Steelton-Highspire's Erby family gets one final hurrah with Pennsylvania Class 1A state title
MECHANICSBURG, Pennsylvania - As the final seconds ticked off the clock at Cumberland Valley High School's Chapman Field on Thursday afternoon in the PIAA Class 1A state championship game, the Erby family walked arm in arm across the field.
For Steeleton-Highspire head coach Andrew Erby, Sr., quarterback Alex Erby and lineman Andrew Erby, Jr., this was the last time the trio would stand on a football field together as a part of the same team.
And what better way to go out than by collecting the state championship trophy for the second consecutive season with a 42-8 win over Fort Cherry.
"I'm a very proud father," Andrew Erby, Sr. said as he stood with his arms around his sons. "You two are a blessing, you made me a better man. You guys are amazing. I wouldn't want to do this with anybody else but you two and thank you guys for holding me together. I love you guys."
Alex Erby added to his legendary high school career by completing 29-of-39 passes for 270 yards and five touchdowns. He also added a 37-yard touchdown run in the second quarter.
On a pop pass to Nazier Fuller in the first quarter - his second touchdown pass of the game - Alex Erby broke the Pennsylvania single-season record for touchdown passes with his 58th touchdown toss of the season.
The senior also entered the game with 13,227 yards and 170 touchdown passes - both career records in Pennsylvania.
"It's surreal," Alex Erby said. "Just looking in the history books, Dan Marino and all the quarterbacks going down the road, just putting my name in competition with them, it's truly amazing."
The Erby family had one last pregame conversation Thursday morning, in which the father did the talking.
"My dad told us - me and Alex - go out there and play with max effort, don't worry about making any mistakes," Andrew Erby, Jr. said. "Then we just had our morning prayer and went out the door."
Steelton-Highspire also won the state title in the Erbys' freshman season and then fell short the next season. But before the Rollers could make back-to-back title runs, they had to deal with adversity around the program with people talking about players possibly leaving for bigger schools.
Alex Erby credits his dad with keeping the team together.
"My dad pulled us together and was like, man, whatever we need to do to keep you guys here," Alex Erby said. "It's the legacy honestly, three state titles in four years. That's something we will remember."
Steelton-Highspire's Andrew Erby, Jr. (left), Andrew Erby, Sr. (center) and Alex Erby (right) walk across the field after winning the PIAA Class 1A state title. Photo credit: Paul Burdick, SBLive Sports
Paul Burdick, SBLive Sports
With their senior seasons over, the Erby twins will go in different directions, as Alex heads to the Naval Academy and Andrew goes to Ohio University. It will be something new for the twins.
"We just talked about the first two weeks being away from each other because we rarely leave each other," Alex Erby said. "We just have to figure it out and continue to just talk about it and spend the time that we got together."
His twin brother agreed that it will be strange having his brother not playing right beside him.
"That's definitely going to be different," Andrew Erby, Jr. said. "But at the end of the day, me and Alex have the same goal - go to college, get our degrees and play football and hopefully get to the next level in the NFL."
When the three of them walked out on the field at the end of the game, the elder Erby felt all of the memories of years past flood his head.
"(I thought about) little league, shoulder pads and helmets and games and car rides and sleepovers," Andrew Erby, Sr. said. "And just all that stuff that you do as a dad that goes behind the scenes, playing flag football in the summer, going to practice, coaching baseball, basketball, just all those times you go together but keeping faith even when adversity hits, staying together, learning as a family, but the biggest thing is not making it about you but making it about the others around you is what is important."
And now with his two sons getting ready to leave the house - and the team - the father will have to adjust just as much, if not more, than the sons. But for right now, he has the memories of these four years.
"I'll have to wake up maybe next week or so and think about it," Andrew Erby, St. said. "When you think about it, you pray about it, you dream about it, you say 'you know what? No other place I would rather be than the last game at Cumberland Valley and walking off the field with (those) two. And it happened today. That was amazing."
-- Ryan Isley | ryan@scorebooklive.com | @sblivepa
Photo Gallery (Photos by Paul Burdick, SBLive Sports
Photo by Paul Burdick
Paul Burdick, SBLive Sports
Photo by Paul Burdick
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