Berks Catholic beats Pine Grove to claim first Eastern Conference championship
(This story will be updated later tonight with additional details and postgame reaction.)
Berks Catholic ended a difficult season by lofting a trophy, their 49-14 win over Pine Grove Thursday night giving them their first Eastern Conference Class 3A championship at Forino Sports Complex.
The Saints (5-6) got four touchdowns and 180 rushing yards from Josiah Jordan, who ended his senior season with 1,210 rushing yards and 22 TDs.
The Cardinals (3-8) led 14-7 late in the first quarter before the Saints began to dominate, ending the game with six unanswered touchdowns.
Jordan had four of them, scoring on runs of 27, 32, 25 and 27 yards. He also had a TD reception nullified by a penalty, had three receptions for 39 yards and intercepted a pass.
Luke Impellizzeri also had an interception for the Saints, who had three takeaways and didn’t turn the ball over.
Berks Catholic rushed for 386 yards and had 466 total yards.
Saints quarterback Will Hess completed 6-of-8 passes for 90 yards, with a 13-yard scoring pass to Devin Garcia and a 19-yard TD to Michael Bradley.
Garcia also scored on a 17-yard run.
The Saints went 4-3 in Section 4 of the Lancaster-Lebanon League but finished seventh in the District 3 Class 3A power ratings; the top six qualifierd.
The Saints opened 0-4 on the way to the first losing season in their 12-year history.
They played a challenging schedule that included Pope John Paul II and Loyalsock, both of which were state-ranked during the season, as well as state-ranked Section 4 rivals Wyomissing and Lampeter-Strasburg.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Final | |
| Pine Grove | 14 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 14 |
| Berks Catholic | 7 | 14 | 21 | 7 | 49 |
Scoring summary
| 1 | Pine Grove | Lehman, 1 run (Karenda kick) | 10:30 |
| 1 | Berks Catholic | Garcia, 13 pass from Hess (Kurtas kick) | 7:30 |
| 1 | Pine Grove | Lehman, 19 run (Karenda kick) | 3:16 |
| 2 | Berks Catholic | Jordan, 27 run (Kurtas kick) | 3:41 |
| 2 | Berks Catholic | Jordan, 32 run (Kurtas kick) | 0:25 |
| 3 | Berks Catholic | Bradley, 19 pass from Hess (Kurtas kick) | 8:51 |
| 3 | Berks Catholic | Jordan, 25 run (Kurtas kick) | 5:35 |
| 3 | Berks Catholic | Jordan, 27 run (Kurtas kick) | 1:09 |
| 4 | Berks Catholic | Garcia, 17 run (Kurtas kick) | 11:53 |
Team statistics
| Pine Grove | Berks Catholic | |
| First downs | 10 | 26 |
| Rushes-yards | 27-114 | 40-386 |
| Passing yards | 70 | 90 |
| Total yards | 184 | 476 |
| Passes | 8-18-2 | 6-8-0 |
| Fumbles-lost | 2-1 | 1-0 |
| Punts-average | 3-31.3 | 1-19.0 |
| Penalties-yards | 6-61 | 5-53 |
Individual statistics
RUSHING
Pine Grove: Lehman 19-104, Kroh 8-10.
Berks Catholic: Jordan 16-180, Garcia 6-70, Blythe 6-50, Bradley 4-35, Gumby 3-23, Rose 3-15, Rosa 2-13.
PASSING
Pine Grove: Kroh 8-18-2–70.
Berks Catholic: Hess 6-8-0–90.
RECEIVING
Pine Grove: Wolf 2-24, Schaeffer 2-20, Hannevig 2-12, Lehman 1-10, Ibarra 1-4.
Berks Catholic: Jordan 3-39, Bradley 1-19, Geddio 1-19, Garcia 1-13.
INTERCEPTIONS
Berks Catholic: Jordan, Impellizzeri.
MISSED FIELD GOALS
Berks Catholic: Kurtas 52.
