Latrobe survives wild, three-overtime game to defeat Plum

By: Henry O'Brien
Friday, August 29, 2025 | 10:32 PM

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Plum and Latrobe spent nearly three hours trading blows and momentum Friday night before the triple-overtime contest came down to one play. Mustangs quarterback John Nonnenberg needed 6 yards to score on fourth down but overthrew his man in the back of the end zone, enabling the Wildcats to hang on for a 42-35 win.

The game became an offensive showcase for Plum (1-1) and Latrobe (1-1). But with three overtime touchdowns from running back AJ Yeboah, the Wildcats rebounded from a 28-13 loss to Connellsville last week.

“We played a good game last week, didn’t get the result we wanted, and that was kind of the message we preached all week,” Latrobe coach Tom McIntyre said. “… You got to bounce back and keep fighting.”

Plum’s hiccups were apparent early. Nonnenberg found Niko Signor on a screen to bring the ball into Wildcat territory. But a holding penalty on the ext play pushed the Mustangs 10 yards back and out of field-goal range.

“We were stagnant early. It just kind of reflected our week of practice,” Plum coach Matt Morgan said. “We didn’t have a good week of practice early on. We turned it on towards the end.”

The drive-killing penalties immediately came back to bite Plum. Wildcats quarterback Dom Scarton faced pressure from the right side but threw long to a wide-open Joseph Favata for a 36-yard touchdown.

After the teams traded turnovers, Nonnenberg directed Plum to its first score of the day, finding a sliding Brendan Marston for an 8-yard touchdown.

Latrobe struck back with a Scarton lob pass to Danny Noonan, who faced double coverage but nabbed the ball over his defenders with seconds left in the half.

But results flipped out of halftime, with a Nonnenberg-led drive that resulted in a touchdown. He found a sliding Matson for a 9-yard score.

After a penalty-filled start to the following drive for Latrobe, Scarton faced pressure and threw an interception that put Plum at the Latrobe 10-yard line. Nonnenberg then faked a handoff and ran down the left side for a score to give the Mustangs their first lead of the night, 21-14.

The momentum shifted again once Nonnenberg threw a weak pass that was picked off by Latrobe’s Connor Roble, who brought it all the way down to the Plum 21 yard-line. McIntyre called the play “huge.”

“We kind of struggled in the second half for field position, and that flipped the field,” McIntyre said.

The Mustang defense remained stout near the goal line. To force the ball over the goal line on fourth down, Latrobe used tight end Aaron Gaskey for a direct snap. He powered his way into the end zone to tie the score.

Under the two minute warning, Nonnenberg directed Plum down to the 3-yard line. But after an icing-the-kicker attempt and a too-many-men penalty from Latrobe, Plum kicker Olivia Bigger doinked the short kick to send the game into overtime.

The back-and-forth affair had its first highlight in the extra period once Nonnenberg threw a 10-yard touchdown, while falling away, to Sloan Humphries for his second receiving touchdown of the night. Latrobe responded, however, with Yeboah (98 yards) scoring on fourth-and-goal. Yeboah then bulldozed his way in from the 4 and scored again in the third overtime from 3 yards.

“We were down a lot of guys tonight with suspensions and illnesses,” Morgan, referring to the fights in last week’s win, said. “Guys got to step up, plain and simple.”

Tags: Latrobe, Plum