One of the smallest players in Quad A helped lead Connellsville Area to its biggest win for second-year coach Andy Robertson, a 25-13 Quad East decision at Norwin Saturday afternoon.
Shane Gannon, a 5-8, 141-pound receiver and kick returner ran 36 yards for one touchdown, caught a 33-yard pass on a fleaflicker to set up another score and returned the second-half kickoff 93 yards for a touchdown to help lift the Falcons to their first Quad East win in Robertson's brief tenure.
The Connellsville defense did the rest, holding the Knights to 150 yards and sacking Norwin quarterback J.T. Redshaw seven times, the last one by Delbert Sines for a safety with 3:50 to play.
"This feels totally awesome," Robertson said. "We had to get this. Now we have a shot at the playoffs."
The win lifted Connellsville to 2-3, 1-2 in the Quad East. The Falcons are tied with Norwin (1-4, 1-2) and Baldwin for fifth place in the league. The top six Quad East teams advance to the WPIAL playoffs.
Norwin, playing without its injured starting quarterback T.J. Salopek, fell behind 9-0 after a bad snap on a punt that led to a safety and Gannon's scoring run on an inside reverse.
"We keep putting ourselves into too big of a hole," said Norwin coach Dan Conwell.
The Knights closed to within two points when fullback Paul Turnsek burst up the middle for a 49-yard touchdown run early in the second quarter.
Connellsville scored with 25 seconds to play in the half when Nathan Feniello hit fullback Zachary Blackstone with a 3-yard scoring toss. That score was set up by a trick play as Gannon made a fine catch on a 33-yard pass from running back Andrew Schleihauf.
Gannon pushed the Falcons lead to 23-7 when he returned the opening kick of the second half for a touchdown.
"He's done good things for us on the kick team most of the year," Robertson said of Gannon.
For Conwell, it was a frustrating turn of events after his team pulled to within 9-7.
"The last possession of the first half and the first possession of the second half are critical," he said. "They capitalized and we didn't. We'll learn from it."
Norwin got a 3-yard touchdown run from Zach Miller to close to within 23-13 near the end of the third quarter.
The Falcons defense held Norwin to 73 yards on the ground and harrassed Redshaw all afternoon.
"The kids up front played well defensively," Robertson said.
Robert Kraynak had three sacks for the Falcons, two of them on the same series in the fourth quarter to stop a Norwin drive.
Redshaw, a sophomore, was 8-of-16 for 77 yards in the air.
Scott Jones was the workhorse for Connellsville, rushing for 87 yards on 26 carries. The Falcons had 211 rushing yards.
