Saints give up late scores, fall to Lancers
2023 Berks football coverage presented by
Utilities Employees Credit Union
By Logan Moyer — MikeDragoSports.com correspondent
LOYALSOCK TWP. — For a long while on Friday, Berks Catholic had the Loyalsock Lancers on their heels.
Two second-half scores were enough to push the Lancers to a 25-21 non-league victory at Kenneth M. Robbins Stadium.
The Saints lost to Loyalsock 34-21 in last season’s opener.
The contest was a contrast of two very different teams and programs. Berks Catholic – a successful program with five section titles and four district titles – heavily favors a ground-and-pound run game, while Loyalsock – a program that hadn’t recorded a 10-win season since 2009 before last year – prefers to cause havoc with its passing game.
“Obviously, Berks Catholic has an amazing tradition,” said Lancer head coach Justin Van Fleet. “Their offense and defense are highly sophisticated. They were ready.”
The Saints did plenty of damage on the ground, recording 284 rushing yards on 43 carries. Five different ballcarriers reached double-digit yards, an impressive figure when considering that three out the Saints’ four leading rushers from last season either graduated or transferred.
The ground game established itself well in the first half, with rushing touchdowns by Devin Garcia and Michael Bradley helping the Saints get out to an early lead.
“We came out ready to play,” said Saints head coach Rick Keeley. “The day after last season was over, these kids wanted to start in the weight room right away. They came out today and showed that they wanted to play.”
The Lancers found mixed success with the passing game. It started out great when third-year starter Tyler Gee found standout wideout Jaylen Andrews open downfield for a 68-yard touchdown connection on just the third play from scrimmage amid pouring rain.
Gee and Andrews connected three more times in the first half for 170 yards. However, Gee was intercepted twice in the half, both times by cornerback Bryce Gumby.
The Lancers also botched a snap at the goal line, turning what seemed like a certain score into their third turnover of the half.
Neither interception – nor the goal line fumble – led to a single point for the Saints.
“When you take the ball away from them, you’ve got to capitalize on that,” Keeley said. “It’s great if you can score from turnovers.”
The Saints added another score midway through the third quarter, pushing their lead to 21-13. It was at that point that the Lancers found their groove.
Gee played a part in both second-half scores by the Lancers. He found Andrews for a 3-yard TD in the third quarter, followed up by a 1-yard keeper on the second play of the fourth quarter. The latter score gave the Lancers the lead for good.
“I’m always disappointed that we lost, but I think I got a great effort from our kids,” Keeley said. “We lost to a good football team.”
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Final | |
| Berks Catholic | 7 | 7 | 7 | 0 | 21 |
| Loyalsock | 7 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 25 |
Scoring summary
| 1 | Loyalsock | Andrews, 68 pass from Gee (Cooley kick) | 10:51 |
| 1 | Berks Catholic | Garcia, 2 rush (Nguyen kick) | 8:03 |
| 2 | Loyalsock | Harman, 4 rush (kick failed) | 11:42 |
| 2 | Berks Catholic | Bradley, 28 rush (Nguyen kick) | 3:43 |
| 3 | Berks Catholic | Mace, 23 yard pass from Hess (Nguyen kick) | 6:14 |
| 3 | Loyalsock | Andrews, 3 pass from Gee (pass failed) | 5:08 |
| 4 | Loyalsock | Gee, 1 rush (pass failed) | 11:54 |
Team statistics
| Berks Catholic | Loyalsock | |
| First downs | 9 | 13 |
| Rushes-yards | 43-284 | 31-80 |
| Passing yards | 78 | 234 |
| Total yards | 362 | 314 |
| Passes | 8-17-0 | 7-21-3 |
| Fumbles-lost | 2-1 | 3-1 |
| Punts-average | 6-35.8 | 3-49.7 |
| Penalties-yards | 7-49 | 8-60 |
Individual statistics
RUSHING
Berks Catholic: Gumby 8-131, Pennington 6-68, Bradley 6-41, Rose 8-26, Garcia 8-18, Curley 4-2, Team 3-(-2).
Loyalsock: Gee 12-61, Bastian 8-21, Andrews 1-10, Harman 7-6, Burdett 1-3, Team 2-(-21).
PASSING
Berks Catholic: Hess 8-17-1-78.
Loyalsock: Gee 7-21-2-234.
RECEIVING
Berks Catholic: Mace 6-64, Gumby 1-11, Bradley 1-3.
Loyalsock: Andrews 5-173, Dowell 1-43, Bastian 1-28.
INTERCEPTIONS
Berks Catholic: Gumby 2, Bradley.
MISSED FIELD GOALS
Loyalsock: Cooley 20.
