Dragons rally late to edge past Hawks

Photos by Cheryl Wertman – Holley’s Colin Papaj looks to gain yardage as Zach Day blocks Pembroke defender Dakota Dieter. The action took place during the host Hawks loss to the Dragons this afternoon.

Holley’s Camron Labarge tries to avoid Pembroke defenders Jarrod Carrow (20) and Robert Pintabana (52) during a kickoff return.

In a sea-saw battle, Pembroke rallied for a pair of late touchdowns to down host Holley 34-26 this afternoon in a Genesee Region League football game.

Trailing 26-20, Pembroke rallied back into the lead for good at 27-26 on a 1 yard touchdown run by quarterback Reid Miano and an extra point kick by Dakota Dieter with just 1:09 remaining. Zach Von Kramer had five carries for 60 yards, including a big 20 yard carry, to highlight the drive.

Pembroke got the ball right back on an interception by Jarrod Carrow and the Dragons capitalized on a 48 yard touchdown run by Von Kramer and extra point kick by Dieter with 32 seconds reaming to close out the win.

Von Kramer also scored two early touchdowns to give Pembroke a 12-0 lead.

Holley though answered back with touchdown runs of 15 yards by Colin Papaj and 10 yards by Zach Day,along with a two-point conversion run by quarterback Jeremy Mallett, to rally into a 14-12 lead at the half.

The lead sea-sawed back into Pembroke’s favor at 20-14 midway through the third quarter on a 43 yard touchdown run by Carrow and two-point conversion carry by Von Kramer.

However, Holley again came battling back to first retie the contest at 20-20 on a 1 yard touchdown run by Papaj on the first play of the forth quarter.

The Hawks then regained the lead for what proved to be the last time at 26-20 on a 8 yard touchdown run by Papaj with just 4:24 remaining. Papaj also had runs of 19, 11 and 10 on the 80 yard drive which was set up when the Hawks defense stopped Pembroke on downs at the Holley 20.

The last rally and the win though belonged to Pembroke which is now 2-2 in the league and overall.

Holley is 0-2, 1-3.