Schuylkill Valley beaten in final seconds after huge comeback bid
(This story will be updated later tonight with additional details and postgame reaction.)
By Sean McBryan — MikeDragoSports.com correspondent
Dominic Giuffre and Schuylkill Valley stormed back from a three-touchdown deficit in the second half before falling to undefeated, state-ranked and now Section 5-champion Lancaster Catholic 44-41 in a wild Lancaster-Lebanon League regular season finale Friday night in Leesport.
The Crusaders’ Gavin Tregea kicked a 23-yard field goal with 27.1 seconds left to lift Lancaster Catholic to victory.
After Lancaster Catholic quarterback Will Cranford hit Jaevon Parker for a 30-yard touchdown to make it 41-20 with 4:05 left in the third quarter the Panthers’ chances looked bleak.
| Section 5 | League | Overall |
| Lancaster Catholic | 7-0 | 10-0 |
| Schuylkill Valley | 5-2 | 6-4 |
| Hamburg | 5-2 | 8-2 |
| Annville-Cleona | 5-2 | 7-3 |
| Kutztown | 2-5 | 3-7 |
| Pequea Valley | 2-5 | 2-8 |
| Northern Lebanon | 1-6 | 2-8 |
| Columbia | 1-6 | 3-7 |
A fumble by Parker on a punt gave the ball back to the Panthers at the 8 and Giuffre ran it in on the next play for his fourth TD.
Schuylkill Valley (5-2, 6-4) forced a turnover on downs on the next drive and Giuffre took a short pass from Logan Nawrocki 50 yards for a score, cutting the deficit to 41-34 with 7:24 left.
On the next drive the Panthers defense held Lancaster Catholic running back Elijah Cunningham to 7 yards on three carries — no easy task considering Cunningham ran for 302 yards and five TDs for the Crusaders (7-0, 10-0).
The ensuing punt went only 8 yards and Schuylkill Valley set up shop at its own 42.
Giuffre capped the 58-yard scoring drive with a 21-yard rushing touchdown to tie it 41-41 with 3:33 left in the game.
The Panthers again forced a punt but a fumble by Nawrocki as he tried to escape a sack gave the Crusaders the ball back at Schuylkill Valley’s 14, setting up Tregea’s game-winning field goal.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Final | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lancaster Catholic | 7 | 21 | 13 | 3 | 44 |
| Schuylkill Valley | 14 | 6 | 7 | 14 | 41 |
Scoring summary
| 1 | Schuylkill Valley | Giuffre, 25 pass from Goad (Wamsher kick) | 9:42 |
| 1 | Schuylkill Valley | Giuffre, 7 run (Wamsher kick) | 9:02 |
| 1 | Lancaster Catholic | Cunningham, 13 run (Tregea kick) | 4:45 |
| 2 | Lancaster Catholic | Cunningham, 63 run (Tregea kick) | 10:08 |
| 2 | Schuylkill Valley | Giuffre, 11 run (Kick failed) | 9:11 |
| 2 | Lancaster Catholic | Cunningham, 6 run (Tregea kick) | 2:32 |
| 2 | Lancaster Catholic | Cunningham, 13 run (Tregea kick) | :13.5 |
| 3 | Lancaster Catholic | Cunningham, 2 run (Kick failed) | 7:54 |
| 3 | Lancaster Catholic | Parker, 30 pass from Cranford (Tregea kick) | 4:05 |
| 3 | Schuylkill Valley | Giuffre, 8 run (Wamsher kick) | 1:08 |
| 4 | Schuylkill Valley | Giuffre, 50 pass from Nawrocki (Wamsher kick) | 7:24 |
| 4 | Schuylkill Valley | Giuffre, 21 run (Wamsher kick) | 3:33 |
| 4 | Lancaster Catholic | Tregea, 23 FG | 0:22 |
Team statistics
| Lancaster Catholic | Schuylkill Valley | |
| First downs | 23 | 16 |
| Rushes-yards | 46-315 | 33-172 |
| Passing yards | 139 | 186 |
| Total yards | 454 | 258 |
| Passes | 12-21-1 | 8-16-0 |
| Fumbles-lost | 2-1 | 1-1 |
| Punts-average | 2-27 | 2-40.5 |
| Penalties-yards | 5-35 | 6-70 |
Individual statistics
RUSHING
Lancaster Catholic: Cunningham 41-302, Cranford 2-8, Crawley 1-4, Parker 2-1.
Schuylkill Valley: Giuffre 14-113, Hohenadel 6-31, Goad 5-15, Woods 3-7, Nawrocki 5-6.
PASSING
Lancaster Catholic: Cranford 12-21-1–139.
Schuylkill Valley: Nawrocki 4-11-0–97, Goad 4-5-0–89.
RECEIVING
Lancaster Catholic: Parker 4-91, Gonzalez 4-31, Acker 3-24, Dresch 1-5.
Schuylkill Valley: Giuffre 4-112, Hohenadel 2-21, Crills 1-32, Spotts 1-21.
INTERCEPTIONS
Schuylkill Valley: Lackner.
