Philadelphia High School Football, State Playoff Recaps 2017

Philadelphia High School Football
State Playoff Recaps, 2017

CLASS 6A
QUARTERFINAL
At Bethlehem Liberty
SJ Prep 49, Parkland 14: Talk about balance. The Hawks powered their way to 184 yards on the ground and 188 through the air and needed just 16 minutes to score their first 28 points. Marques Mason took care of the first three, capping the outburst with a 95-yard kickoff return. In all, he finished with four scores thanks to three rushes (10-57). Marquez McCray passed 9-for-14 for 188 yards and two six-pointers -- his headliner was Brandon Sanders (4-101, TD) -- and Anthony Tigano was a perfect 7-for-7 on PAT. Rayshad Wallace and Jake Feehery halved six stops behind the line of scrimmage.
SEMIFINAL
At Downingtown West
SJ Prep 53, Coatesville 49: The pens/pencils of guys keeping stats were seriously challenged as the teams combined not only for 102 points but 1,024 yards from scrimmage and 440 on returns for 1,464 all-purpose. Plus, the quarterbacks were part of six touchdowns apiece. The Prep's Marquez McCray ran 19 times for 55 yards and four scores while passing 16-for-25 for 203 and two. Coatesville soph Ricky Ortega passed 25-for-38 for 442 yards and six TDs, with three going to classmate Dapree Bryant (9-269). The Prep's Kolbe Burrell bagged 127 yards and a TD on 10 carries and Anthony Tigano racked up nine points on a field goal and six PAT. The score after one quarter was 3-0 Prep. The Hawks later trailed, 28-10. They'd surrendered just 92 points in their first 12 games (7.7 average).
FINAL
At Hersheypark Stadium
Pine-Richland 41, SJ Prep 21: Strange circumstances all around. In its first 12 games, the Prep yielded just 92 points. The total was 90 in the semi/final. In their first 13 games, the Hawks lost just two fumbles and neither cough-up occurred on a scrimmage play -- failure to recover an onsides kick and a muffed punt). In this one, played on a field that was covered by a not-thick coating of snow (the flakes stopped coming down shortly before gametime), they lost four fumbles while waving bye-bye to a 27-game winning streak. One occurred on the end zone's doorstep and two led directly to P-R scores. Kolbe Burrell (13-158) and Marques Mason (15-71) ran for six-pointers and Marquez McCray passed 12-for-25 for 188 yards and a score to Brandon Sanders (5-60). Anthony Tigano's three PAT gave him the school's one-season record for kicking points with 83. Pat Kaiser had logged 82 in 2002. The teams ran 152 plays and the Hawks won that contest, 82-70. On defense, Brad Cobaugh had 12 solos and three TFL among 16 stops. He also forced a fumble. Other headliners: Rayshad Wallace (nine tackles, one sack) and Dawson DeIuliis (three TFL, fumble recovery).

CLASS 5A
QUARTERFINAL
At Northern Lehigh, in Slatington
Wood 41, Wyoming Valley West 14: Nasir Peoples (16-173) and Adrian Lambert (4-54) rushed for two TDs apiece as the Vikings remained perfect (9-0) in state quarterfinals and raised their point total therein to 350 (to 126 for opponents). They scored the first 41 in this one. As in playoff triumphs over Ryan and Gratz, Jack Colyar wasn't asked to do much passing. He finished 1-for-3 for 37 yards and a TD to Kyle Pitts.
SEMIFINAL
At Northeast
Wood 49, Unionville 28: The final score is largely misleading because Wood scored 42 of the game's first 49 points and star rusher Nasir Peoples (23-144, three TDs) was only a spectator beyond intermission. The three TDs raised Peoples' points output over the last eight games to 132. Bill Shaeffer created a stir for the defense by returning a fumble 60 yards for a score.
2017
FINAL
At Hersheypark Stadium
Wood 49, Gateway 14: Championship games are supposed to provide non-stop challenges. Someone forgot to tell the Vikings. While claiming their third state title in four seasons and fifth in seven, Wood barged into the end zone on its first six possessions and needed to run more four plays on just two of those drives. The far-and-away headliner was Nasir Peoples, who bulled/scooted for 267 yards and four TDs on 25 carries. His longest score was a 68-yarder. Adrian Lambert added 98 yards and two scores on 10 rushes while Kyle Pitts added a six-yard TD catch to two interceptions and as many TFL. Matt Palmer made five tackles and Bill Shaeffer hustled for two sacks. For Gateway, which surrendered the game's first 49 points, Brady Walker passed 12-for-27 for 257 yards and scores of 69 and 80 yards to Travis Thompson (5-172).

