Blythe, Jordan strike fast as Saints storm past Scouts
By Sam Cavalieri — MikeDragoSports.com correspondent
Thunder and lightning backfields are not new.
Those same elements working as a team on both offense and defense is.
Berks Catholic has Nafis Blythe’s thunder and Josiah Jordan’s lightning. They combined to storm past Conrad Weiser in a 45-0 Lancaster-Lebanon League Section 4 win Friday night at Forino Sports Complex.
Jordan rushed for 177 yards and two touchdowns while Blythe pounded his way to 79 yards and one touchdown. Five different Saints (2-1, 2-4) scored touchdowns as they racked up 417 rushing yards against the Scouts (2-1, 3-3).
The other side of the ball had Blythe, who moved to defensive end last week, putting pressure on Scouts quarterback Donavan Gingrich. Blythe had three sacks last week and another this week, along with numerous pressures. Those pressures forced Gingrich to get the ball out of his hand quickly.
Gingrich finished 3-for-15 passing with an interception by a diving Jordan. That interception set up a short-field touchdown that Blythe finished off for an early 14-0 lead.
“Defense wins championships,” Blythe said. “We just keep hustling and sprint hard every play and never give up.”
Championships were the furthest thing on Berks Catholic coach Rick Keeley’s mind after an 0-4 start. He is starting to see his team put together complete performances and the defense is starting to look elite.
Last week it held Donegal to 109 yards; this week it limited Conrad Weiser to 85 yards. Keeley was quick to credit first-year defensive coordinator Pat Sisk, the former Muhlenberg head coach.
“Coach Sisk has done a great job organizing that defense,” Keeley said. “The kids are really buying into what he is doing. We have some play-makers at all three levels of defense.”
The addition of Blythe at defensive end and an increased workload for him at fullback has the Saints playing their best football of the season.
“He’s definitely a gift,” Jordan said of Blythe. “I preached that at the beginning of the season. He’s big-time for us.”
Jordan, who has 12 touchdowns, was known as a gamebreaker coming into the season. Blythe is a transfer from West Catholic. He burst onto the scene offensively with 122 rushing yards against a top-ranked Wyomissing rush defense in Week 4.
“I was at West Catholic and didn’t really play as much,” Blythe said. “I feel special coming here and I just keep working harder and harder every day.”
Will Hess passed for 73 yards, including a deep shot to Jaxon Geddio for 32 yards. Marvin Armistead busted a 29-yard touchdown run from his wing spot as the Saints scored on every possession except for a first-half drive that ended with an Armistead fumble.
“We have some pretty good guys tackle-to-tackle that were really opening up that trap game for us tonight,” Keeley said. “When you are running sweep and trap and being successful at both with the Wing-T that’s a hard offense to stop.”
Right now the entire Berks Catholic team looks hard to stop and it starts with the dynamic two-way playmakers in Jordan and Blythe.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Final | |
| Conrad Weiser | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Berks Catholic | 14 | 10 | 14 | 7 | 45 |
Scoring summary
| 1 | Berks Catholic | Jordan, 3 run (Kurtas kick) | 6:24 |
| 1 | Berks Catholic | Blythe, 2 run (Kurtas kick) | 2:24 |
| 2 | Berks Catholic | Kurtas, 35 FG | 4:12 |
| 2 | Berks Catholic | Garcia, 1 run (Kurtas kick) | 0:26.1 |
| 3 | Berks Catholic | Armistead, 29 run (Kurtas kick) | 8:40 |
| 3 | Berks Catholic | Jordan, 7 run (Kurtas kick) | 2:56 |
| 4 | Berks Catholic | Rose, 1 run (Kurtas kick) | 5:51 |
Team statistics
| Conrad Weiser | Berks Catholic | |
| First downs | 7 | 19 |
| Rushes-yards | 21-45 | 43-417 |
| Passing yards | 40 | 73 |
| Total yards | 85 | 490 |
| Passes | 3-15-1 | 4-7-0 |
| Fumbles-lost | 0-0 | 1-1 |
| Punts-average | 5-38.40 | 0-0 |
| Penalties-yards | 1-3 | 8-91 |
Individual statistics
RUSHING
Conrad Weiser: Conde 9-28, McQuillen 2-17, Kiebach 3-10, Parham 2-6, Britting 1-2, Dianna 1-1, J. Miller 1-(-9), Gingrich 2-(-10).
Berks Catholic: Jordan 13-177, Blythe 9-79, Garcia 6-47, Rose 4-42, Gumby 3-37, Armistead 4-32, Bradley 2-5, Hess 2-(-2).
PASSING
Conrad Weiser: Gingrich 3-15-1-40.
Berks Catholic: Hess 4-7-0-73.
RECEIVING
Conrad Weiser: E. Miller 1-19, Parham 1-17, J. Miller 1-4.
Berks Catholic: Armistead 2-30, Geddio 1-32, Mace 1-11.
INTERCEPTIONS
Berks Catholic: Jordan.
