‘Poor performance’ costs Panthers outright Section 5 championship
2023 Berks football coverage presented by
Utilities Employees Credit Union
By Logan Moyer — MikeDragoSports.com correspondent
LANCASTER- The Schuylkill Valley Panthers are forced to share their winnings.
With the opportunity to clinch the Lancaster-Lebanon League Section 5 title outright, the Panthers dropped a 35-14 contest to Lancaster Catholic Friday night at Maley Field. The Panthers will share the title with the Crusaders and Annville-Cleona.
The Panthers beat Annville-Cleona 14-13 last week to secure their part of the title, the first of any kind in program history.
It was night of unforced errors for the Panthers (6-1, 8-2). They were penalized 10 times for 86 yards and left multiple scores on the board with failed fourth-down conversions attempts in the red zone after the defense presented them with great field position.
“All-around poor performance from us tonight,” said Schuylkill Valley coach Bruce Harbach. “They were prepared and we weren’t.”
The Crusaders (6-1, 8-2), limited the Panthers – who were averaging 323 yards of total offense per game – to just 135 total yards.
The running game was particularly subdued, as All-State running back Dominic Giuffre was held to just 8 yards. Giuffre was in his second game back from breaking multiple bones in his right arm earlier this season; he topped 100 yards last week.
“Terrible,” Harbach said of his team’s offensive output. “The kids weren’t ready to play. That’s my fault and I take the blame for it. We weren’t functioning for some reason and I don’t know why.”
The Crusaders played ground-and-pound, ball-control football. They rushed for 262 yards on 50 attempts – an average of 5.24 yards per attempt. Brandon Way Jr. led the way with 130 yards, including a 62-yard touchdown trot in the fourth quarter.
Elijah Cunningham, the Crusaders’ leading rusher this season, tallied 93 rushing yards and found the end zone twice. He came into the game questionable due to an injury and was knocked out of the game with an injury in the third quarter.
Penalties are never good, but it seemed that the Panthers were penalized in all the wrong moments. In one instance during the third quarter, they were penalized twice on fourth down – giving the Crusaders a fresh set of downs that ultimately resulted in a 27-yard touchdown grab by R.J. Gonzalez.
“You can’t be jumping offsides two times in a row on fouth down, that’s ridiculous,” said Harbach. “We’re probably the most penalized team in the frickin’ nation because of our stupid, stupid penalties.”
Twice in the second half the Panthers failed to convert on fourth-down conversions attempts in the red zone. On the first play of the fourth quarter on fourth-and-7, Panthers quarterback Logan Nawrocki found wideout Colby Crills open, but he was ruled inches short of the first-down marker. Later, the Panthers started a drive on the Crusader 12-yard line but failed to score.
“We got beat by the better team tonight,” Harbach said. “(Lancaster Catholic) did a good job.”
The Panthers did take advantage of a few Crusaders mistakes to score. After a high snap on a punt attempt resulted in a turnover-on-downs deep in Lancaster Catholic territory, Giuffre punched it in from a yard out to even the score in the first quarter. Later, in the third quarter, Cooper Hohenadel intercepted a pass and set up a 28-yard TD connection between Logan Nawrocki and Kowen Gerner.
The touchdown catch was Gerner’s 11th of the season, setting a single-season program record.
While they settle for just a split of the section trophy, the Panthers have bigger targets. Unofficially, they’re be the No. 4 seed in the District 3 Class 3A bracket, which will have them hosting a quarterfinal.
“Eight wins is nothing to be ashamed about,” Harbach said. “We have to have a short-term memory and get back to work next week.”
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Final | |
| Schuylkill Valley | 7 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 14 |
| Lancaster Catholic | 7 | 14 | 7 | 7 | 35 |
Scoring summary
| 1 | Lancaster Catholic | Cunningham, 14 run (O’Malley kick) | 7:32 |
| 1 | Schuylkill Valley | Giuffre, 1 run (Wamsher kick) | 4:41 |
| 2 | Lancaster Catholic | Gonzalez, 10 run (O’Malley kick) | 10:36 |
| 2 | Lancaster Catholic | Cunningham, 4 run (O’Malley kick) | 0:21 |
| 3 | Schuylkill Valley | Gerner, 28 pass from Nawrocki (Wamsher kick) | 8:24 |
| 3 | Lancaster Catholic | Gonzalez, 27 pass from Stefanow (O’Malley kick) | 2:27 |
| 4 | Lancaster Catholic | Way Jr., 62 run (O’Malley kick) | 5:21 |
Team statistics
| Schuylkill Valley | Lancaster Catholic | |
| First downs | 4 | 24 |
| Rushes-yards | 15-31 | 50-262 |
| Passing yards | 104 | 109 |
| Total yards | 135 | 371 |
| Passes | 12-22-0 | 10-15-1 |
| Fumbles-lost | 0-0 | 1-1 |
| Punts-average | 5-48.2 | 3-38 |
| Penalties-yards | 10-86 | 8-45 |
Individual statistics
RUSHING
Schuylkill Valley: Hohenadel 4-27, Martinez 1-17, Giuffre 6-8, Nawrocki 3-(-20), Team 1-(-1).
Lancaster Catholic: Way Jr. 12-130, Cunningham 16-93, Gonzalez 3-20, Fields 3-20, Zachery 1-2, Stefanow 2-(-3).
PASSING
Schuylkill Valley: Nawrocki 12-22-0–104.
Lancaster Catholic: Stefanow 10-15-1–109.
RECEIVING
Schuylkill Valley: Giuffre 1-47, Gerner 5-38, Crills 3-14, Lackner 1-5, Martinez 1-1, Hohenadel 1-(-1).
Lancaster Catholic: Acker 4-35, Gonzalez 1-27, Warren 3-26, Way Jr. 2-21.
INTERCEPTIONS
Schuylkill Valley: Hohenadel.
