Last year on Black Friday, the Berks Catholic football program spent the day in the Hershey winning the District 3 AA title game. Fast forward to Thanksgiving weekend 2016 and the Saints will attempt to do the same when they head back to Hersheypark Stadium to claim District gold with one notable difference. Instead of bringing the AA trophy back to the halls of the school on East Wyomissing Boulevard, BC will go in search of AAAA hardware. Thanks to the PIAA reclassification which went into effect this season, the Saints jumped up two whole classes, but it has not appeared to make a bit of difference as the #1 seeded Saints rolled their second straight opponent that participated in last year’s AAA playoffs with Friday’s 45-21 victory over Lampeter-Strasburg.
From the outset, it was evident that the Berks Catholic running attack would give the Pioneer defense fits all night. After Graham Gluek returned the opening kickoff to the BC 31 yard line, sophomore running back Brandon George was there to plow his way for a first down to advance the ball out to the BC 42. Although it would be the Saints’ ability to move it on the ground all night that would largely prove to be the difference, itwas ironically a pass that ignited Berks Catholic’s first foray with the ball. Sophomore quarterback Terrance Derr found Gluek for the lengthy pass into LS territory down to the 38 yard line as Gluek was ushered out of bounds along the Berks Catholic sideline. From there, the Saints were faced with three third down conversions on their first series and they successfully completed all three. The third and final one was finished off with senior running back Marcus Wilson’s 1 yard walk in touchdown on 3rd & Goal which gave BC the 7-0 lead after Saints played keep-away for nearly half the quarter with 6:15 left on the clock.
Inspired by their offense success, the Saints were out to make life tough on the LS offense as well. After the Pioneers’ first play from scrimmage was stuffed by the interior of the BC defensive line, Trey Dabney, who had a monster night defensively, was there to stop LS short of the yard to gain on third down, forcing a Pioneer 3 and out.
After junior running back Cooper Lutz’s big run down to Pioneer 35 yard line, it appeared that the Saints were going to cash in on this drive as well. Faced with a 3rd & 3 from the LS 27 yard line later in the possession, Derr rolled left and fired it, but LS’ Chad Gaudino was there to knock it away forcing the Saints to maneuver past a 4th & 3 attempt. Cooper Lutz got the honors on the fourth down play as he made a great jump cut in the hole to keep the drive alive down to the 15 yard line. From that point on however, the Saints’ second drive would be met with resistance. Cody Reiff of LS got in the backfield for a loss of two that got the Saints behind the proverbial 8 ball after Lutz’s conversion. A 4th & 17 ultimately arrived for Berks Catholic which would not be converted as Caleb Lopez was there on the tackle to turn BC away and give it back to LS on downs.
With one minute remaining in the first quarter, the LS offense was able to pick up their initial first down of the game, however the BC defense would not allow the Blue and White to do anything else with it as the Pioneers punted it away to Berks Catholic as the second quarter began with the Saints holding the 7-0 advantage.
Following the LS punt, the Saints had just 55 yards to go to reach paydirt. The distance shrunk to 45 yards after Brandon George picked up 10 yards on the first down carry, with Marcus Wilson following suit with another run down to the LS 33 yard line. Wilson was on the scene later in the drive as he picked up a powerful 21 yards on 3rd & 4 to get Berks Catholic down to the LS 6. After some tough sledding following Wilson’s run, the Saints ultimately cashed in when Terrance Derr snuck it in from the 1 yard line on 4th & Goal to increase BC’s lead to 14-0 with 7:49 left in the half.
Needing to answer to stay within shouting distance, LS took over at their own 37 yard line following the ensuing kickoff. The visiting Pioneers flipped field position as junior quarterback Todd Shelley found his favorite target, senior wideout Chad Gaudino, for 30 yards to the Berks Catholic 37. After a personal foul was whistled against Berks Catholic on the next play, LS quickly found themselves all the way down to the Saints’ 24. Faced with 4th & 1 from the BC 15, LS turned to Caleb Lopez and the senior delivered, toting the rock down to the Berks Catholic 6 yard line to move the sticks. 6 yards would prove tobe the exact distance for the first LS score of the game as Todd Shelley found Mr. Reliable Chad Gaudino on the slant to narrow the Berks Catholic lead to 14-7 with 4:46 left in the half.
With the ball back in the hands of their potent offense, Berks Catholic had the opportunity to really take wind out of the collective LS sails with another score before halftime. As fate would have it, the Saints made good on that opportunity as a big run by Cooper Lutz on a 3rd & 3 from LS 44 yard line proved instrumental to the cause with Lutz ultimately having the honors as his 11 yard TD run made it 21-7 with 1:23 to go before the halftime horn.
With time still left on the clock, LS went aggressive with the half winding down in an effort to go into the locker room with something less than the current 14 point deficit. For a moment, it appeared that Pioneers had something cooking after Shelley dropped a pass beautifully over a Saint defender into the waiting hands of Cam Niemeyer to get LS across midfield to the BC 48 with time ticking away. Although the drive looked promising, Trey Dabney was there to put an end to any LS intentions with the interception as Berks Catholic carried the 21-7 margin into the dressing room.
