Injured McElheny gets final play

12/05/24 Mirror photo by Patrick Waksmunski / Bishop Guilfoyle's Hamilton Gates follows his blockers.
By Michael Boytim
mboytim@altoonamirror.com
MECHANICSBURG — Bishop Guilfoyle Academy expected to lean on senior lineman Connor McElheny this season, but an early ACL injury took that security blanket away from the Marauders.
Thursday, McElheny was finally back on the field for the final play of the PIAA Class 1A championship game when he took a knee to run out the final seconds on the clock in BG’s 41-22 victory over Port Allegany at Cumberland Valley High School’s Chapman Field.
“Man it was amazing, literally a feeling like none other,” McElheny said. “It was great to get out here with these guys. It has been a whole season without them. It’s been really rough. I just want to thank God I could get out there.”
During McElheny’s freshman year, the Marauders were able to do the same thing for senior Haiden Garner, who also saw his season cut short due to injury, in the 2021 PIAA championship game.
“It’s such a brotherhood,” McElheny said. “Without these guys, without us being like this, we wouldn’t have gotten anywhere near where we are right now.”
Windy day
BG completed just three short passes in the first half, all to Taurean Consiglio, and five overall in the game due to a heavy wind.
“It changed (the plan) a lot,” Bishop Guilfoyle coach Justin Wheeler said. “We knew all week it was going to be windy, so we talked about trying to throw the ball short and trying to do some things, but the wind forecast kept increasing all week. Then we got even more wind in the morning.”
Senior quarterback Chase Kissell tried testing the wind in pregame warm-ups.
“Before the game, we tried a couple different things and it was pretty hard,” Kissell said. “It was pretty windy. It was hard to get the ball up, and that’s pretty much been our game all year. We had to make an adjustment and run the ball, and I thought our guys did an amazing job up front running the ball. That’s how we won the game.”
Despite Port Allegany attempting 24 more running plays than BG, the Marauders outrushed the Gators, 302-261.
“It wasn’t like we couldn’t run the ball like this all year, but we have such skill that we wanted to showcase it,” Wheeler said. “When you have kids like Hamilton Gates and Braden Reilly and Chase throwing it, you throw the ball and get it to them. But today, it was about adapting and a plan. My plan is never ‘this is what we do, and this is all we’re going to do,’ it’s about what we can do that week. Our kids are smart and have great coaches, and we adjusted and ran the ball well against a really good defense.”
Deja vu
Just before halftime, Kissell completed a screen pass to Consiglio on a play that began with 12 seconds left for a first down to the Port Allegany 33. Consiglio tried to get out of bounds but was ruled down in the field of play, and the clock never stopped to move the ball for a first down.
The final five seconds ticked off the clock as Wheeler protested to officials that it should have stopped, much like when BG made a first down in the final seconds of its 28-27 loss to Penn Cambria deep in Panthers territory.
“It is what it is,” Wheeler said. “But I’m glad this one turned out a little better than that one did.”
Playing clean
Port Allegany was flagged for its first penalty since the PIAA quarterfinals on a false start with 2:07 to play in the first quarter. The penalty led to a punt, and BG scored on the next possession to go ahead 14-0. At that point, the Marauders had outgained the Gators, 116 yards to 25 yards.
In all, there were only four penalties in the game for 25 total yards with just one penalty for 5 yards against BG.
Kiser banged up
Tristan Kiser, who had been battling an injury that did not allow him to play offensively for Port Allegany in its PIAA semifinal win, was helped off the field after being injured again on Consiglio’s 12-yard touchdown run in the first quarter and did not return.
“It was more of a morale thing than anything, because these kids love Tristan, and he’s earned everyone’s respect,” Port Allegany coach Justin Bienkowski said. “I’m not going to speculate on an injury, but he’s pretty sure he’s done. It probably hurt us more mentally than anything. They lost one of their brothers, and that’s tough to come back from. But that’s not an excuse. Bishop Guilfoyle was the better Class A football team today, but I’ll go to fight with our team any day of the week.”
Port Allegany finished 14-1 and took home silver in its first-ever trip to the PIAA finals.
“It was an unbelievable atmosphere,” Bienkowski said. “The PIAA puts on a good show. We just didn’t play our best football today. We’ll own that. It is what it is. It doesn’t take away what the season was or what these kids accomplished. It doesn’t change the offseason work, and we will be very proud of the effort we gave this year. We just didn’t get it done in the most important game.”
Gates scores again
Gates scored on a 65-yard touchdown run that gave Bishop Guilfoyle a 21-14 lead with 3:29 to play in the third quarter only 1:03 after the Gators had tied the game.
“That momentum swing was insane,” Kissell said. “That’s just what Hamilton brings to the table. Every single play, there’s a threat for him to go all the way.”
The score was Gates’ 42nd touchdown of the season to give him a Mirror-coverage-area-high 252 points. He also threw his second touchdown pass of the season later in the game.
“Credit to them,” Bienkowski said. “They did what they needed to do to us. We just had a couple guys out of position, and in the state finals, teams are going to take advantage of that. The momentum went their way, and it didn’t seem to come back.”