2024 PIAA Class 6A Championship Preview: Pittsburgh Central Catholic (12-2) vs. St. Joseph’s Prep (10-2)

Each year brings a new level of uniqueness when the Pennsylvania high school football community converges on Chapman Field at Cumberland Valley High School the first week of December for the PIAA state championships.

This year is no different.

Last year, four state champions returned to defend their titles. This year, there is only one, two-time defending Class 6A state champion St. Joseph’s Prep, which is looking to threepeat.

For the first time ever, there will be three Philadelphia Catholic League teams in the state finals: St Joe’s Prep (6A), Roman Catholic (5A) and Bonner Prendergast (4A). Last year, there were three programs that reached the state finals for the first time in school history. This year, that number has doubled to six, which includes District 9 1A champion Port Allegany, District 4 2A champion Troy, District 9 2A champion Central Clarion, District 3 4A champion Lampeter-Strasburg, District 12 4A titlist Bonner Prendergast and District 12 5A champion Roman Catholic.

Last year, eight of the 12 teams involved in the state championships were undefeated. This year, that’s been cut to five: Port Allegany (14-0),

Troy (15-0), Central Clarion (14-0), Northwestern Lehigh (15-0) and Lampeter-Strasburg (14-0). Of the 12 teams competing in the states this weekend, eight have never won a state title, and that includes three games that will crown a first-time state champion: Class 2A Troy-Central Clarion, 3A Avonworth-Northwestern Lehigh and the 4A game between Lampeter-Strasburg and Bonner Prendergast, along with 5A Roman Catholic and 1A Port Allegany.

Until this season, neither of the Class 2A finalists, Troy and Central Clarion, along with Roman Catholic and Lampeter-Strasburg, ever won a state playoff game.

While at Class 6A, nothing it seems impedes Philadelphia heavyweight St. Joseph’s Prep. The Hawks were considered a young team entering this season and have grown considerably as the year has progressed. St. Joe’s Prep will be making its ninth-straight championship appearance, going for its second threepeat in program history, sixth state title in seven years, and its ninth state title overall in the last 12 years. The Hawks top the list of large school state champions (8—two at 4A and six as a 6A) since the PIAA instituted the state high school playoff system in 1988. Since the 6A system was incorporated in 2016, St. Joe’s Prep has been involved in every Class 6A state championship.

Of the 12 teams playing in the state championship this weekend, for the first time in PIAA state championship history, District 12 leads all areas with three teams from the same league (Bonner-Prendergast, Roman Catholic and St. Joe’s Prep), followed by two teams each from District 7 (Avonworth, Pittsburgh Central Catholic), District 9 (Port Allegany, Central Clarion) and District 3 (Lampeter-Strasburg, Bishop McDevitt), and one each from District 4 (Troy), District 6 (Bishop Guilfoyle) and District 11 (Northwestern Lehigh).

Joseph Santoliquito is a hall of fame, award-winning sportswriter who has been covering high school football since 1992 and is the president of the Boxing Writers Association of America. He can be followed on Twitter @JSantoliquito [twitter.com]. Follow EasternPAFootball.com on Twitter @EPAFootball [twitter.com].

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Class 6A Saturday at 7 p.m. at Cumberland Valley HS

(D-7) Pittsburgh Central Catholic (12-2) vs. (D-12) St. Joseph’s Prep (10-2)

They are the Darth Vaders of Pennsylvania high school football and they relish the role. Like it or not, and many across the state do not, St. Joseph’s Prep has been the standard of Pennsylvania big school football. The 2024 Hawks are probably a year ahead of schedule with a very young team that learned valuable lessons in its 35-34 four-overtime loss on Oct. 5 to Catholic League rival La Salle, which many feel is the second-best team in the state. Since then, Prep is riding a seven-game winning streak, which includes avenging the La Salle setback. For three straight weeks entering this game, the Hawks have mercy-ruled a champion, District 12 champion Imhotep Charter (42-0), District 11 champion Parkland (46-7), and District 1 champion Downingtown East, 36-7, in the state semifinals. In the state semifinals, the Hawks did not permit Downingtown West to cross midfield until there was :39 left in the third quarter—and that came against the Hawks’ second unit. In the state quarters, St. Joe’s held Parkland to minus 17 yards rushing, which was aided considerably by four Prep sacks that amounted to negative 32 yards. And in the District 12 championship, they roadblocked potent, Penn State-bound tailback Jabree Wallace-Coleman to a season-low 13 yards rushing, and powerful Imhotep had minus-2 yards rushing. Central Catholic has reached the Class 6A finals for the first time since 2016 by beating Harrisburg, 38-33, in the state semifinals. Vikings’ quarterback Jy’Aire Walls was 7 of 15 passes for 89 yards, throwing for two touchdowns and rushing for two more. Running back Elijah Faulkner ran for 131 yards and a touchdown. This will be the third time the state powerhouses have met in the state championship, with St. Joe’s Prep winning the first two games by a combined 77-17 (St. Joe’s Prep 35-10 2013 4A championship; St. Joe’s Prep 42-7 2016 6A championship). This is the 11th trip to the state finals in the last 12 years for St. Joe’s Prep (2013, 2014, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024). The Hawks will be looking for their ninth state championship overall and sixth Class 6A state title in the last seven years. The Hawks are 31-2 in state playoffs, with their only two losses coming in state title games to Pine-Richland (41-21 2017 6A championship) and Mount Lebanon (35-17 2021 6A championship). The last time these teams met, St. Joe’s Prep needed a dramatic Marvin Harrison Jr. catch in the back of the end zone to eventually beat the Vikings in overtime, 31-24, in the 2019 6A semifinals.