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SUNBURY - Despite the way Shikellamy controlled Friday's Heartland Athletic Conference crossover game against Lewisburg, the Green Dragons were never truly out of it.
Shikellamy only held a two-touchdown lead going into the fourth quarter, but Thomas Pollock put the game away as he ran for a 28-yard score with 4 minutes, 31 seconds left to lead the Braves to a 21-0 victory over Lewisburg at Shikellamy's All Sports Complex on Military Night.
The message by Lewisburg head coach Eric Wicks following the game was that his Dragons had their chances, but they needed to find a way to get it done.
"We had a chance the whole time," said Wicks. "They scored on us, but we were in the game. We were only down 14-0, and it's like we were one turnover away from scoring and being back in that game.
"If we can get that thing from in between our ears and just continue to focus on the next play, we'll put ourselves in a position to be in that game a little bit more," added Wicks.
Lewisburg (0-2) won the turnover battle, 4-3, but the Dragons turned the ball over on its first series (a fumble by Jett Jamieson that was recovered by Shikellamy's Chase Swartz), to give Shikellamy (2-0) excellent field position at its 46.
The Braves needed only three plays to get on the board as Bobby Felmy hooked up with Thomas Pollock for a 33-yard touchdown.
Adding insult to injury, Lewisburg senior quarterback Xavier Carter, who was already battling some physical issues, left the game after only two plays - the first of which was a scramble for 30 yards.
The Green Dragons suffered a few other injuries on the night, which didn't help their cause against the Braves.
"Yeah, we really struggled with injuries; we had another four guys go down today," said Wicks. "It sounds like one possibly got a broken collarbone, and another one possibly had a patella injury, so it was just a bunch of things that makes it rough (playing against a team like Shikellamy).
"I explained to the guys (following the game) that when the next guy comes in, they got to know what's going on and they got to know what their job is, and I think we've been struggling with that as well," added Lewisburg's coach.
Shikellamy extended its lead to 14-0 midway through the second quarter on another long pass from Felmy to Pollock, who got behind Lewisburg's defense to catch a 40-yard strike from his teammate.
To make matters worse for Lewisburg, on its ensuing series Jamieson was intercepted by Kyler Campbell, though the Dragons got the ball back a few minutes later when Lucas Cassidy recovered a Felmy fumble.
Lewisburg picked up another turnover before the first half ended when Owen Fellon intercepted a Felmy pass, but the Dragons couldn't do anything with it before time wound down.
In the third quarter, Lewisburg won the time of possession, but the Dragons dropped a lot of passes, had one pass intercepted, as they still couldn't find the endzone.
But yet, they were still in the game.
"It was awesome to see our defense step up in those moments," said Wicks. "With Shikellamy being explosive and them being as good as they are, to be able to hold Shikellamy to just 14 points for so long and force so many turnovers, it was awesome to see."
However, as the game went into the final quarter doing the little things right really comes into play.
"When you look at the clock the guys get down on themselves, but like we say if they don't focus on (the clock winding down) and just focus on the next play, they could make the big play to turn the game around," said Wicks.
Shikellamy retook control of the game in the fourth, and Pollock's touchdown run ultimately put the contest out of Lewisburg's reach.
Regardless of what the final score might indicate, it wasn't all doom and gloom for the Green Dragons, who did some things that they can build on for the remainder of the season.
"You see some guys out there battling, and you see some young guys making plays and giving full-on effort, and we saw some guys who we know we need to put out there now - as guys got hurt, they went there and gave pure effort," said Wicks.
"They might not be there technique-wise, but we can work with a guy who does nothing but full-on effort. Just focusing on that and capitalizing on some of the good things we did. We did some good things running the ball and we had some good passes, so we need to capitalize on that."