Last-minute score lifts Hempfield over York High

(This story was produced by LNP/Lancasteronline, and published in partnership with MikeDragoSports.com.)

By Daryl Simione — LNP/Lancasteronline

Jaheim White had one big play in him. Micah Gates had two.

Hempfield rallied past York High 35-32 in a non-league football game Friday night in Landisville.

Gates, a junior wideout, corralled the game-winning, 29-yard touchdown pass from Jackson Landis with 12 seconds remaining to give the Black Knights an improbable comeback win.

“It was a fourth-down play, it was all on the line, it was either us or them,” Gates said. “I have to give it to my QB, Jackson Landis, the real MVP of the game for making that throw, and show love to my line, Mike (Shaffer), Deyvid (Palepale), all of them for helping me get down the field and do what I had to do.”

Gates opened the drive with a 31-yard catch down the sideline, coming after Hempfield’s defense forced a late punt to give the offense one more chance.

“We just knew we were going to stop them the way our defense had been playing,” Gates said. “We got in the huddle and just slowed it down.”

A back-and-forth contest featured four lead changes in the second half.

York took its first lead at 26-20 on David Warde’s third touchdown of the night, coming on a 15-yard pass from Bearcats quarterback Sam Stoner (15-of-23, 220 yards).

Landis answered with a 1-yard touchdown plunge to open the fourth quarter, set up by a 46-yard run from Grant Hoover (24 carries, 161 yards, TD; five catches, 44 yards).

York responded with 3:31 to play on a 77-yard strike from Stoner to White, a West Virginia recruit who finished the contest with 158 yards from scrimmage — all but 25 of those coming in the second half.

Landis accounted for four touchdowns in all, rushing 20 times for 68 yards and two scores and passing for 178 yards and two scores.

For the Bearcats, Warde caught eight passes for 78 yards and two touchdowns, adding a 97-yard interception return for a touchdown in the second quarter.