CLASS 4A
None (O'Hara lost in City Title)

CLASS 3A
DISTRICT 12/1 SUBREGIONALS
SEMIFINALS
At New Hope-Solebury
Conwell-Egan 42, New Hope-Solebury 14: Though C-E dropped a 55-point bomb on this same opponent in the season opener, it owned no points through 20:02 in this one. No sweat. Alex Goldsby (8-96, two TDs) and Patrick Garwo (12-94, one) paced the rushing attack while Terome Mitchell scored once apiece on a run and punt return. Jack Barreras hammered six PAT.
At South Phila. Super Site
Lansdale Catholic 42, Future 30: Speaking of the same opponent . . . These teams met just one week earlier for the City Title and LC won that one, 42-12. This time Matt Casee and Danny Dutkiewicz halved 16 carries and the respective outputs were 8-140/two TDs and 8-114/three. Andrew McDonald hustled for two interceptions.
FINAL
At Truman
Conwell-Egan 44, Lansdale Catholic 20: The Eagles upped the school record for points scored in a playoff from 42 to 44 and a safety, resulting from a blocked punt by Dajuan Harris, made that happen. The yard of scrimmage was LC's 43 and the ball bounced/rolled all the way back into the end zone; it was recovered over the sideline. Patrick Garwo (28-194, three TDs) and QB Alex Goldsby (14-63) combined for five rushing TDs and Terome Mitchell scored on a kickoff return. For LC, Matt Casee (15-57, two TDs) and Danny Dutkiewicz (18-134) finished the season with 1,160 and 1,108 yards, respectively. The teams combined to throw just five passes. The lone completion, from LC's Michael Dutkiewicz to Jake Doheny, produced a 5-yard TD.
STATE QUARTERFINAL
At Northeast
Conwell-Egan 34, Palisades 17: Despite a spectacular effort, Patrick Garwo could not claim the title as the game's top ground-gainer. That "award" went to the refs, who called 27 penalties for 291 yards (22-246 for C-E) and caused the game to last 2 hours, 43 minutes. Garwo did dominate with 30 rushes for 274 yards and three TDs. Flags wiped out 93 more yards on four carries and he had no more totes in those possessions. Dajuan Harris produced 96 yards and two scores on 12 carries. With the score at 27-17, an interception by Silvio Shaw assured there'd be no late drama. Garwo added a last-few-seconds pick.
STATE SEMIFINAL
At West Chester Rustin
Middletown 49, Conwell-Egan 7: The Eagles had few bright moments. The TD came on a 77-yard pass from Alex Goldsby (5-for-19, 128 yards) to Dajuan Harris (4-119). One week after claiming the school record for rushing yards in one season, junior Patrick Garwo had to settle for 41 on 10 carries. Final number: 1,879. Steve Slaton, who wound up playing in the NFL, had 1,832 in 2004. With two more points, this squad would have eclipsed the school record (438 in 1966).

CLASS 2A
DISTRICT 12/1 SUBREGIONALS
SEMIFINAL
At Bristol
West Catholic 50, Bristol 6: Da'Vion Kidd-Jackson achieved passing perfection, going 6-for-6 for 156 yards and three TDs. Seth Degree was the main beneficiary, making three snags for 97 yards and two scores. Jacir Savoy turned eight carries into 137 yards and two six-pointers and the defense contributed four interceptions.
FINAL
At South Philly Super Site
Neumann-Goretti 18, West Catholic 0: Just 48 seconds into the game, N-G, guided by former WC player/assistant Albie Crosby, owned a 6-0 lead thanks to an 87-yard pass from Charles Britt to Dymir Cave. It was Cave's first catch of the season. Britt finished 5-for-17 for 137 yards and one more score to Jayvonne Campfield. Chris Wells ran for one TD and Christian Barmore posted three TFL before departing with an injury. The teams evenly split 26 penalties.
STATE QUARTERFINAL
At Lehighton
Southern Columbia 45, Neumann-Goretti 12: Though they entered this tilt with 11 wins, tied for the most in school history, the Saints fell into a quick 14-0 hole, trailed by 24-0 at halftime and surrendered the game's final three TDs after moving within 24-12 midway through the third quarter. Due to numerous sacks, the rushing game finished with minus-29 yards. Charles Britt passed 11-for-24 for 189 yards and one TD. Jaron Macon, who played his first three seasons for McDevitt, bagged 53 yards on two catches, freezing his career totals at 90-2,004-24.