When Reggie White Jr. saw the ball coming at him he did what was expected of an all star receiver, he caught the ball. His touchdown catch in the 2nd OT helped Maryland defeat Pennsylvania in the Big 33 game for the first time since 1991. “Oh man, it was a great game. I had a blast all week” said White of his experience. With tears in his eyes he told me what the week really meant to him. “I never expected it to be like this, the whole buddy experience came as a total surprise to me. You get so close to your buddy and that intensifies your bond with your team. I’ll never forget this.”
The 31-24 victory didn’t surprise Maryland head coach Brian Van Deusen. “Last year we came up here and got embarrassed. Those kids didn’t really know the meaning of this game. This year we tried to instill the importance of the game. We picked a really special bunch of kids and they responded”.
Maryland got of to a fast start opening up a 24-0 lead, but PA stormed back with 24 unanswered points of it’s own in the first ever double OT in Big 33 history. Game MVP Chase Edmonds got the scoring started for Pennsylvania with a 28 yard TD run. Maxwell Football Club award winner Mark Pyles added to the scoring with a 20-yard run and PSU bound Joe Julius’ 20 yard field goal tied the game with just over 1 minute remaining to send the game to overtime.
Christian Lezzer of Clearfield will use the experience to help him be a better player and teammate at Boston College. “I learned so much in this short week. It’s such a different game playing with and against people that all have extremely good talent”.
Noah Beh of Scranton Prep will also cherish the experience. “We had fun, and that’s what this game is about. This and our buddies. We all connected with our buddies. High school football is over now and it’s off to Penn State for me. I’ll cherish this experience”.
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