Deer Lakes wins wild one over Shady Side Academy

By: Andrew John
Friday, October 20, 2023 | 10:25 PM

After a heartbreaking loss to East Allegheny, Deer Lakes wanted to get the bad taste out of its mouth.

In a back-and-forth game, the Lancers went on the road and managed to escape Shady Side Academy’s Michael J. Farrell Stadium with a 41-35 win in an Allegheny 6 Conference game on a rainy Friday night.

Deer Lakes (6-3, 2-2) next will face Freeport at home in a win-and-in game next Friday night as both look to qualify for the WPIAL Class 3A playoffs.

With the loss, the Bulldogs (5-4, 2-2) need to win to get in when they travel to East Allegheny.

The teams entered the fourth quarter tied at 35-35, with the Lancers taking over at Shady Side Academy’s 30-yard line after recovering a Bulldogs fumble at the end of the third. Four plays later, senior running back Zier Williams scored his second touchdown of the night to give the Lancers a 41-35 lead with 10 minutes, 42 seconds remaining in regulation.

“Our guys are resilient. They never wavered. They continued to work and continued to believe in what we were doing. It was a heck of a football game. That’s the way high school games should be. It was fun and competitive,” Deer Lakes coach Tim Burk said.

Williams finished with 24 carries for 106 yards.

The Bulldogs had chance to at least tie the score when they started their final drive at the 31-yard line with 3:01 remaining. However, the Deer Lakes defense stood tall in the final minutes thanks in large part to back-to-back big plays by senior Aiden Fletcher.

On second down, Fletcher sacked Shady Side Academy sophomore quarterback Devin Harris with 1:45 remaining in the game to force a third down. On the next play, Fletcher laid a big hit just before Harris scrambled out of bounds to force a long fourth down conversion attempt.

“We talked as a staff, and we thought we were doing things outside of our comfort zone,” Tim Burk said. “I give credit to my defensive coaches. We just decided to go back to what we do well. We made the proper adjustments in the second half.”

Shady Side Academy started the scoring on its second play from scrimmage, and it was off to the races as the teams combined for 49 points in the first half.

Harris connected on a receiver screen with senior Aki Durham, and Durham did the rest by evading Deer Lakes defenders for an 81-yard score.

On the next two possessions, the Lancers picked off Harris. Deer Lakes couldn’t take advantage of the short field after the first interception. On the next, the Lancers tied the score when senior quarterback Derek Burk connected with senior receiver Wayne Love for a 28-yard touchdown pass down left side.

After forcing a Bulldogs punt, the Lancers took advantage of the short field and took the lead when Burk took the shotgun snap up the middle for a 1-yard run to give Deer Lakes a 14-7 lead with 15 seconds remaining in the first quarter.

Then it turned into the Carter Simko show as Simko scored all three touchdowns for the Bulldogs in the second quarter. Simko scored on direct snaps from 4 and 1 yard. Simko also scored on a 69-yard touchdown reception from Harris.

Harris finished the night 11 of 29 for 263 yards passing with two touchdowns and three interceptions for the Bulldogs. Simko finished with three catches for 103 yards receiving.

After Williams got the Lancers within one point in the third quarter, Simko stopped the Deer Lakes momentum when he ran back the ensuing kickoff for an 83-yard touchdown to make it 35-27 with over six minutes remaining in the third.

The Lancers weren’t fazed as Burk floated a pass to Zach Grant for a 69-yard touchdown as the Lancers quickly responded less than two minutes later.

“I don’t need to say anything to them anymore,” coach Burk said. “They know they can score. They know they have the ability to do those things and do it .”

Burk finished 9 for 20 for 207 yards passing, with three touchdown passes and one on the ground.

Tags: Deer Lakes, Shady Side Academy