PAC Game of the Year - 2007 | Tusky Valley (2-1, 0-0 PAC) at CVCA (3-0, 0-0 PAC) | Week 4 | September 14, 2007
This is the ninth in an ongoing series, highlighting the PAC Game of the Year in each season, from 1999 through 2023, which will lead up to the start of the 2024 high school football season. For a look back at prior summaries, click here for
1999,
2000,
2001,
2002,
2003,
2004,
2005 and
2006.
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The 2007 Principals Athletic Conference race was a battle between three teams. Tusky Valley and Tuslaw were set to reprise their great battle from a year earlier. And CVCA was hitting their stride with junior John Pettigrew in the backfield, looking to back up the 8-3 record from a year earlier. The schedule had the Trojans set to face both the Royals and Mustangs in back-to-back early season tilts in Weeks 4 and 5.
The PAC season opener gets the nod as the 2007 Game of the Year, although an argument could be made for the rematch that occurred between Tusky Valley and Tuslaw a week later.
The Week 4 setting was Royals Stadium, and the day had a summer-like field with the mercury topping out at 80° during the day. The Royals were undefeated, winning the first two non-conference games at home against New London and John Adams, and they passed a road test in Week 3 against St. Thomas Aquinas. The Mustangs had dropped the opener at Waynedale but had bounced back with a road with at Indian Valley and a win in the home opener against Garaway. Both teams were scoring lots of points, but the defenses were still works in process.
That set the stage for a night of big plays from both sides - albeit featuring different styles of offense.
CVCA senior Jared Kusar got things started when he struck first on a 36-yard run in the first quarter to put the Royals up 7-0. But Trojans senior Steven Spillman answered with a one-yard plunge to tie it before the end of the quarter. Things were just getting started.
John Pettigrew sits atop the Royals all-time rushing list to this day, and in the second quarter, the CVCA junior running back rumbled for 79 of his 6,389 career yards. His trip the the end zone and the subsequent PAT gave the home team a 14-7 lead at the break.
When you have a back like Pettigrew, you ride him. CVCA threw just one pass all night. They rushed it 49 times for 396 yards. Pettigrew had 280 yards on 26 carriers by himself, which set the Royals all-time single game rushing record at the time. (Incidentally, the record only lasted two weeks. He went for 379 on 27 carries in a win against Tuslaw two weeks later.)
The Royals opened the third quarter scoring with another 69-yard blast from Pettigrew and seemed to be in command with a 21-7 lead. The Trojans ran the ball in their balanced offense 36 times on the night, and credit to head coach Dale Martini for remaining committed to the run, which struggled to average 3.7 yards an attempt on the evening. But ... as it often does, it opened up the passing game. And Tusky Valley had many of the same cast of characters that victimized Tuslaw through the air a year earlier.
Senior quarterback Pat Kane hit Sam Gergley on a pair of long touchdown passes - the first 60 yards and the second for 59 yards. And before you could blink, the Trojans were right back in it. A blocked PAT after the second pitch and catch had the Royals clinging to a 21-20 lead as the game advanced to the final stanza.
The Royals responded and Kusar capped the next drive with another 4-yard touchdown run. But by then, it was game on. Kane brought the Trojans offense back out on the field, and after a night of watching Pettigrew and Kusar run up and down the field, Tusky Valley's Spillman got to work setting some records of his own.
Kane engineered another drive, and Spillman capped it off with a one-yard plunge for his second score of the night - a night where he set his own school record for total career yardage (3,236 ... and counting with six regular season games plus playoffs remaining). In comparison to Pettigrew, he finished his evening with a rather pedestrian 93 yards on 21 carries. A two point pass play from Kane to Gergley tied it midway through the final quarter at 28-apiece.
The Royals got the ball back, and began to matriculate down the field. How else can you describe an old school offense that is set up to pound it down the throat of it's opponent? It was up to Tusky Valley to try to stop Pettigrew. It was no secret the junior would carry the load on CVCA's penultimate drive, and with just under two minutes to go, he blasted into the secondary again and didn't stop running until he tallied his third long score of the evening - this one from 55 yards away. CVCA's Derek Bosshard booted the extra point, and the Royals led again 35-28 with 1:44 left.
The defending PAC champs had one final chance. In a game where they had never led, they had the ball and a balanced offense, set up to run the two-minute drill. Tusky Valley marched down to the CVCA 25-yard line in just over a minute. It was time for seniors to step up. And quarterback Pat Kane did just that. On the next play from scrimmage, the quarterback hit fellow senior Spillman in the end zone with just 27 seconds left.
Veteran coach Dale Martini had seen enough of John Pettigrew and the Royals on the evening. There would be no overtime. The Trojans would go for two. Kane and Spillman - the third Spillman brother to suit up for the Trojans - saw their number called one more time. The two longtime teammates hooked up again on the two-point attempt, and the Trojans had their first lead of the night, 36-35, with scant time left for CVCA to respond.
Pettigrew and the Royals marched back out onto the field after the kickoff. They Royals had rushed 49 times for 396 yards as a team without putting the ball in the air once. But with little time left, CVCA was in desperation mode. Their first - and only passing attempt of the night - was intercepted by Kane. It spoiled the record-breaking night for Pettigrew and the Royals.
Kane finished 12 for 19 The through the air for 244 yards, with three passing touchdowns and more importantly, two successful PAT passes. And Steven Spillman? He had three touchdowns of his own - two on the ground and the all important one through the air in the game's final half-minute. And of course, the PAT catch to win it.
The 2007 Game of the Year in the PAC went to the Trojans - for the second year in a row.
A week later, Tusky Valley and Tuslaw met again for the rematch of their classic from the previous year. It was another barn burner, but a painful memory for Tuslaw fans.
The Wooster Daily Record concisely summarized the festivities in Zoarville. Remember that Spillman kid?
Spillman and Tusky Valley shocked the Mustangs 32-25.
The Postscript
After dispatching its toughest two competitors in the first two weeks of conference play, Tusky Valley went undefeated in the PAC to win the conference outright. They did fall in Week 8 in a nonconference battle against Warren JFK 49-21. The 8-2 record earned them the 6-seed in Division 4 Region 13 and the careers of Kane, Spillman and Gergley came to an end in a Week 11 lost to Canton Central Catholic.
Spillman still leads all Tusky Valley players in career rushing yards (3,347), career All-Purpose Yards (3,925) and points scored (306).
The Times Reporter published a feature on Spillman a week after the CVCA game, and you can read it below.
Pat Kane finished second all time in passing yards (2,800) behind only his brother Dan. All these years later, he still is fourth on the list.
Sam Gergley finished his career as the all-time leader in receiving yards (1,118) and still sits third all-time in that category.
CVCA ended up that one two-point conversion away from a perfect season. The Royals finished 9-1 and finished second in the conference. That earned them the 7-seed in Region 13, and the Royals ended their season with a 28-10 defeat in Week 11 at Steubenville.
Here are the local paper game recaps from Week 4 in 2007 from the ABJ and The Times Reporter:
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Steven Spillman Feature | 21 September 2007 | The Times Reporter
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