that pinned Sharpsville inside its own 30-yard line, but Port Allegany was called for having only six men on the line of scrimmage and had to repunt. The reboot set Sharpsville up around the 35, and the Blue Devils went on a drive that took over four minutes off the clock. Aided by a pass interference call on Conway and the rushing of Pagliaroli, Sharpsville moved the ball down to the Port 11.

Stafford then swung a pass out to Derrick Odem who raced into the end zone. Pagliaroli’s extra point gave Sharpsville a 21-20 lead with 5:46 to play.

“So much props go to Sharpsville, they played a great game,” said Matt Bodamer.

Port answered with a drive of its own and appeared to go ahead on a 39-yard Bodamer touchdown run with 4:08 to play, but a holding penalty, one of 10 penalties for 100 yards on the Gators, negated the long run and took the ball back to the Sharpsville 42.

Not deterred, Port Allegany moved the ball to the Sharpsville 6-yard line, but a sack of Bodamer on first down moved the ball back to the nine and two incomplete passes brought up fourth down.

At that point, Mike Bodamer decided to send on Sam Kysor, one of two main kickers for the Gators, to try a 26-yard field goal. Scott Brookens had tried two extra points earlier in the game for Port but missed on both. Kysor’s field goal try had the distance but was wide left from a bad angle on the left hash.

 “Fourth-and-10, I thought our best chance was to kick,” coach Bodamer said. “Sam has the leg. It was long enough, it just wasn’t through the middle.”

With only two timeouts remaining and just over two minutes to play, Port Allegany knew it had to force a three-and-out and stacked the box. But Sharpsville picked up nine yards on three carries setting up the fateful fourth-down play.

NOTES – The Gators, who became the first District 9 Class A team to notch a state playoff win since Kane in 2007, now face three-time defending state champion Clairton,, owners  of a state-record 61-game winning streak, the longest current streak in the United States, in the semifinals next weekend at a site, date and time to be announced … With two touchdown passes, Bodamer moved into second place in a season in Pennsylvania history with 51 scoring tosses. He is only the third quarterback in PA history with 50 scoring tosses in a season joining South Fayette’s Christian Brumbaugh (52) and Lancaster Catholic’s Kyle Smith (50) … Miller’s TD gives him 18 on the year while Conway bumped his District 9 single-season touchdown catching mark to 23 .. .With 231 yards unofficial passing, Bodamer is now 70 yards shy of Brockway’s Derek Buganza for both the Pennsylvania and District 9 record for a single season.  

D9Sports.com editor Chris Rossetti contributed to this story

PORT ALLEGANY 28, SHARPSVILLE 21

Score by Quarters

Sharpsville 0 7 9 14 – 21  

Port Allegany 6 0 14 8 – 28

Scoring Summary

First Quarter

P – Tyler Shaffer 1 run (Scott Brookens kick failed), 9:35

Second Quarter

S – Tyler Luchey 26 pass from Bryan Stafford (Joey Pagliaroli kick), 1:11

Third Quarter

P – Shaffer 9 run (Tyce Miller passed from Matt Bodamer), 8:18

P – Nick Conway 15 pass from Bodamer (Brookens kick failed), 2:12  

Fourth Quarter

S – Joey Pagliaroli 7 run. (Pagliaroli kick), 11:01

S – Derrick Odem 11 pass from Stafford (Pagliaroli kick), 5:46

P – Tyce Miller 11 pass from Matt Bodamer. (Trey Miller pass to Bodamer), 0:17

TEAM STATISTICS

                                                S                      PA

First Downs                            13                    20

Rushes-Yards                          48-169             34-226

Passing Yards                         94                    231

Passing: Comp-Att-Int            8-10-0              21-34-1

Total Yards                             263                  457

Fumbles-Lost                          1-1                   1-0

Punts-Avg.                              2-29.0              2-37.6

Penalties-Yards                       3-20                 10-100

Individual Statistics

Rushing – Sharpsville: Pagliaroli 14-55, Llewellyn 13-45, Odem 13-42, Luchey 3-5, Stafford 5-22. Port Allegany: Bodamer 17-93, Shaffer 14-111, Neal 3-22.

Passing – Sharpsville: Stafford 8-for-10, 94 yards, 2 touchdowns. Port Allegany: Matt Bodamer 21-for-34, 231 yards, 2 touchdowns, 1 interception.

Receiving – Sharpsville: Luchey 5-78, Odem 2-13, Llewellyn 1-3. Port Allegany: Tyce Miller 9-99, Conway 9-92, Shaffer 1-19, Trey Miller 2-21.