Clutch plays lead Hawks past Crusaders for 5th straight win
2024 Berks football coverage presented by
Utilities Employees Credit Union
(This story was produced by LNP/Lancasteronline, and published in partnership with MikeDragoSports.com.)
By Jeff Reinhart — LNP/Lancasteronline
LANCASTER — There is no longer a three-way tie atop the Lancaster-Lebanon League Section 5 football race.
Hamburg saw to that Friday night.
The Hawks made some big plays in crunch time, got an outstanding rushing performance from Blaise Ernst, and knocked off Lancaster Catholic 28-13 on the Crusaders’ home turf.
Hamburg never trailed, zooming to a 14-0 first-quarter lead behind quarterback Tyler Shuey. The Hawks (3-0, 5-1) won their fifth game in a row and booted Catholic (2-1, 3-3) off the top line.
Hamburg shares the section lead with Schuylkill Valley after the Panthers (3-0, 4-2) held off Berks Catholic 20-14 on Friday. Schuylkill Valley is at Hamburg in Week 8; Catholic visits Schuylkill Valley in Week 10.
The Hawks picked up a gut-check road win over the Crusaders to put themselves in this position.
“Unlike last year, our attitude is totally different,” Hamburg coach Matt Hoffert said. “When things go wrong, these guys don’t freak out. They’re always positive.”
Friday, Catholic was stung by penalties. The Crusaders were flagged seven times for 65 yards — six times for 60 yards on offensive holding calls, in some cases wiping out big ground gainers.
“Every drive that stalled was because we were behind the sticks,” Catholic coach Chris Maiorino said. “I don’t think it’s a big secret; we have to run the football to be successful. If we’re behind the sticks, we’re not as good a football team on offense. We have to do a better job with that. Penalties are killers.”
Hamburg took advantage. It took the Hawks all of five plays to grab a 7-0 lead, when Shuey zipped a 21-yard TD pass to Ty Werley less than two minutes into the game. One possession later — after Shuey hit Werley for a 17-yard gain on fourth down to keep the drive alive — Shuey had a 1-yard sneak and it was 14-0 heading into the second quarter.
Catholic finally got on the board when Brandon Way bolted 40 yards for a TD with 3:16 to go in the second quarter and it was 14-7 at the half.
The Crusaders made Hamburg sweat a little in the third quarter when Way darted 10 yards for a TD. But a missed PAT kept the Hawks in front 14-13.
“We got back in the game,” Maiorino said, “but at the end of the day, we didn’t play well enough. They made plays and we didn’t. That’s football.”
Way ended up with 162 yards on 24 carries with two TD runs. But take away those two scoring drives, and Catholic was going backward too many times. The Crusaders punted the ball away five times.
“Way is such a great player,” Hoffert said. “He can make something out of nothing. Coming in here we knew we had to spy him and take care of business.”
Hamburg never flinched, getting a pair of fourth-quarter scores to ice it. Ernst was the hero on both drives. His 34-yard run set up Shuey’s 2-yard sneak for a 21-13 lead with 9:33 to play. Later, Ernst ripped off another 34-yard run, setting up his own 2-yard plunge for the capper with 2:09 left.
Ernst rushed for 140 yards; Shuey rushed for 58 yards and passed for 134 yards; and Werley had five catches for 84 yards for the Hawks, who were flagged for three holding calls. Those yellow hankies — unlike Catholic — didn’t hurt them in the end.
Hamburg had plenty of motivation on Friday. For starters, the Hawks needed a win to remain at the top of the heap in the section hunt. Second, Hamburg was 0-2 all-time against Catholic coming in, and last fall, the Crusaders hung 61 points on the Hawks — in Hamburg.
The Hawks used all of that to their advantage.
“We try to use that stuff to our advantage sometimes,” Hoffert said. “We’ll use it with our guys. We lost a heart-breaker here two years ago, and last year they put up a big number on us.”
When it comes to the Section 5 race, the number is no longer three; it’s down to two: Hamburg and Schuylkill Valley, with four weeks to go.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Final | |
| Hamburg | 14 | 0 | 0 | 14 | 28 |
| Lancaster Catholic | 0 | 7 | 6 | 0 | 13 |
Scoring summary
| 1 | Hamburg | Werley, 21 pass from Shuey (Blatt kick) | 10:13 |
| 1 | Hamburg | Shuey, 1 run (Blatt kick) | 0:56 |
| 2 | Lancaster Catholic | Way, 40 run (O’Malley kick) | 3:16 |
| 3 | Lancaster Catholic | Way, 10 run (kick missed) | 5:45 |
| 4 | Hamburg | Shuey, 2 run (Blatt kick) | 9:33 |
| 4 | Hamburg | Ernst, 2 run (Blatt kick) | 2:09 |
Team statistics
| Hamburg | Lancaster Catholic | |
| First downs | 13 | 13 |
| Rushes-yards | 34-247 | 39-198 |
| Passing yards | 75 | 134 |
| Total yards | 322 | 332 |
| Passes | 6-18 | 7-14 |
| Fumbles-lost | 1-0 | 0-0 |
| Punts-average | 5-36.2 | 2-30 |
| Penalties-yards | 7-65 | 3-30 |
Individual statistics
RUSHING
Hamburg: Ernst 24-140, Shuey 15-58.
Lancaster Catholic: Way 24-162, Douglas 6-43, Stefanow 4-42.
PASSING
Hamburg: Shuey 7-14-0–134.
Lancaster Catholic: Stefanow 6-18-0–75.
RECEIVING
Hamburg: Werley 5-84, Horvath 1-33, Brady 1-9.
Lancaster Catholic: Warren 1-8, Dresch 1-21, Hegener 3-12, Dawkins 1-34.
