Saints, Cacchione, come up big late to hold off Pope John Paul II
By Sean McBryan — MikeDragoSports.com correspondent
It was a tale of two halves.
Berks Catholic came out on fire and looked like it was going to blow out Pope John Paul II; the Golden Panthers clawed back and made it a tight game.
The Saints rushed for 408 yards and held on to overcome the Golden Panthers’ second-half air attack 47-40 Friday night in a non-league game at Forino Sports Complex.
Christian Cacchione rushed for 220 yards and two touchdowns and had 64 receiving yards and a touchdown. Josiah “Jay Jay” Jordan rushed for 113 yards and a touchdown and had a 62-yard interception return for a touchdown.
The Saints (3-1) led 34-7 in the second quarter and allowed the Golden Panthers (2-2) to come all the way back to tie it in the fourth quarter.
“We had to play four quarters to win that game,” Berks Catholic head coach Rick Keeley said. “We had to keep executing our offense. They came out (in the second half) and kept hitting their short passes offensively and moving the chains. They switched up their defense from an even to an odd front.
“I tell our guys there’s going to be times in the game when things are going against us. Just keep playing hard and sooner or later it’ll change and go our way.”
Berks Catholic had complete control in the first half. The Saints were up 27 points and had th Golden Panthers on the ropes.
Luke Hughes scored first on a 4-yard run to cap the first drive of the game, which went 59 yards in 2:36.
Pope John Paul II’s Markese Williams took the ensuing kickoff 90 yards for a TD to tie it.
Cacchione rushed for 56 yards on the next drive and finished it with a 9-yard score as Berks Catholic regained the lead.
The Saints’ defense forced a three-and-out and a nice return from Jordan put them at the PJP 42. Jordan finished the scoring drive with an 8-yard touchdown run just nine seconds into the second quarter to make it 19-7.
The Golden Panthers picked up their only first down of the first half on a 15-yard run from quarterback DJ Clarke on the next drive. They punted three plays later.
Berks Catholic embarked on a 62-yard scoring drive, but made it harder than it needed to be. The drive was sparked by a fourth-down conversion near midfield on a sneak by quarterback Mitchell Gatz and a 43-yard burst by Jordan to get inside the 10. Three negative runs and an illegal procedure penalty gave the Saints a 4th-and-goal from the 16, but they converted anyway on a passing touchdown from Gatz to Isaac Pichardo to make it 27-7 with 6:04 left in the half.
Jordan took an interception 62 yards for a touchdown just 1:02 later and the Saints were up 34-7.
“That was huge,” Keeley said. “Whenever your defense can score, especially in a close game, it makes a difference. When Jay Jay gets his hands on the ball it’s exciting.”
Pope John Paul’s Josh Little returned the kickoff to the 50 and Clarke hit Brendan Kenning for a crucial score on the next play to lessen the lead to 34-14 with 4:45 left.
Overall the Saints had 251 rushing yards, 11 first downs and zero turnovers in the first half; the Golden Panthers had 31 rushing yards, one first down and two turnovers.
The Golden Panthers came out of the break with a purpose, setting the tone on the first drive of the half.
They started connecting on the screen passing game and picked up four first downs on the drive before Little ended it with a 22-yard touchdown run. Just like that, 34-21 didn’t look too bad.
No more points were scored in the third quarter as each team had a drive halted by a turnover on downs and Berks Catholic punted once.
In the fourth, Clarke hit Williams for a 37-yard touchdown just 39 seconds in and the Golden Panthers were only down a touchdown.
Berks Catholic punted on its next drive and Little ran 50 yards for a touchdown to tie it 34-34 with 9:24 left in the game.
The Saints needed an answer and found one from Cacchione. He picked up a first down on a 15-yard run to begin the drive, but the Saints then went backward and found themselves in a third-and-12. A timely screen pass from Gatz to Cacchione went 45 yards for a touchdown and Berks Catholic regained the lead with 7:34 remaining.
The Golden Panthers weren’t done. Clarke ran 17 yards, Little ran 22, then Clarke hit Little for a 23-yard pass and they were at the 3. Little pounded it in for a chance to tie. The extra-point attempt was missed and it was 41-40 with 5:53 left.
Little finished with 133 rushing yards and three touchdowns. He also had 76 receiving yards.
On the next drive, Cacchione had a key 32-yard run and an untimely unnecessary roughness call tacked on 15 more yards. Jordan then ran 16 yards to the PJP 6 and Cacchione scored on the next play.
“My mindset was to stay in bounds but I got popped out of bounds pretty hard (on the 32-yard run),” Cacchione said with a laugh. “Luckily it was a late hit and we got the penalty. I thought I was going to score on that one still. My line did a great job sticking together and got us two more touchdowns in the fourth quarter that we needed.”
A 15-yard loss on a sack by Jackson Huddleson on third-and-12 forced the Golden Panthers to punt with 2:30 left and the Saints were able to run out the clock and prevail.
“The whole team knew we could not go home with the ‘L’ after being up by so much,” Cacchione said. “We would’ve been running for days if we lost that. We knew we just needed a few more breakaway plays. Jackson had a huge sack for us at the end.
“We just need to limit those big plays and we should be good,” Cacchione said. “We can’t let up one play and then all hang our heads. We just need to stay focused.”
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Final | |
| Berks Catholic | 13 | 21 | 0 | 13 | 47 |
| Pope John Paul II | 7 | 7 | 7 | 19 | 40 |
Scoring summary
| Team | Player | Play | From | PAT Player | Extra Point |
| Berks Catholic | Hughes | 4 run | Gonzalez | kick | |
| Pope John Paul II | Williams | 90 kickoff return | Rist | kick | |
| Berks Catholic | Cacchione | 2 run | Kick failed | ||
| Berks Catholic | Jordan | 8 run | 2-point | failed | |
| Berks Catholic | Pichardo | 16 pass | Gatz | Hughes | run |
| Berks Catholic | Jordan | 62 interception return | Gonzalez | kick | |
| Pope John Paul II | Kenning | 50 pass | Clarke | Rist | kick |
| Pope John Paul II | Little | 22 run | Rist | kick | |
| Pope John Paul II | William | 37 pass | Clarke | Kick failed | |
| Pope John Paul II | Little | 50 run | Rist | kick | |
| Berks Catholic | Cacchione | 45 pass | Gatz | Gonzalez | kick |
| Pope John Paul II | Little | 3 run | Kick failed | ||
| Berks Catholic | Cacchione | 6 run | Kick blocked |
Team statistics
| Berks Catholic | Pope John Paul II | |
| First downs | 19 | 10 |
| Rushes-yards | 65-408 | 17-187 |
| Passing yards | 73 | 263 |
| Total yards | 481 | 450 |
| Passes | 3-5-0 | 14-24-1 |
| Fumbles-lost | 2-1 | 1-1 |
| Punts-average | 2-41 | 3-37 |
| Penalties-yards | 6-35 | 7-50 |
Individual statistics
RUSHING
Berks Catholic: Cacchione 28-220, Jordan 10-113, Hughes 19-68, Gatz 7-8, McGeary 1-(-1).
Pope John Paul II: Little 9-133, Clarke 5-41, Williams 2-9, Skarbek 1-4.
PASSING
Berks Catholic: Gatz 3-5-0–80.
Pope John Paul II: Clarke 14-23-1–285, Williams 0-1-0–0.
RECEIVING
Berk Catholic: Cacchione 2-64, Pichardo 1-16.
Pope John Paul II: Williams 4-123, Kenning 4-79, Little 4-76, Reed 2-7.
INTERCEPTIONS
Berks Catholic: Jordan.