For the last five seasons either Berks Catholic or Wyomissing Area have been in Hershey for the District Three AA crown. Wyomissing took the title last year, Berks Catholic the year before. These arch rivals a little over one mile apart faced off in a rematch of their “backyard brawl” that Wyomissing won just three weeks earlier. In a surprising lopsided result, Berks Catholic cruised to a 34-6 triumph over previously unbeaten Wyomissing area.
As District Three Champs the Saints move on to face District 4 Champion Southern Columbia next week in the PIAA playoffs. The game will be Saturday December 5th at 1:00PM at Governor Mifflin Stadium in Shillington.
Isaac Lutz was a one man wrecking crew for Berks Catholic. Lutz tied a District three title game record with four touchdowns. His three rushing touchdowns included an 81 yard dash. Isaac also scored on defense with a 31 yard return of an interception. Throw in his 193 yards rushing and the senior had quite a night. ” I am so proud of our team,” said Lutz. “The way we came out and played together, it’s just unbelievable.”
Berks Catholic Head Coach Rick Keeley’s pre-game comments to his team were 
prophetic. “When you are in a championship game, the team who has big plays a lot of times win the game.” The Saints had an 81 yard touchdown run, a 99 yard touchdown pass, a 31 yard interception return for a score, forced two key red zone turnovers and an amazing defensive effort. These were the big plays that propelled Berks Catholic to their resounding win.
Berks Catholic took the opening kick and marched right down the field. A 71 yard, eight-play drive was culminated by an Isaac Lutz touchdown, 7-0 Saints. The Berks Catholic Defense showed up big time early in the game. Wyomissing could not get anything going and when they did the Spartans fumbled the ball away. The first quarter ended 7-0 Berks Catholic.
Early in quarter two Isaac Lutz took over. His 81 yard touchdown run made it 14-0 with 10:50 until halftime. Wyomissing, aided by a suspect pass interference penalty, finally got into scoring position. A six-yard touchdown pass from Charlie Tonneslan to Chris Martir moved the score to 14-6 with 4:55 till Half. The first half ended 14-6 in favor of Berks Catholic.
The Berks Catholic D showed up again in the second half. Coach Keely attributed the defensive effort to three improvements of his players, “…alignment, assignment and adjustment. if we can just get the alignment right, we are a pretty good defensive team.” The Saints sure got that message and shut down the Wyomissing attack for the entire second half.
Berks Catholic’s initial second half drive ended with Isaac Lutz’s third touchdown. It was 21-6 Saints at the 6:52 mark of quarter three. Lutz struck again by picking off a pass on the next Spartans’ possession. Isaac raced 31 yards for the score and suddenly Berks Catholic had a commanding 28-6 lead going into the fourth quarter.
Wyomissing’s only productive second half drive ended with an interception by the Saints deep in their own end. After two running plays failed to move the Wyomissing D, Saints QB Terry Derr took things into his own hands. He launched a bomb down the sidelines hitting Tanner Pajakinas in full stride. Then 99 yards later, Berks Catholic had put this game away leading 34-6 with 8:00 left. That was how it ended, Berks Catholic 34 Wyomissing Area 6.
It was not surprising that Berks Catholic handed Wyomissing their first loss. It was the margin of victory and total domination of the BC defense over the Wyomissing offense that was the head scratcher. The Saints out gained the Spartans by over a 2 to 1 margin and kept the Spartans under 100 yards rushing. BC also opened up the playbook to pass for over 165 yards on only five attempts. BC played mistake free football. The Saints forced three turnovers in the contest. This was a compete180 from the first meeting between these teams just three weeks ago.
Despite the loss, Wyomissing still had a great season. The Spartans were undefeated Berks League Section Two champs and captured the Keeley-Wolfrun Trophy for beating Berks Catholic in the real “backyard brawl”.
It’s PIAA playoff time for Berks Catholic. Up next is powerhouse Southern Columbia next Saturday at 1PM in Shillington.
3 Responses
Nice call shaq. Yep it was over by halftime. You were so right about those farm boys. Good luck taking on the Quips in the state title game. Way to go tigers 34-21
Not quite Shaq. If you’re still playing in week 14, you’re good, SC definitely has a punchers chance. Aside from each other, BC and Wyomissings regular season schedules were pretty soft as their non-league opponents all had down years. Berks Catholic is also as one-dimensional as they come. They had 400 passing yards for the year leading into last night, dont let a 99yd play skew that. They’ll go as far as Lutz can carry them.
Anybody from Southern that thinks this group is going to pick up their first state win next week is seriously mistaken. Not to take away from their regular season success, but Berks Catholic is on a whole different level than the Tigers have seen this year. The Berks schools are a must tougher regular season preparation than the teams Southern plays. If Montoursville was able to put 50 on them, the Saints could end this game by halftime. BC can beat teams in all different ways, and it appears that Southern is one-dimensional. Plus I can guarantee you that this will be the toughest defensive test that the Tigers have seen. Offensively, it should be an easy game shootout, but BC has too many weapons for the farmer boys to be able to handle. RB Lutz & QB Derr are playmakers. Saints are going to the state title to take on the Quips!