The Sayre football team put on an outstanding performance for a large Homecoming crowd when they held off the Wildcats of Carnegie by the score of 28 to 26 last Friday evening at Eagle stadium. The Eagles received but fumbled the opening onside kick off by Alex Carceno at the Wildcat 49yard line where Galvez made the recovery. The Eagle defense stood tall by forcing Carnegie to punt after the first 3 plays netted only four yards. The punt by Kevin Galvez was a 43 yarder to the Sayre 15 where Jason Mosser made a fair catch to give Sayre their first possession of the game. The Eagles ran for a first down after 3 plays netted 20 yards out to the 35 of Sayre. The next play however was another fumble. This time after a 27 yard run the ball was lost and Wildcat Kimball Osbourn made the recovery at the 38-yard line. Carnegie got their machine rolling on this possession by grinding out a 62-yard touchdown drive that took 16 plays to the Sayre end zone. A pass attempt for the PAT was thwarted by Brock Helton and the score remained 6-0 with 1:12 left to play in the first quarter.
After the ensuing kickoff the Eagles began their next possession from their own 38. Sayre picked up one first down but 3 plays later into the second quarter was made to punt. Mosser got off a 34 yarder to the Carnegie 14-yard line. On the first play Sayre was assessed a 15-yard penalty that moved the ball up to the 29-yard line where the Wildcats began their next possession. After making one first down on a 22-yard pass play, Carnegie fumbled the ball at the Sayre 44 and Stone Mackey made the recovery for the Eagles. Sayre began a crunching 12 play run to paydirt for the touchdown. In his first game of the season after an injury, Dustin McSorley crashed into the end zone from one yard out. A run attempt for the PAT failed and the score was tied at 6 apiece with 4:36 left to play in the first half.
Aiden Ball kicked off after the TD and Carnegie was put in business at the Wildcat 39. On the first play from there Carnegie stunned the crowd when QB Weston Burcum heaved a pass to Darrian Barr who made the catch and roared to the Eagle end zone to complete the 61-yard pass play. Ryan Beck stopped a run attempt for the PAT and the score was 12 to 6 with 4:24 left in the first half and Carnegie back in the lead. At this point things got interesting for Sayre. After receiving the following kickoff Sayre made good use of the time left in the half by driving from their own 31 to the Wildcat end zone in 15 nail biting plays. Mosser got the dinger on a six-yard scramble. Mosser also ran for the 2 pt conversion to put the Eagles back in the lead 14 to 12 with 1:19 left in the half.
After the ensuing kickoff the Eagle defense prevented the Wildcats from making a first down after 3 plays and on fourth down Galvez punted 38 yards to the Eagle 30-yard line. From the 30 Sayre utilized the final 54 seconds to perfection as they put a 70-yard TD drive together with the final 3 yards being made by McSorley with no time left on the clock. QB Jagger Wootton connected on gains of 8, 6 and 35 yards in the drive to McSorley, Tate Bawden and Brock Helton. A run attempt for the PAT failed but Sayre had extended their lead to 20 to 12 at halftime.
In the third quarter Carnegie put together a 7 play 67-yard TD drive to close the Eagle led to 20 to 18 which closed out the third quarter of play. In the fourth quarter Carnegie failed to move the ball against the Sayre defense and on a fourth-down play punted 23 yards to the Eagle 31. Sayre began their final TD drive of the game from the 31 and covered the distance in 7 plays. McSorley scored on a 3-yard plunge behind the strong Eagle line. Mosser struggled into the end zone for the 2-point conversion to give the Eagles breathing room at 28 to 18 with 7:46 left in the game. But the breathing room did not last long. The Wildcats took control on offense after the ensuing kickoff at their own 34. The nail biting started again when Darrian Barr returned the kickoff 18 yards before the Wildcats embarked on an 11 play 66-yard TD march that ended on a 5-yard pass from Burcum to Osbourn closing the score to 28 to 24. A pass for the PAT connected to give a score of 28 to 26 with 3:28 left in the game. Following the ensuing kickoff the Eagles closed the door by running out the remainder of the clock on a 9-yard drive to the Wildcat 22. It was a great win for Sayre in an intense battle after dropping last week’s game to Thomas. Tate Bawden and Zeke Curtis both led the defense in tackles with 9. Jagger Wootton and McSorley both had 100 yard games. Wootton carried 19 yards for 103 yards and McSorley carried 23 times for 108 yards. Mosser carried 14 times for 52 yards. The Eagles have an open date on the 19th but will pick back up with a trip to Hooker on September 26 and a 7 PM start.
EAGLES STATS CARNEGIE 22 First Downs 12 64/336 Rushing Yards 28/92 6/10/56 Passing Yards 16/23/210 392 Total Yards 302 2 Turnovers 1 6/50 Penalties 5/33 2/71/37.5 Punts 3/104/34.7 RUSHING RECEIVING D. McSorley 23/108 B. Helton 1/35 J. Wootton 19/103 T. Bawden 2/14 J. Mosser 14/52 D. McSorley 3/7 TACKLES T. Bawden 9 Z. Curtis 9 A. Ball 7 B. Helton 7 R. Beck 6 C. Brewer 5 S. Mackey 4 E. Garrison 4 C. Plummer 2 Others 4
