For a change, Saints make a little magic through the air, dominate Blazers
Two days ago Mitchell Gatz heard four little words that perhaps no Berks Catholic quarterback had ever heard before.
“We’re throwing the ball.”
That was the message from Saints offensive coordinator Dave Stahler, as the Saints prepared to play at Daniel Boone. Stahler probably had to write it down and rehearse the line a few times, since it’s something he never said before.
“It was a total surprise,” Gatz admitted, “and it was a welcome surprise, and we did well.”
Well is an understatement.
Gatz threw three touchdown passes as the Saints raced past the undermanned Blazers 40-7 in a Berks Football League Section 1 opener Friday night at Brazinsky Field.
Gatz, a senior and first-year starter, wasted little time, hooking up with Josiah Jordan for a 55-yard score on the Saints’ first play from scrimmage.
He opened their second possession with another pass, a 12-yard completion to Trace Brown; he came back to Brown for 15 yards two plays later.
Stahler wasn’t kidding when he said the Saints (4-2) were going to come out throwing. And Gatz made the strategy look brilliant as he delivered the ball decisively and got it into the right people’s hands.
He completed 8-of-9 throws for 161 yards, much of the yardage coming after the catch, thanks to Jordan and Christian Cacchione, the Saints’ halfbacks and best play-makers.
Jordan caught three balls for 99 yards, each for a touchdown, matching Isaac Lutz’s program record, set in 2014. Cacchione caught one pass for 37 yards, setting up a TD.
“I told him: ‘Mitchell, the sooner you get (Jordan) the ball, the sooner the magic happens,” said Saints head coach Rick Keeley. “Don’t think you’ve gotta throw it deep to be successful. You throw it to him, let him do his magic. Christian, same thing. And he did a good job of getting those guys the ball tonight.”
Indeed, the passes were mostly short, into the flats or down the sidelines. Gatz did his job, then let his play-makers do theirs.
“He’s putting it on us the right way,” said Jordan of his quarterback, “and I couldn’t love that guy any more.”
Gatz was one of five starters who missed last week’s game, a loss to Malvern Prep, because of COVID precautions.
Friday it was the Blazers (3-3) who were short-handed, due to both injuries and COVID protocols. They were hit extremely hard up front, where they were without all-league offensive tackle Colin Leahy, who has turf toe, and junior Tony Rulli. They were also missing both their tight ends.
The Saints’ defensive front feasted on that, dominating the line. They gave backs AJ Hofer and JT Hogan precious little running room, limiting the Blazers to 61 rushing yards.
“We obviously pounded ’em pretty hard,” said BC’s 6-3, 310-pound tackle Jacob Colazzo, who did a lot of the pounding. “We played ’em like we played last week, against Malvern Prep, that was the mentality.”
Boone quarterback Dean Rotter was under fire much of the night because of constant trouble with shotgun snaps from center. That led to at least four fumbles (all recovered), and two big losses, and disrupted the rhythm of the offense.
“They missed those kids,” Keeley said of Boone’s absent offensive linemen. “The kids he (Boone coach Rob Flowers) had up there tried their best. I thought it was a shame there were some misplayed snaps; that really put ’em in a hole. It’s hard to get your offense going when you’re not getting the ball back there.
“I think we’re a pretty good football team. You make those mistakes against us and it usually steamrolls the other way.”
The game turned on the Blazers pretty quickly. Cacchione took the opening kickoff back 93 yards for a score.
After a three-and-out Jordan made a nice grab and raced 55 yards to the end zone for a 13-0 lead less than 90 seconds into the game.
Luke Hughes’ 5-yard TD run a few minutes later put BC up 19-0.
The Blazers never mounted a comeback bid. They had five possessions in the first half and punted on each. They totaled just 20 first-half yards.
The Blazers didn’t get on the board until the final minutes of the game, after Keeley had pulled his first-string defense.
The Saints were sharp in every area and gave future opponents a little something to think about with their passing game. Before Friday they had attempted just 23 passes in five games.
“If we’re really going to be a complete football team we have to throw the ball more than we have,” Keeley said. “I know I say that a lot, but I wanted to commit to that tonight.”
“First league game, (we said): Let’s come out and show the rest of the league we’re the best,” Gatz said. “And, we (know we) need to throw more.”
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Final | |
| Berks Catholic | 19 | 0 | 14 | 7 | 40 |
| Daniel Boone | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 7 |
Scoring summary
| Team | Player | Play | From | PAT Player | Extra Point |
| Berks Catholic | Cacchione | 93 kickoff return | Kick failed | ||
| Berks Catholic | Jordan | 55 pass | Gatz | Givens | Kick |
| Berks Catholic | Hughes | 5 run | Kick failed | ||
| Berks Catholic | Jordan | 31 pass | Gatz | Givens | Kick |
| Berks Catholic | Cacchione | 2 run | Givens | Kick | |
| Berks Catholic | Jordan | 13 pass | Gatz | Givens | Kick |
| Daniel Boone | Brady | 6 pass | Rotter | Millard | Kick |
Team statistics
| Berks Catholic | Daniel Boone | |
| First downs | 13 | 8 |
| Rushes-yards | 32-167 | 30-61 |
| Passing yards | 161 | 46 |
| Total yards | 328 | 107 |
| Passes | 8-9-0 | 9-18-0 |
| Fumbles-lost | 1-0 | 4-0 |
| Punts-average | 2-22.0 | 6-30.0 |
| Penalties-yards | 11-95 | 3-23 |
Individual statistics
RUSHING
Berks Catholic: Hughes 12-78, Cacchione 8-35, Gatz 4-20, McGeary 4-15, Jordan 3-12, Bradley 1-7.
Daniel Boone: Hofer 15-58, Hogan 7-30, Millard 1-7, Rotter 5-(-15), Team 2-(-19).
PASSING
Berks Catholic: Gatz 8-9-0–161.
Daniel Boone: Rotter 9-18-0–46.
RECEIVING
Berks Catholic: Brown 4-38, Jordan 3-99, Cacchione 1-37.
Daniel Boone: Brady 4-22, Vassallo 4-18, Hirshman 1-6.