For 13 Biglerville seniors, their high school football careers ended on a somber note Friday night at Musselman Field.

Many of those seniors wore dejected expressions and others had tears in their eyes as they broke out of their team huddle after suffering a 35-0 loss to visiting York Suburban (7-3).

"It's a bittersweet moment tonight. Obviously, last game, a lot of emotion coming out of that huddle we just came out of," Biglerville head coach Anthony Graham said. "It's tough the whole way around, but they're a great group of kids. They fought to the end. They held their heads high. They have a lot to be proud of."

Graham and the Canners (2-8) would just as soon forget their defensive performance on the night.

York Suburban rushed for 338 yards behind the shifty running of senior tailbacks Cody Waltimyer and Nathaniel Cross. The two backs combined to run for 243 yards, the majority of those yards coming in the first half.

The Canner defense could not tackle either back. Waltimyer averaged more than 15 yards per carry while Cross averaged six yards each time he touched it. When it appeared a Canner defender would tackle Waltimyer, the 6-foot-1, 185-pound back would spin away to gain more yards.

Waltimyer scored touchdowns on runs of 27, 17 and 52 yards, all in the first half.

Although his squad prepared to stop both Waltimyer and Cross in the days leading up to the game, Graham couldn't explain why his defense failed to stop them.

"Very good

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backs. We knew that coming in that they were going to be tough to stop. We started off well and then just a couple breakdowns, but great runners. Great runners and they showed that tonight."

The Canners had one of their own senior running backs on senior night, but Tommy Kranias couldn't match the production of York Suburban's tailbacks.

Kranias, whom Graham said got his first carries since he was injured on Sept. 18 at Spring Grove, relieved sophomore Clinton Rice on the Canners' fourth possession of the game.

After the Trojans scored 14 points off two turnovers, Kranias gave his team a boost.

Driving from their own 8-yard-line, the Canners made it across midfield as Kranias bulled his way for 25 yards and two first downs. The Canner offense, which has failed to produce all season, stalled at the Trojan 29-yard line, however. Taylor Melemai handed the ball to Rice, but the sophomore was met before he could get to the first down marker and the Canners turned the ball over on downs.

Five plays later, Waltimyer zigzagged around the Canners 52 yards to the end zone for a back-breaking score.

"We got Tommy back a couple of weeks ago and he's obviously coming back from that injury, getting better, so we slid him in there," Graham said. "He seemed to change the tempo of the game. A couple of nice drives, but we couldn't protect the football. We lost it a few times."

In addition to the turnover on downs, the Canners lost two of three fumbles and Melemai threw an interception inside his own 15-yard-line on Biglerville's first possession of the game.

Although the loss came to end the season and the careers of his squad's seniors, Graham said his team had a few positives that will carry into the offseason -- including the examples set by his seniors in a tough, two-win season.

"Obviously our younger guys that got a lot of playing time this year. The Clinton Rices, the Taylor Melemais, Tyler Reddings," Graham said. "Just that experience for them rolling into next season and obviously, maybe not so much in the win-loss side of it, but the legacy our seniors have left for them."

tjohnson@eveningsun.com

 

York Suburban  14  21    0    0 -- 35
Biglerville  0    0    0    0 --   0

First Quarter
   YS -- Cody Waltimyer 27 run (Pavle Badovinac kick), 8:08
   YS -- Waltimyer 17 run (Badovinac kick), 4:22
Second Quarter
   YS -- Waltimyer 52 run (Badovinac kick), 4:08
   YS -- Corey Bright 10 pass from A.J. Sottasante (Badovinac kick), 1:54
   YS -- Nathaniel Cross 13 run (Badovinac kick), 1:35
 
-- YS -- Big
First downs -- 12 -- 5
Rushes-yards -- 43-338 -- 33-61
Passing -- 3-8-0 -- 6-14-1
Passing yards -- 29 -- 51
Total yards -- 367 -- 112
Punts -- 1-31.0 -- 5-22.6
Fumbles-lost -- 1-0 -- 3-2
Penalties-yards -- 1-5 -- 2-24

 
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
   Rushing -- York Suburban, Cody Waltimyer 11-169, Nathaniel Cross 12-74, Matt Owens 10-48, Kris Reinhold 2-22, Jordan Klinedinst 6-17, A.J. Sottasante 2-8; Biglerville, Tom Kranias 6-39, Taylor Melemai 11-17, Clinton Rice 13-7, Taylor McMaster 3-(-2).
   Passing -- York Suburban, A.J. Sottasante 3-8-0-29; Biglerville, Taylor Melemai 6-13-1-51, Jeremy Sheets 0-1-0-0.
   Receiving -- York Suburban, Corey Bright 2-29, Nathaniel Cross 1-0; Biglerville, Tom Kranias 2-28, Kyle Bobo 1-8, Brice Leonard 1-7, Zach Campo 1-6, Clinton Rice 1-2.