Fake punt sparks Warwick past Garden Spot
2024 Berks football coverage presented by
Utilities Employees Credit Union
(This story was produced by LNP/Lancasteronline, and published in partnership with MikeDragoSports.com.)
By Bruce Morgan — LNP/Lancasteronline
LITITZ — Tyler Musser had only a few simple words of advice for his teammate Gabe Sanchez.
“Just put it up there,” the Warwick junior recalled saying.
Time was of the essence. The Warriors were trailing Garden Spot 6-0 late in the third quarter on Friday night and their offense was spinning its wheels. A spark was desperately needed.
And that’s where Musser and Sanchez entered the picture.
As a starting safety, the 6-foot-4, 175-pound Musser isn’t generally known for being a receiver. But his first-ever varsity catch couldn’t have come at a better time. Warwick called a fake punt on fourth-and-12 from the Spartans’ 42. Sanchez, in the upback position, threw a strike and Musser raced 38 yards to the Garden Spot 4.
It was a game-changer, as Malachi Rodriguez scored the first of his two TDs on the next play and Warwick reeled off 21 unanswered points to rally for a 21-6 victory in a Lancaster-Lebanon League Section 3 game at Grosh Field in Lititz.
“Being able to step up for my team like that, it’s great,” Musser smiled. “It helps (being a big target) and they can just put the ball up.”
“We just needed something, we needed a spark,” said Warwick coach Bob Locker, whose squad improved to 2-1 in L-L play and 3-3 overall. “Listen, once we did that, it was a different team. (Tyler) is a larger target, we wanted somebody that could catch a football and Musser fits all those categories. It was a play that worked, it lifted our spirits and we played really well after that.”
Garden Spot (1-2, 3-3), meanwhile, finished the game with back-to-back three-and-outs and then a turnover on downs.
The Spartans, though, were playing without dual-threat QB A.J. Hurst, a 1,000-yard passer who suffered a knee injury early in the second quarter and left the game. Gabe Martin filled in admirably, rushing for 87 yards and throwing a 19-yard TD pass to Trenton Hoober. But losing Hurst was a blow for Garden Spot.
“It changes the whole offense and you lose a First-Team All-Section DB on the other side,” Spartans coach Matt Zamperini said.
Warwick, though, found its rhythm after executing the fake punt. An offense which mustered only 54 first-half yards and three first downs suddenly got traction. Rodriguez scored on a one-yard dive with 8:50 left in the fourth, Sanchez turned the right end and went 38 yards to the house with 6:16 to go, and Tyler Schoffstall was a perfect 3-of-3 in PATs. Together, Rodriguez and Sanchez ran for 111 combined yards on 21 carries behind a re-energized offensive line.
“When the fake punt happened and the O-line saw it, we were right there on that goal line, and everyone got hype,” Warwick junior center Calvin Bent said. “As a whole O-line, we’re confident in what we can do and confident in each other.”
Musser, too, was confident, and eager, as he lined up for the trick play, which was just installed in practice earlier this week. Defense is his thing. He likes delivering hits.
Nonetheless, Musser will always have that moment of delivering a big offensive play when the Warriors were stuck in neutral and in urgent need of a boost.
“I’ll remember it for the rest of my life,” Musser said. “I saw that ball in the air and I said, ‘I’ve got to go get that.’ I just made the play. It was a nice throw. (Gabe) threw it in the perfect spot.”
Just as Musser asked him to do.
