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Harper Reaches Into Bag Of Tricks To Shift Momentum

Clymer/Sherman/Panama’s John Swabik (23) and Gerrit Hinsdale (12) celebrate following Swabik’s 30-yard touchdown during the second quarter of Friday’s New York State Public High School Athletic Association Class D championship game against Section VII Moriah at the Carrier Dome in Syracuse. P-J photo by Alex Shipherd

SYRACUSE — They will be talking about “the play” over coffee at the Dutch Village and the Neckers Company General Store in Clymer.

During lunch at the Ashville General Store

At the “Feelin’ Saucy” pizza place in Sherman.

And points in between.

For days, weeks and months.

Clymer/Sherman/Panama’s John Swabik outraces Moriah’s Jerin Sargent to the end zone on the back end of a hook-and-ladder play during the fourth quarter of Friday’s New York State Public High School Athletic Association Class D championship game at the Carrier Dome in Syracuse. P-J photo by Alex Shipherd

Heck, they could even have it emblazoned on T-shirts, so that the thousands of fans at the Carrier Dome on Friday afternoon could brag they were there to witness it.

“Trips, gun right; rip, hitch and pitch” is now part of Clymer/Sherman/Panama football lore.

Take a bow, Ty Harper.

For it was the top-ranked Clymer/Sherman/Panama head coach’s play call on fourth-and-21 early in the fourth quarter of the New York State Public High School Athletic Association Class D championship game that transformed the Wolfpack’s tenuous, 7-0, lead into an improbable touchdown that flipped the momentum like a tidal wave and sent the teenagers from three neighboring communities in Chautauqua County to a 26-6 victory over No. 4 Moriah for their first state title in program history.

“It doesn’t get any better than this,” Harper said as he held the championship plaque during a postgame media scrum on the artificial surface at Ernie Davis Legends Field. “This is why you do it.”

But a gadget play? On fourth down? In a tight defensive struggle when a turnover is only a bad bounce away?

“I thought it would connect,” Harper said.

That’s because he had confidence that juniors Gerrit Hinsdale and Cameron Barmore, and sophomore John Swabik would execute it to perfection, even though they hadn’t been successful running that play during the week.

Here’s the backdrop:

Spearheaded by a fourth-down sack by linebacker Robert Overton, Clymer/Sherman/Panama — one of five by the Wolfpack on the afternoon — took possession of the ball at its own 42 with less than a minute remaining in the third quarter, leading 7-0.

Two plays later — on third-and-17 — Hinsdale, the game’s Most Valuable Player, connected with Zavon Overton on a 43-yard pass to the Moriah 21.

That’s when things got even more interesting.

A holding penalty, a 1-yard gain and a pair of incompletions put Clymer/Sherman/Panama in a fourth-and-21 from its 30 with 10:48 remaining in the game.

Harper called a timeout.

It was time to unveil “trips, gun right; rip, hitch and pitch,” a play that Harper described as his “favorite big-game trick play,” which the Wolfpack last successfully employed during their Section VI semifinal loss to Maple Grove in October 2017.

There was one slight problem, though.

“Percentage-wise, it was probably 25 percent successful in practice,” Hinsdale said.

Undaunted, Harper went with his gut.

“The moment presented itself,” the fourth-year coach said.

With Barmore flanked left, and Swabik, Mitchell Hovey and Zavon Overton flanked right, Hinsdale barked out the signals. Swabik went in motion left, the ball was snapped by center Elliott Jackson to Hinsdale, who connected with Barmore, who had run a 12-yard hitch pattern. Almost simultaneously, Swabik, streaking up the sideline, took a lateral from Barmore and raced the final 18 yards for the touchdown.

Although the two-point conversion pass failed, Clymer/Sherman/Panama led 13-0 with 10:42 remaining. A 3-yard touchdown run by Robert Overton and 13-yard interception return by Michael Beatman sandwiched around Moriah’s only TD, made the game appear one-sided.

It might not have been, though, had Hinsdale, who completed 14 of 26 passes for 240 yards and two touchdowns, Barmore and Swabik failed to execute the hook-and-ladder.

“It’s just great to know that I could change the game, I guess,” Swabik said.

Change the game?

Yes.

Propel the Wolfpack to a state championship?

Absolutely.

“It’s surreal, man,” Harper said. “To go from a newly merged program four years ago to walking off the field at the Carrier Dome as state champions, you couldn’t write the story.”

Then he added: “I guess you can now.”

I have.

And I still don’t believe what I saw.

Trips, gun right; rip, hitch and pitch.

“In my opinion, it was the turning point in the football game,” Hinsdale said.

Added Harper: “You never know if you’re going to score on fourth down and 21. You’re just trying to give yourself a chance, and they did a great job.”

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