Berks Catholic can’t hold early lead, falls to Central Dauphin
By Jason Guarente — MikeDragoSports.com senior correspondent
HARRISBURG — Josiah Jordan is going to make the hearts of defensive coordinators beat a little faster this season. Every time he touches the ball brings potential for danger. Maybe even six points.
Berks Catholic’s 5-10, 160-pound wing put his home run ability on display against Central Dauphin Friday night. Jordan rushed for 72 yards, caught four passes for 61 yards and scored three times.
“He’s a playmaker,” BC coach Rick Keeley said of the junior.
That seemed like an understatement.
Berks Catholic couldn’t overcome Central Dauphin in a closer-than-it-sounds 41-22 non-league football loss at Landis Field. The Saints walked away from the matchup feeling pretty good about themselves.
Jordan showed that he’s a dynamic complement to senior captains Christian Cacchione and Luke Hughes in Berks Catholic’s diverse rushing attack.
“That’s what’s nice about running the Wing-T,” Keeley said. “It’s basically a four-back offense. Christian is our go-to guy. But we have three other backs in the game.”
Jordan’s first five touches all went for at least 11 yards. Two of them resulted in trips to the end zone. An 11-yard catch just inside the sideline was the first touchdown. An 18-yard dash on a sweep was the second.
Berks Catholic used Jordan on third-and-long situations because the Saints knew he could pick up the yardage just as easily as a pass play could.
“I’m playing for the whole team,” Jordan said. “I love everybody on this team and I just want to add the effort. That’s all I can do. Every time.”
Berks Catholic was ahead 14-7 and was entertaining thoughts of an upset two minutes into the second quarter.
When the Saints last stepped on this turf two years ago Central Dauphin handed them a humbling 31-6 loss. They were determined to make this time different.
“We came out knowing we could beat them,” Jordan said. “We practiced hard all week. We had it in us. We put up a good fight.”
Central Dauphin (1-1), which lost to Wilson 27-21 in Week 1, has its own stable of weapons. Keeping those in check is no easy task. The Rams had an answer for Berks Catholic’s early scores.
Both times they responded with touchdowns. Once on a three-play drive that ended with Randy Rudy’s 37-yard TD catch. Then on a 55-yard scoring run by quarterback Max Mosey, which came one play after a fake punt kept the drive going. Mosey’s 5-yard score late in the half gave CD a 21-14 lead at intermission.
Berks Catholic (1-1) missed an opportunity to rally in the third quarter. All three of the Saints’ possessions went three-and-out and they couldn’t capitalize on keeping Central Dauphin’s high-powered offense scoreless.
Mosey connected with Zion Allen on a 38-yard touchdown to make it 28-14 with 10:12 left. It was a crushing play that came on third-and-16. The pass was delivered with a defensive lineman right in Mosey’s face.
Jordan scored again on a 7-yard reception to cut the deficit to six with 51 seconds left. Berks Catholic couldn’t recover the onside kick and Central Dauphin tacked on two touchdowns in the closing seconds. One was a 45-yard fumble return by Stanley Saintill as time expired. It made a close game look lopsided.
“That was a big test for us,” Jordan said. “I think we took it really well.”
Cacchione had 96 yards rushing for Berks Catholic. Mitchell Gatz completed 8-of-13 passes for 111 yards and two touchdowns.
Keeley’s messages in the postgame huddle and interview were decidedly upbeat. Berks Catholic is planning for November and this performance against a perennial District 3 Class 6A contender will help the Class 4A Saints improve.
That’s why they’ve made the trip to Landis Field two of the past three seasons.
“We made some mistakes and that’s a shame,” Keeley said. “Two really good teams played on this field tonight. A really good team won this game. But a really good team lost this game, too. I don’t want our effort to get lost with what the numbers are saying on that board.”
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Final | |
| Berks Catholic | 7 | 7 | 0 | 8 | 22 |
| Central Dauphin | 7 | 14 | 0 | 20 | 41 |
Scoring summary
| Team | Player | Play | From | PAT Player | Extra Point |
| Berks Catholic | Jordan | 11 pass | Gatz | Gonzalez kick | |
| Central Dauphin | Rudy | 37 pass | Mosey | Stauffer kick | |
| Berks Catholic | Jordan | 18 run | Gonzalez kick | ||
| Central Dauphin | Mosey | 55 run | Stauffer kick | ||
| Central Dauphin | Mosey | 5 run | Stauffer kick | ||
| Central Dauphin | Allen | 38 pass | Mosey | Stauffer kick | |
| Berks Catholic | Jordan | 7 pass | Gatz | Cacchione | run |
| Central Dauphin | English | 54 run | Stauffer kick | ||
| Central Dauphin | Saintill | 45 fumble return | N/A | ||
Team statistics
| Berks Catholic | Central Dauphin | |
| First downs | 16 | 14 |
| Rushes-yards | 49-210 | 29-197 |
| Passing yards | 111 | 126 |
| Total yards | 331 | 323 |
| Passes | 8-13-0 | 7-13-0 |
| Fumbles-lost | 3-1 | 0-0 |
| Punts-average | 5-38.4 | 5-34.6 |
| Penalties-yards | 7-44 | 10-72 |
Individual statistics
RUSHING
Berks Catholic: Cacchione 21-96, Jordan 9-72, Hughes 11-46, Davis 2-8, Reinhart 1-4, McGeary 1-1, Gatz 3-(-12), Team 1-(-5).
Central Dauphin: English 14-109, Mosey 10-82, Stauffer 1-5, Allen 3-3, Team 1-(2).
PASSING
Berks Catholic: Gatz 8-13-0, 111 yards, 2 TDs.
Central Dauphin: Mosey 7-13-0, 126 yards, 2 TDs.
RECEIVING
Berks Catholic: Jordan 4-61, Cacchione 3-43, Brown 1-7.Central Dauphin: Allen 2-50, Rudy 1-37, English 3-31, Noel 1-8.
