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The first ever PIAA 6A State Championship between St. Josephs Academy and Pittsburgh Central Catholic was a match-up that seemed to have been predetermined since July, when both teams found themselves nationally ranked by several publications like Jeff Fishers “High School Football America”, who had the Hawks 34th and the Vikings 11th. The two teams were also ranked #1 or 2 in the state depending on which paper you read, our website had PCC ranked #1 and our EasternPAFootball.com site had the Hawks Ranked #1 in the east.
It took a while to find out which team wanted to lay claim to the title as both squads spent the entire first quarter giving the ball back to the other. There were 16 punts, 1 interception for each team and a fumble recovery for the Hawks in all up to the 5:43 mark of the second quarter. It was that fumble by PCC running back JJ Younger and recovered by Hawk’s linebacker Daniel O’connor, that put crack in the dam that was holding back the points.
Hawk quarterback Marquez McCray found Terrence Greene for a 36 yard gain to the Vikings 35, and Georgia Commit D’Andre Swift carried the ball the next two plays, the second s 34 burst to the endzone with 4:41 left in the half. The point after made it a 7-0.
D’Andre Swift 34yd run 4:34 till half St Joe’s Prep lead 7-0 pic.twitter.com/sxXfrhG36i
— EasternPAFootball (@EPAFootball) December 11, 2016
Later, after another PCC punt that gave Prep the ball at their 29 with just 22 seconds in the half, McCray found Darryle Simmons down the right sideline for a one play, 71 yard score that reduced the scoring dam to rubble for the Hawks. “They’re very athletic, I don’t think they’re bigger than us, but they’re very athletic and that created a lot of problems for us” ” Vikings coach Terry Totten said.
The second half didn’t start any better for the Vikings. After going 3 & out on the first possession, the center/punter exchange sailed resulting in a 21 yard loss giving the ball to the Hawks at the 20. McCray gave the ball to Richard Carr who in turn threw a touchdown strike to Greene, putting St Joseph’s up 21-0.
On the following kick, the Vikings fumbled the ball right back, and the Hawks went right back to the endzone. Simmons, who had 3 catches for 76 yards, took them to the 2 on a 42 yard catch and Swift finished the drive from one yard out to make it 28-0 with 8:53 left in the third.
Central Catholic finally got on the scoreboard when Justice Evan broke through for a 19 yard score, but on the ensuing kick Greene went 94 yards to put the Hawks up by four scores again, 35-7.
To go along with his return, Greene also pitched in 85 yards on 6 catches. Swift capped the scoring with a 6 yard run. “It’s just great. We have a lot of seniors this year and this title just feels better because it’s my senior year and we won it going out together” said Swift. He finished the night with 142 yards and 3 td’s.
Vikings linebacker David Adams, who is Notre Dame bound, said “it’s tough to lose the last game. We played hard but they were just much better than us tonight. But we gave it our best shot and that’s all we could do. I’m going to miss everyone here but I’m looking forward to my next chapter.”
Younger had 62 net yards for the Vikings, and Tim Terry had 4 tackles for loss.