As the second half got underway, the Pioneers had a short field in which to work with. Setting up shop at their own 48 after Cam Niemeyer’s return, Shane Lawler promptly ripped off a 7 yard jaunt, followed by a defensive pass interference call against Berks Catholic. After the Lawler run and the DPI, the Pioneers found themselves at the BC 30 yard line. After the Saints’ D limited LS to just four yards after the penalty, LS had to navigate past a 3rd & 6 from their own 26. 3rd & 6 quickly became 4th & 6 after Ryan Glanski brought the heat defensively. On their 4th & 6 attempt, LS would pick up 5 yards on the pass to Lawler out of the backfield however after a measurement it was deemed that it was still short of the yard to gain so the Pioneers were forced to turn it over on downs at the BC 21 yard line.
It didn’t take long for Berks Catholic to flip field position on this drive as well. Brandon George ripped off a beautiful run breaking tackles as he nearly took it to the house from 66 yards away as he was tripped up at the one 1 yard line. The ball would not remain at the LS doorstep though as an unsportsmanlike conduct call whistled against BC moved the ball back to the 16 yard line. The Pioneer defense rose to the task at hand as Saints were only able to pick up just four more yards on the drive which set up sophomore Jamin Smith’s 31 yard boot between the pipes to make it a 24-7 Saint lead with 7:45 showing on the third quarter clock.
With Lampeter-Strasburg now trailing by 3 possessions, time was of the essence for the Pioneers to rally back. It certainly appeared that they were poised to answer the Saint field goal as Cam Niemeyer picked up the 3rd & 2 from the BC 10 yard to set up 1st & Goal for the visiting Pioneers. 1st & Goal would later turn into 4th & Goal after the LS offense struggled with the fierce Berks Catholic D. On the aforementioned 4th & Goal, Trey Dabney broke the collective hearts of everyone who traveled up from Lampeter as the junior raced endzone to endzone for the back-breaking pick 6 of 100 yards to now give Berks Catholic the commanding 31-7 lead with 2:25 left to play in the third.
The LS offense made good on their next opportunity as the Pioneers raced down the field to answer the interception return with a touchdown drive that culminated in Todd Shelley’s second TD pass to Chad Gaudino, this one from 10 yards, to make it 31-14 on the last play of the third quarter.
It didn’t take the Saints long to have a response of their own in a game of punch counterpunch. The 1:05 drive to start the final stanza ended with Marcus Wilson going untouched up the gut from 50 yards out to keep LS at bay with Berks Catholic’s lead swelling to 38-14 with 10:55 left to go.
The next Lampeter-Strasburg march would get all the way down to the BC 8 yard line, however this drive would also be put to bed with an interception at the goal line with Brandon George picking this one off and nearly taking it back to the house himself, just getting tripped up at LS 29 yard line.
One play was all it took for Berks Catholic to reach the endzoneagain as Graham Gluek took it in from 29 yards out to put BC up 45-14 with just over five minutes remaining.
LS would ultimately having the final say as far as the scoring was concerned as Chad Gaudino hauled in his third TD of the night, this one to match his jersey number of 18 yards thrown to him by senior quarterback Justin Edwards, but it would be Berks Catholic moving on to the championship game by way of their 45-21 victory.
It was a total team effort from Berks Catholic as the Saints’offense commanded the game with the defense stepping up with big plays at opportune times. In many ways, the two sides of the ball complimented each other perfectly Friday night. “We knew we had to keep the ball away from them,” Berks Catholic head coach Rick Keeley said postgame. “That’s what the Wing-T does. We can keep the ball away from people. I think our offensive line did a nice job controlling the line of scrimmage. We were making some good blocks and we were making nice holes for our backs to run through. That’s what the Wing-T does and I’d like to think we run it pretty good.”
Even with the step up in competition this year due to the classification changes, it’s clear that coach Keeley wouldn’t want to go into battle with anyone else except his group of Saints. “I know these kids committed themselves all summer long with 40-50 kids in our weight room. I think we matchup size-wise with anyone that we play. We have so far this year. We have as much speed as anyone we play so I know this team has a chance to win every time we take the field and our kids know they have a chance to win every time they take the field.”
NEXT UP: Berks Catholic will kickoff opposite Shippensburg on Friday at 1PM inside Hersheypark Stadium after the Greyhounds rallied late to knock off perennial District 3 powerhouse Bishop McDevitt 29-28. As mentioned, this will be Berks Catholic’s third straight contest against an opponent that
appeared in the AAA playoffs last year, one class larger than BC’s former AA classification. It is also the Saints’ fourth consecutive appearance in a District title game.
Although it was not the ending they were hoping for, Lampeter-Strasburg finished off with the season with a 7-5 mark which included back to back last minute thrilling victories on the road at E-Town and following that up with a victory at eventual Lancaster-Lebanon League Section 2 champ Cocalico. The Pioneers got through the gauntlet that is LL Section 2 to earn a playoff bid as they dismantled York Suburban 48-0, before bowing out to Berks Catholic this week. With a solid foundation long since been established in Lampeter, the Pioneers hope tomake it back to postseason play next year, making good on a trip to Hershey.
