Lancaster Catholic’s season ended by West Perry, again
2023 Berks football coverage presented by
Utilities Employees Credit Union
(This story was produced by LNP/Lancasteronline, and published in partnership with MikeDragoSports.com.)
By Dave Byrne — LNP/Lancasteronline
LANCASTER — It was like déjà vu all over again.
Same location, Lancaster Catholic’s Crusader Stadium. Same opponent, West Perry. Same round of the District 3 football championships, the Class 3A semifinals.
Same outcome, a decisive win by the visiting Mustangs, this time 49-20.
West Perry quarterback Marcus Quaker and tailback Brad Hockenberry ran for a combined 371 yards and six touchdowns as the Mustangs (11-1) advanced to the Class 3A championship game. They will meet the winner of Saturday’s semifinal between Schuylkill Valley and defending champion Wyomissing.
Quaker and Hockenberry ran for 271 yards last year in a 63-20 victory and served notice Friday on the second play of the game that not much had changed when Quaker took a Veer option around right end 59 yards to the end zone.
“It was a great play call,” said Quaker, who totaled 186 yards on 18 carries, including TDs of 59, 1, and 13 yards. “We run the true Veer, a lot of quarterback fakes, pitches and stuff. We saw them getting down on our tackles, so we took advantage of it.”
“Marcus is such a remarkable athlete,” Crusaders coach Chris Maorino said. “We couldn’t tackle him, again. That was the story last year. We had some different things we were trying and it just came down to we couldn’t keep him contained.”
Nor could they contain Hockenberry (17 carries for 185 and three TDs), who scored on runs of 13 and 15 yards and broke a 62-yard option pitch late in the first half that erased the euphoria of R.J. Gonzalez’s 95-yard kickoff return for a TD.
Unshaken, the Crusaders worked the two-minute drill, driving 65 yards in nine plays as David Stefanow hit Gonzalez for a 5-yard score on fourth-and-goal.
Getting the ball to start the second half and just 13 points down, the Crusaders had the opportunity to make a game of it. But Eli Cunningham (19 carries, 153 yards) fumbled on the first play from scrimmage. Cody Erno — who was a burr under Catholic’s saddle all night with two tackles for losses and a sack — recovered at the Catholic 28 and seven plays later Quaker ran in from a yard out.
“Their D-tackle made a heck of a play, was in the backfield like that,” Maiorino said of Erno. “Eli put his foot in the dirt, the ball got away from his body. That kind of stuff happens.”
Catholic put together a lengthy drive that stalled in the shadow of the Mustangs’ goalpost, when Cole Brown intercepted Stefanow’s fourth-down pass. Quaker engineered an 11-play, 70-yard march, culminating in his 13-yard keeper around right end, aided by a beautiful seal-off block by Hockenberry on the corner.
Hockenberry added his 15-yard score late, triggering the mercy rule. That was answered by Cunningham’s 51-yard dash to the end zone on Catholic’s ensuing possession, but it was too little, too late.
