Brother combination leads Upper St. Clair past Moon in double OT thriller

By: Antonio Rossetti
Friday, October 20, 2023 | 11:52 PM

Previous Next

The Upper St. Clair Panthers keep their playoff hopes alive Friday night, using a brother-to-brother connection to defeat division rival Moon, 43-42, in two overtimes.

In the second overtime, the Panthers trailed 42-35. Ethan Hellman connected with Charlie Bywalski to make it 42-41, and USC decided to put it all on the line, going for two.

The Panthers lined up with a full-house backfield. Ethan Hellman faked the hand off and found none other than his brother, Van Hellman, who caught the 2-point conversion pass on an out route to give the Panthers a dramatic, one-point victory.

“It’s really cool when it’s coming from my brother,” Van Hellman said. “We saw they were pressing hard for the run, so we decided to do this play where I go out. Ethan saw me and we connected and that was game. Great play call by the coaches and can’t thank my teammates enough for playing this hard.”

Van Hellman finished with four receptions for 76 yards.

Ethan Hellman completed 9 of 16 passes for 157 yards. He was ecstatic that the brotherly duo was able to keep the playoff push alive.

“Last week they finally put him in and from right then and there, we had a connection,” Hellman said. “My brother and I have been playing football since I can’t even remember how long, but we’ve always had that connection. He’s the one guy I trust to go up and get the ball wherever the ball is. It’s either his or nobody’s, and I respect him a lot for that.”

Coach Mike Junko talked about the play call to close out the game.

“That’s something we’ve had in for a lot of weeks we haven’t used,” Junko said. “We’ve been in that formation a lot and we just felt like, boy, if there’s ever a time to do it. We liked the play and the kids did a great job executing.”

Although USC won the game through the air, Mason Chambers spearheaded the running attack, rushing for 137 yards on 19 carries with two touchdowns. Chambers was able pick up key first downs each time they were tied or trailed the Tigers.

“First I want to give glory to God,” Chambers said. “It was just my linemen and my H-back. They do all the work for me. I just follow their blocks.”

Although they didn’t take home the win, the Tigers got their rushing attack working. Their signature wildcat offense led to a big game on the ground from Paul Bronaugh, Nazir Brookins and Josh Bladel.

Bronaugh finished with 236 yards on nine carries with three TDs. He also had a pair of 85-yard touchdowns on back-to-back drives.

The Panthers slowed down the wildcat in the third quarter. Junko said it was a challenge.

“I give a lot of credit to their kids,” Junko said. “They’re physical. We knew it was going to be physical, and a lot of credit to Moon because it’s not just the plays, it’s how well coached they are and how hard they they play.”

The Tigers took control of the clock early on as they pounded the ball for a long 7 minute, 19 second drive that ended with a flea flicker on a 25-yard pass from Bladel to Nick Clemens. Hayden Boland knocked through the PAT, making it 7-0.

Nearing the end of the first quarter, USC was forced to go for it on fourth-and-4 at the Moon 33. Nick Prozzoly batted down a Hellman pass, giving the Tigers the ball back going into the second quarter.

The Panthers forced a three-and-out. This led to a bad snap that sailed over the head of Boland, and he was tackled by a pack of Panthers at the 1-yard line.

USC capitalized on the crucial error and had its shortest drive of the season when Chambers punched it in for six. After the Bennett Henderson extra point, the score was 7-7 early in the second quarter.

The Tigers responded with a quick drive. Paul Bronaugh took them into Panther territory on a 37-yard run. A few plays later, Bladel capped off the drive on a 2-yard touchdown run to retake the lead for Moon at 14-7.

On USC’s next possession, a good return from John Banbury put the Panthers in Moon territory. The Tigers forced a fourth down, but a pass interference call gave USC the first down at the Moon 20.

After drawing the interference call, Ethan Dahlem took one to the house to knot it up 14-14.

Both teams exchanged stops, sending it into halftime tied.

The Panthers drained close to seven minutes to open up the second half. Despite driving it to the Moon 16, the Panthers were unable to score on a missed field goal.

After a scoreless third quarter, Bronaugh broke the tie, bouncing one to the outside and taking it for six on an 85-yard touchdown run to go up 21-14.

Two minutes later, the game was yet again knotted up. After a flea flicker on which Ethan Hellman completed a pass to Van Hellman, the Panthers set up shop inside the Moon red zone.

Ethan Hellman connected with Banbury on a screen pass which ended in an 11-yard touchdown, making it 21-21.

The Tigers, on their next drive, faced a third-and-15. Moon gave it to the hot hand and Bronaugh broke another touchdown for 85 yards, retaking the lead 28-21.

At that point, a defensive showdown turned into a Madden game played on arcade mode. The Panthers marched right down the field and finished the drive with a Chambers 28-yard touchdown run to tie the game up 28-28.

The Panthers got the ball back and a Chambers run got them to the USC 31-yard line. Hellman accidentally knelt on the ball instead of spiking it, which ran out the clock and sent the game to overtime.

In overtime, the Panthers scored on their first possession. Ethan Dahlem punched one in for six from 4 yards out and Henderson nailed the PAT.

Bronaugh found the end zone again on fourth-and-4. The Tigers scored on the 2-point try, but the score was negated by an illegal motion call. The Tigers settled for the PAT from Boland.

Moon scored on the first play of the second overtime with a 10-yard touchdown run from Bladel to go up 42-35.

That set up a second-down 13-yard touchdown pass from Ethan Hellman to Bywalski. Ethan Hellman then found Van Hellman and took home the victory.

“It feels great, especially for our seniors,” Chambers said. “This is our last game here in Panther land. We had to pull it off for playoffs. You don’t want our season to end yet. They’re a great team, a physical team who just put it out there.”

Tags: Moon, Upper St. Clair