Berks Catholic seniors will have one last chance to play at home

(Note: This story has been updated to show changes in game dates.)

Berks Catholic fell short of qualifying for the District 3 football playoffs but its season isn’t over.

The Saints (4-6) will play one final game, Thursday at home at 7 against Pine Grove, in the Eastern Conference Class 3A championship game.

The Eastern Conference playoffs are for teams which don’t qualify for districts. Berks Catholic and Boyertown are the only Berks teams to qualify for the EC playoffs.

Boyertown (5-5) will host Williamsport (4-6) Saturday at 7 in the Class 5A/6A championship game.

This will be the Saints’ first trip to the Eastern Conference playoffs; Holy Name took part in the EC playoffs in 2003, beating Jim Thorpe in the semifinals before losing to Juniata in the title game.

Berks Catholic finished seventh in the District 3 Class 3A power ratings; the top six made the district field. This is just the third time in the program’s 12 seasons the Saints have failed to qualify for districts. They missed in their inaugural season, 2011, and in 2020 when the field was truncated due to the coronavirus.

This is also the first time Berks Catholic will finish with a losing record.

Pine Grove finished the regular season 3-7 and in seventh place in the eight-team Red Division of the Colonial-Schuylkill League. The Cardinals won twice in the last three weeks, beating Salisbury (0-10) and Marian Catholic (3-7).

Berks Catholic won four of its final six games after an 0-4 start.

Several Berks team fell just short of qualifying for the Eastern Conference playoffs. Reading High (3-7) finished fourth behind Boyertown, Williamsport and East Stroudsburg South in 5A/6A. Daniel Boone (2-8) was third in 4A behind Pottsville (4-6) and Big Spring (4-6). Kutztown was third in 3A behind Berks Catholic and Pine Grove; the Cougars would’ve qualified with a Week 10 win over Pequea Valley.