VIDEO: Susquehannock head coach Steve Wiles discusses his team's suspended game against York Catholic, which the Fighting Irish lead 7-3 at halftime. JACOB CALVIN MEYER, 717-505-5406/@jcalvinmeyer
GLEN ROCK — Oops, she did it again.
She being Mother Nature.
York Catholic and Susquehannock played a quick first half of football, with the Fighting Irish clinging to a 7-3 lead on the rainy night. While the teams were in their locker rooms, lightning was spotted, inducing a 30-minute delay.
With frequent lightning popping up for the next hour and an unfriendly forecast, the teams agreed at 9 p.m. to suspend the game.
This was the only game involving a York-Adams League team to be postponed or suspended this week. However, six games last week were pushed back due to heavy rainfall, with Dallastown and Dover also deciding to play their games the following Monday.
"It is a weird situation," said Susquehannock head coach Steve Wiles. "I've had rainouts before, but this is my first time ever (having a rainout) in the middle of the game."
The Fighting Irish (2-0) and the Warriors (1-1) will resume play at Susquehannock Monday night.
Time-consuming first drive: Susquehannock, the Y-A Division II defending champion, started off the game almost as well as the Warriors could've hoped against the Division III defending co-champion Irish.
Susquehannock used almost the entire first quarter — 10:41 to be exact — on their first drive. The Warriors and their Wing-T offense methodically drove 61 yards on 18 plays to wear down the Irish Fighting Irish defense, but they couldn't capitalize in the red zone and settled for a 26-yard field goal. Dustin Shipley's low kick narrowly made it over the crossbar to give the Warriors a 3-0 lead.
"I was happy to get (three) points out of it," Wiles said, contrasting it with his team's 28-7 loss to Littlestown last week. "We talked about it last week when we couldn't get points out of drives. It would've been nice to have a touchdown, but at least we got points out of it."
Irish play copycat: After both teams traded punts on three-and-out drives, York Catholic took a page out of Susquehannock's book.
The Fighting Irish scored a touchdown after driving 72 yards downfield in 7:33. The drive was capped off by a 15-yard passing score from Wesley Burns to Benjamin Moir. Burns hit Moir on a screen pass, and the senior wide receiver weaved his way into the end zone.
York Catholic almost scored again at the end of the first half. The Fighting Irish quickly drove 45 yards to the Susquehannock 10-yard line, but two sacks and a penalty pushed the Irish out of field goal territory as time expired.
Offensive struggles: Both teams struggled on offense in the first half, as both defensive lines were regularly penetrating the backfield.
York Catholic's offense was clicking near the end of the first half, while the Warriors' offense was ineffective, going three-and-out and punting on their last two drives.
"We're not staying on blocks," Wiles said. "They were outrunning us and being more physical. We've got to get more physical and stay on blocks."
Preparing for Monday: The silver lining to the suspension, Wiles said, is that the coaching staff will be able to watch film of the first half before preparing a game plan for the second half on Monday.
Wiles said the Fighting Irish gave the Warriors different looks on defense, which will require an adjustment if Susquehannock wants to move the ball more effectively in the second half.
"We'll take a look at the film and see what's going on," Wiles said. "They did some things that we didn't see, but they hadn't played a Wing-T team yet. Every time you see a new team and a new offense you change some things, and they did."
The negative side of it, though, is both York Catholic and Susquehannock will play their first division games on short rest.
"What concerns me more is the next week, but we're still in this football game and are one play away from taking the lead," Wiles said. "This is a game that we're right in, and it would be really nice to come out with a win."
Kickoff for the resumed game Monday will be at 7 p.m. York Catholic will start the second half on offense.
Scoring
York Catholic 0 7 X X — X
Susquehannock 3 0 X X — X
First quarter:
Susquehannock: Dustin Shipley 26-yard field goal, 1:19 (Susky 3, YC 0)
Second quarter:
York Catholic: Benjamin Moir 15-yard pass from Wesley Burns (Nicholas Andrasi kick), 2:56 (YC 7, Susky 3)
Team stats
York Catholic:
Total offense: 115
Turnovers: 0
Penalties: 4 for 48 yards
Sacks: 1 for 6 yards
Susquehannock:
Total offense: 51 yards
Turnovers: 0
Penalties: 2 for 15 yards
Sacks: 2 for 8 yards
Individual stats
York Catholic:
Wesley Burns: 5-7 passing, 46 yards, TD; 6 carries, 9 yards (sacked 2 times for -8 yards)
Massimo Antolick: 8 carries, 38 yards
Cormac Sterling: 2 carries, 22 yards; 1 reception, 10 yards
Manuel Montes: 2 receptions, 12 yards
Benjamin Moir: 1 reception, 15 yards
Noah Kiel: 1 reception, 10 yards
Susquehannock:
Kenny Rhyne: 1-4 passing, 7 yards; 6 carries, 15 yards (sacked 1 time for -6 yards)
Daniel Clapp: 8 carries, 19 yards
Allen Clapp: 3 carries, 10 yards
Harry Pecunes: 1 rush, 1 yard
Conner Kernan: 1 reception, 7 yards
Reach Jacob Calvin Meyer at jmeyer@yorkdispatch.com.
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