Todd Mealy preaches it and his team believes it.
"Forget the last play and move on to the next one."
With that philosophy burned in their minds, Penn Manor's football team battled back from a 35-22 deficit to knock off Cedar Crest 36-35 Friday night.
The comeback win allows the Comets (5-2 L-L League, 8-2 overall) to host a District Three Class AAAA first-round playoff game for the second year in a row while the Falcons' (2-5, 4-6) season comes to an end.
"One of the things that our team dedicates themselves to is moving forward," Mealy explained. "Moving on to the next play. Forget about what just happened and just move on."
Mealy's mantra was put to the test early as a pair of Comets' mistakes led to 14 points by the Falcons.
DeAndre Clark picked off P.J. Rehm on the Comets' first possession, which set up Charles Kyeremeh's 12-yard run four plays later. Kyeremeh's finished the game with 18 carries for 188 yards.
Rehm redeemed himself two series later when he hooked up with LaRonn Lee for a 60-yard scoring strike. Keith Eshleman's PAT attempt sailed right to keep the Falcons ahead 7-6.
After stopping Cedar Crest on fourth down, Penn Manor turned the ball over again when Kyle Tice recovered Garrett Young's fumble that led to a Kyeremeh 66-yard scoring run and a 14-6 Falcons lead.
"That's not acceptable and that's not winning football games," Mealy said of the turnovers. "That's something you can't do in the playoffs."
"We were playing very good defense early in the game and were able to get up on them," offered CC coach Tom Waranavage. Rehm's 62-yard touchdown pass to Aaron Frederick (5 catches, 143 yards), and Eshleman's 32-yard field goal, gave Penn Manor a 15-14 lead with 4:21 left before halftime.
The Falcons answered when Gary Gristick found Lucardy Jean-Francois on a slant for a 24-yard touchdown and a 21-15 halftime lead.
With Rehm sidelined for precautionary reasons after taking hit, and five more starters out due to injuries, the Comets would play the second half with some young faces.
Freshman quarterback Adam Sahd played beyond his years, and previewed the future, when he found Frederick with a 34-yard touchdown pass early in the second half.
The Falcons rattled off consecutive scores, a Sean Sellers 80-yard run and a 46-yard sprint by Kyeremeh, to go ahead 35-22 with 52 seconds left in the third quarter.
"They were running off the field saying 'next play'," Mealy recalled of his team as they went down by two scores. "That shows the character of them. They're winners."
Lee cut into the lead with a 6-yard run before Jared Shearer nailed the door closed with 3-yard plunge that would give the Comets the win. Shearer's score capped off a drive where Sahd converted on a fourth-and-10 with a 26-yard pass to Frederick.
It was the fourth game that the Comets trailed late and another invaluable lesson learned.
