Schuylkill Valley comes up just short in wild Section 5 championship game
By Sean McBryan — MikeDragoSports.com correspondent
Dominic Giuffre and Schuylkill Valley stormed back from a three-touchdown deficit in the second half before ultimately falling to undefeated, state-ranked, and now Section 5-champion Lancaster Catholic 44-41 in a wild Lancaster-Lebanon League Section 5 finale Friday night in Leesport.
Gavin Tregea kicked a 23-yard field goal with 22 seconds left to lift the Crusaders to the victory after Giuffre and Lancaster Catholic running back Elijah Cunningham put on a clinic.
| Section 5 | League | Overall |
| Lancaster Catholic | 7-0 | 10-0 |
| Schuylkill Valley | 5-2 | 6-4 |
| Hamburg | 5-2 | 8-2 |
| Annville-Cleona | 5-2 | 7-3 |
| Kutztown | 2-5 | 3-7 |
| Pequea Valley | 2-5 | 2-8 |
| Northern Lebanon | 1-6 | 2-8 |
| Columbia | 1-6 | 3-7 |
“We played very well as a team,” said Giuffre, who finished with 225 all-purpose yards and a program record-tying six touchdowns.
He matched the record set by Edward Shuttleworth in 2014.
Giuffre’s final TD tied the game 41-41 with 3:33 remaining.
“We gave it our all and that’s a state-ranked team,” Giuffre said. “They’re very good. We knew they had our coach there for a while and there was some magic going on there. We came out tonight and gave it our best, for sure.”
Schuylkill Valley led 14-0 lead after Giuffre caught a 25-yard touchdown from Michael Goad and ran for 7 yards on its first two drives.
Dillon Lackner picked off Will Cranford’s pass to set up the second TD.
The Panthers (5-2, 6-4) just couldn’t contain Cunningham, who rushed for 302 yards and five TDs.
“It was a fun game,” Cunningham said. “It was really competitive. Both of us fought really hard. I really want to thank my O-line for everything. I love them.”
Cunningham ran for a 13-yard score to make it 14-7 with 4:45 left in the first and a huge 63-yarder to tie it with 10:08 left in the second. He was already up to 138 yards after the second score.
The Panthers answered with a quick-strike, three-play, 55-yard drive to regain the lead on Giuffre’s 11-yard dash just 57 seconds later. Goad hit Luke Spotts for 21 yards and Cooper Hohenadel ran 23 yards to set up the score.
On the Crusaders’ next drive, Cunningham carried the ball nine times for 41 yards and a 6-yard score as Lancaster Catholic chewed up nearly 7:00 of clock and took the lead back at 21-20.
Schuylkill Valley fumbled the kickoff and Charlie Warren recovered for the Crusaders (7-0, 10-0) at the Panthers’ 36.
Six plays later Cunningham again went 13 yards to the end zone with 13.5 seconds left in the quarter. The junior had 203 yards and four touchdowns before halftime.
Catholic received the ball to start the third quarter and capitalized with a 61-yard drive that — guess who? — Cunningham finished with a 2-yarder to make it 34-20.
Cranford hit Jaevon Parker for a 30-yard touchdown to make it a three-score game with 4:05 left in the third quarter and the Panthers’ chances looked bleak.
A fumble by Parker on a punt gave the ball, and life, back to the Panthers at the 8 and Giuffre ran it in on the next play for his fourth TD.
Schuylkill Valley forced a turnover on downs on the next drive and Giuffre took a short pass from Logan Nawrocki 50 yards for a score, cutting the deficit to 41-34 with 7:24 left.
Giuffre’s fifth touchdown was the most remarkable of them all. He took the pass practically in the back field, made a juke upfield, and spun a defender off him before running all the way to the touchdown.
“What a player,” said Schuylkill Valley coach Bruce Harbach. “Give him the ball and he makes things happen.”
“We ran that same play (earlier in the game), then I ran over to my coach and I told him to run it again,” Giuffre said. “But have them throw it back to me. Then, you know, I just saw somebody right in front of me and I juked and all my guys were blocking. We got it done.”
On the next drive the Panthers defense held Cunningham to 7 yards on three carries — no easy task. The ensuing punt went only 8 yards and Schuylkill Valley set up shop at its own 42.
Giuffre capped the 58-yard scoring drive with a 21-yard run to tie it 41-41 with 3:33 left in the game.
“Our mindset was just ‘We’re in this game, we can’t just let it go,’ ” Giuffre said. “We can’t hang our heads. We have to keep ourselves up.”
The Panthers again forced a punt but a fumble by Nawrocki as he tried to escape a sack gave the Crusaders the ball back at Schuylkill Valley’s 14, setting up Tregea’s game-winner.
Giuffre returned the ensuing kickoff to the 49 and the Panthers threw two incompletions, the last of which Harbach felt should’ve left more time on the clock.
“The last play we threw the ball when there were six seconds left,” Harbach said. “You know, give us an extra shot. It was disgusting.
“The kids came back to play. Three mistakes killed us but they battled to the end. We were down 21 points and they came back and tied it. You can’t ask more from your football team than that. We just couldn’t finish the deal.”
The loss won’t keep the Panthers out of the District 3 Class 3A playoffs; they’ll be one of six teams to make the field.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Final | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lancaster Catholic | 7 | 21 | 13 | 3 | 44 |
| Schuylkill Valley | 14 | 6 | 7 | 14 | 41 |
Scoring summary
| 1 | Schuylkill Valley | Giuffre, 25 pass from Goad (Wamsher kick) | 9:42 |
| 1 | Schuylkill Valley | Giuffre, 7 run (Wamsher kick) | 9:02 |
| 1 | Lancaster Catholic | Cunningham, 13 run (Tregea kick) | 4:45 |
| 2 | Lancaster Catholic | Cunningham, 63 run (Tregea kick) | 10:08 |
| 2 | Schuylkill Valley | Giuffre, 11 run (Kick failed) | 9:11 |
| 2 | Lancaster Catholic | Cunningham, 6 run (Tregea kick) | 2:32 |
| 2 | Lancaster Catholic | Cunningham, 13 run (Tregea kick) | :13.5 |
| 3 | Lancaster Catholic | Cunningham, 2 run (Kick failed) | 7:54 |
| 3 | Lancaster Catholic | Parker, 30 pass from Cranford (Tregea kick) | 4:05 |
| 3 | Schuylkill Valley | Giuffre, 8 run (Wamsher kick) | 1:08 |
| 4 | Schuylkill Valley | Giuffre, 50 pass from Nawrocki (Wamsher kick) | 7:24 |
| 4 | Schuylkill Valley | Giuffre, 21 run (Wamsher kick) | 3:33 |
| 4 | Lancaster Catholic | Tregea, 23 FG | 0:22 |
Team statistics
| