Berks Catholic bounces back with win over Muhlenberg

By Matt Hagy — MikeDragoSports.com correspondent

Berks Catholic probably didn’t expect to be tested much by winless Muhlenberg Friday, especially in the opening seconds.

The Muhls opened the game with a successful onside kick, drove into field goal range and threatened to take the early lead.

Josiah Jordan blocked the kick and the Saints cruised from there, defeating Muhlenberg 42-6 in a Berks Football League Section 1 game at Laureldale.

“We needed to respond after last week and we were strong on all sides of the ball tonight,” said Saints senior Christian Cacchione, referring to a 33-21 loss last week to Exeter. “Once we held them after that initial onside kick to open the game, I felt like we could make it hard for them to stop us on offense.”

Five different players reached the end zone as the Saints (3-1, 6-3) tuned up for the regular season finale against unbeaten and state-ranked Gov. Mifflin.

“I am very proud at how our kids came out and played tonight,” Saints head coach Rick Keeley said. “We had a nice goal-line stand to start and there was no give up after that. (they) did their jobs tonight in all three phases of the game.”

Jordan led the Saints with 131 yards on six carries and scored on a 47-yard run. Cacchione ran 125 yards on eight carries and scored on runs of 40 and 45 yards.

The Muhls (0-4, 0-9) surprised the Saints at the outset and recovered the kick at the Berks Catholic 48. They drove to the 4 before attempting a 26-yard field goal. The early momentum ended swiftly as Jordan broke through and blocked the field goal.

Backed up at their own 6, the Saints went on a 12-play, 94-yard drive that was capped by a 20-yard touchdown run from Luke Hughes for a 7-0 lead. Berks Catholic gained every single yard on the nearly six-minute drive via the run, something that would become a common theme during the contest.

The Saints quickly got the ball back as Isaac Pichardo intercepted Muhlenberg quarterback Adam Zaorski on the third play of the ensuing drive, and set Berks Catholic up the Muhls’ 48. With the time winding down in the first quarter the Saints managed to get one last play off before time expired: A 40-yard touchdown run from Cacchione for a 14-0 lead.

Berks Catholic needed less than 2 1/2 minutes to drive 60 yards on its next possession, extending its lead to 21-0 on a 5-yard burst from Alex McGeary.

Muhlenberg made it to midfield on its next possession behind a pair of strong runs from Chris Rivera, but a delay of game penalty turned a third-and-3 to a third-and-8. Rivera was thrown for a 4-yard loss by Jacob Collazo to force a punt.

Saints quarterback Mitchell Gatz used a pair of short completions to move Berks Catholic into the red zone just before halftime. Gatz found a diving Pichardo on the far left side of the end zone for an 8-yard TD and 28-0 lead with 29 seconds left in the half.

Cacchione raced 45 yards up the middle on the first play of the second half for his second TD, extending the lead to 35-0.

Jordan weaved through the Muhls defense on their next drive on a 47-yard run to become the fifth and final Saint to score a touchdown.

The Muhls got on the board on Aaron Shuker’s 12-yard run in the final minute of the third quarter. Shuker led the Muhls with 81 yards on 15 carries.

The Saints amassed 399 rushing yards and held the Muhls to 123. Berks Catholic held a 463-155 total yards advantage.

Berks Catholic can share the Section 1 championship next week by beating Mifflin.

“We are excited about playing for a championship,” Keeley said. “We’ve done all the right things to put ourselves in a position to play for a championship. We hit the weight room like we should, we conditioned like we should, and we played all the games leading up to Week 10 like we should. Now it’s a matter of coming out and playing against a very good Gov. Mifflin football team.”

	1	2	3	4	Final
Berks Catholic	14	14	14	0	42
Muhlenberg	0	0	6	0	6

Scoring summary

1	Berks Catholic	Hughes, 20 run (Givens kick)	2:31
1	Berks Catholic	Cacchione, 40 run (Givens kick)	0:00
2	Berks Catholic	McGeary, 5 run (Givens kick)	7:32
2	Berks Catholic	Pichardo, 8 pass from Gatz (Givens kick)	0:29
3	Berks Catholic	Cacchione, 45 run (Givens kick)	9:52
3	Berks Catholic	Jordan, 47 run (Gonzales kick)	4:43
3	Muhlenberg	Shuker, 12 run  (Hnautick kick)	0:33

Team statistics

	Berks Catholic	Muhlenberg
First downs	22	7
Rushes-yards	39-399	27-123
Passing yards	64	32
Total yards	463	155
Passes	5-8-0	3-8-1
Fumbles-lost	0-0	1-1
Punts-average	0-0.0	4-32.5
Penalties-yards	5-40	4-20

Individual statistics

RUSHING

Berks Catholic: Jordan 6-131, Cacchione 8-125, Hughes 6-54, McGeary 5-43, Bradley 5-31, Rosa 1-8, D. Garcia 2-8, Hess 3-3, Team 1-(-1), Gatz 2-(-3).

Muhlenberg: Shuker 15-81, Rivera 10-34, Zaorski 2-8.

PASSING

Berks Catholic: Gatz 4-7-0–51, Hess 1-1-0–13.

Muhlenberg: Zaorski 3-8-1–32.

RECEIVING

Berks Catholic: Givens 1-20, D. Garcia 1-13, McGeary 1-12, Brown 1-11, Pichardo 1-8.

Muhlenberg: Little 1-24, Shuker 1-5, Gumby 1-3.