Lancaster Catholic picks off Camp Hill in 2A semi
2024 Berks football coverage presented by
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(This story was produced by LNP/Lancasteronline, and published in partnership with MikeDragoSports.com.)
By John Walk — LNP/Lancasteronline
LANCASTER– Lancaster Catholic junior Ethan Shank started on defense for just the second time in his career Friday night. The first start came a week earlier, a result of pieces moving around on the Crusaders defense since two-way standout Charlie Warren went down with an injury two weeks ago.
This time Shank got the starting nod – again at cornerback – in a District 3 Class 2A semifinal against defending champ Camp Hill at Crusader Stadium. He came up huge with a pair of interceptions, one of them a Pick-Six, the other setting up a score in the Crusaders’ a 27-20 win.
With the victory, the second-seeded Crusaders (7-4) advanced to the championship game at top-seeded Steel-High (9-2), which beat No. 4 Upper Dauphin 34-14.
“After Charlie got hurt I got really nervous because I knew I had to step up,” Shank said. “I got a little nervous today coming back playing Camp Hill. … I didn’t eat much.”
Shank’s first interception came on Camp Hill’s opening drive; he returned it 47 yards for a 6-0 lead.
“I was watching the quarterback and watching the receiver out of the corner of my eye,” Shank said. “I saw the ball last second kind of fall, I grabbed it, I started running it, I faked out a defender – my first ever fake out in varsity – just tunnel vision. Once I got in the endzone a lot of nerves went away.”
Lancaster Catholic led 13-7 seven minutes in, as it appeared the wild start would be akin to the Week 1 matchup between these teams that the Crusaders had won in double-overtime, 42-41.
But Lancaster Catholic mostly kept a clamp on third-seed Camp Hill and its prolific passing quarterback Drew Branstetter from there until the final nine minutes of the game.
Shank’s next pick came on Camp Hill’s opening drive of the second half, which set up a 30-yard touchdown pass from David Stefanow to Colton Hegener to push the Crusaders’ advantage to 27-7. Lancaster Catholic running back Brandon Way again flashed with 123 rushing yards on 23 carries, two of them TDs.
Branstetter scrambled for a 61-yard rushing score to cut it to 27-14 with 8:33 remaining. He later threw a 24-yard rainbow to the back of the end zone to cut the deficit to 27-20 with 5:47 left.
The visiting Lions had two more possessions in an attempt to tie it but came up short.
Lancaster Catholic will be appearing in a district final for the first time since 2011, and for the first time under fifth-year coach Chris Maiorino.
“It’s been our goal to get back to a district final since I got the job,” Maiorino said. “This is our fourth time as a staff in the playoffs. We had lost each of the last three times, and we got beat pretty good the last three appearances. So we’ve taken that next step.”
