The Hawks celebrate the win . . .

TITLE GAME BOXSCORE . . .

SELECTED PICTURES . . .

Dillon DeIuliis blocks a punt in third quarter.

John Reid (25) battles for a pass.

D'Andre Swift runs for 35-yard TD.

"This is OUR state!!"

Comrades in TD production . . . Chris Martin (L)
and Vince Moffett.

Coach Gabe Infante (fourth from L, top) and his assistants.

WEBSITE REPORT . . .

DEC. 15
PIAA CLASS AAAA FINAL
SJ Prep 35, Pittsburgh Central Catholic 10
(At Hersheypark Stadium)
  As the final seconds ticked away, coach Gabe Infante took a quick walk along the Prep's sideline and yelled, "Who's the underdog!?!" He then added, "The schedule we play?" Yes, many people seemed to think the Hawks would emerge from this one as the loser, and the fact that PCC (15-0 going in) had allowed just an average of 110.6 yards per game in its previous five playoff outings (that tidbit was posted in the game program) was mighty impressive. The Hawks owned that many yards by early in the second quarter, however, along with a 7-7 tie. Though they later surrendered a field goal and headed for the locker room facing a 10-7 deficit . . . wow, how things changed over the final 24 minutes!! The Prep owned that span! It kicked serious heiny! It racked up four TDs and came within inches of a fifth. The best part about the dominance was that so many players contributed. This guy. That guy. This guy. That guy. It was a true TEAM effort. PCC began the second half with the ball and a 16-yard sack by jr. DL Jon Daniel Runyan, a star T who saw all kinds of productive time on defense tonight, helped to create a three-and-out. The Hawks took over on their 41 and sr. QB Chris Martin immediately hit jr. WR John Reid along the left sideline for what became a 59-yard TD. On the next series, sr. LB Ryan McNulty almost notched a third down interception and then came the all-timer. Jr. DB Dillon DeIuliis broked through to block the punt and the ball squirted sideways toward PCC's sideline. Sr. Jawan McAllister picked it up at roughly the 20 and scampered toward payturf. He was stopped at just about the goal line and -- oh, no! -- the ball popped free and bounced toward the back of the end zone, where PCC recovered for a touchback. Ed "Huck" Palmer was at home, watching the telecast and keeping defensive stats, and he said the replay strongly indicated McAllister's knee hit the ground an instant BEFORE the ball came loose. Rough. The rest of the quarter featured no scoring, but PCC did lose sr. QB Joseph Cosentino to an ankle injury; he was hurt on a decent keeper that wound up being a non-gain because of a holding call. Also, over the last seven plays of that session, the Hawks moved from their 20 to the Vikings' 14 and the last play was a 25-yard completion to jr. RB Olamide Zaccheaus. On that one, Martin appeared to check out 3-4 different guys before seeing that Z was by his lonesome in the middle. It was a fine example of maintaining focus and making the right decision. Then came a great call by Tim Roken, the offensive coordinator. Martin connected with Joe DuMond for a TD. Pretty sure DuMond wasn't touched until the last instant, when he made a leap into the end zone. Where had he been at the start of the play? My guess was fullback only because he'd been completely ignored by PCC's defenders. A quick check revealed that DuMond had lined up at TE on that play, and had neatly slipped a short distance to his left off the line of scrimmage. It was his third catch of the season, and first TD. Classic moment! An 18-yard gain off a fake punt helped PCC sustain a drive that eventually placed the ball at the Prep's 38, but on fourth down Reid registered a 5-yard sack. Fifty-seven yards to another score. Only four plays needed to get 'em. All runs by frosh D'Andre Swift -- 11, 9, 2 and 35 yards. Another quick TD? Sure, why not? On PCC's third play, Runyan bullied his way into the backfield and knocked the ball free from the hand of the backup QB, jr. Graham Adomitis. Jr. DL Jake Strain, who was terrific all night, made the recovery at the 19 and had strong thoughts of posting a scoop-and-score. Didn't quite work out, so the next line of scrimmage was the 16. Ch-ching. Sr. RB Vince Moffett immediately added six more points with a 16-yard journey to the left corner, and sr. K-P Pat Walsh nailed his fifth PAT. One more highlight? Definitely. Moffett stripped the ball from a receiver and sr. CB Rob DiSanto pulled off the pounce-on-it job. What a half of multipronged dominance. And to think it all began with Dan Koenig. Who? He's a senior at the Prep and was chosen to compete in an on-field, halftime contest against a student from PCC. Stand at the goal line. Punt the ball to one spot, then throw it from there to a target at midfield. The PCC kid's punt was ridiculously poor, so Koenig had no trouble winning. Take note: Wood was also trailing at halftime Friday night when basketball player Matt Funk won the exact same contest. Just sayin'. The Prep's student rooters, who showed up in large numbers and exhibited wonderful game-long energy despite the wicked cold/wind combo, owned the stretch. First they chanted, "This is OUR state!!!!! . . . This is OUR state!!!!!" Then they crooned the "We Are the Champions" song and altered the chorus to: "We are the champions . . . of the STATE." Ha, ha, ha. Good stuff, guys. There were many great visuals during the postgame moments. The best involved Infante. Pretty much the instant the game ended, he was grabbed by TV folks, and then others, for interviews. So he was not on hand when the Hawks mad-dashed from midfield toward the south end of the stadium so they could pose for team pics with the still-lit scoreboard in the background. Finally, Infante appeared at the edge of the scene and roared, "Aren't you forgetting somebody?!?!" He then ran the short distance toward the group and slid/flopped into a spot in the middle of the front guys. Legendary. Later, a handful of players ventured beyond the field at that same end to make a bunch of snow angels. One player, soph long-snapper John Coppinger, even ran over and made a full-out leap onto the snow-covered grass. Later, when he trotted back toward the field, he quipped, "Man, that really hurt." Later, a player was handing the trophy to a coach and noted, "Feel this. It's heavy as hell." Congrats to all Prep folks! It was a wonderful season and major effort was put forth by everyone.
  TITLE TIDBITS: By courtesy of Huck, McNulty numbered seven solos among 10 tackles while Moffett had five among nine . . . Jr. Tom Johnson made seven stops . . . Strain posted a two sacks, a TFL and the fumble recovery . . . Runyan's two sacks totaled 28 yards . . . Reid broke up three passes . . . Martin finished 13-for-21 for 195 yards and three TDs. In the final three playoff games, after returning from a knee injury, he passed 37-for-63 (58.7 percent) for 673 yards and seven TDs. For the season, despite missing two games, he went 152-for-240 (63.3 percent) for 2,208 yards and 27 TDs . . . The Prep's first TD went to Moffett on a 27-yard pass from Martin. Vince slipped out of the backfield down the middle and was wide open . . . The attendance was announced as 2,486 . . . The Hawks finished 12-3 . . . Ryan, coached by Frank McArdle, can now brag that it beat two state champs (Wood, Prep) in addition to the Pub's AAAA runnerup, Washington. State tidbits are not my strength, so I have no idea whether any other team beat two state champs in the same season. Does anyone? State titles only go back to '88 . . . This concludes my 43rd season of covering high school football. Great fun, as always. Thanks for paying attention. And big props for our website contributors/DN statkeepers.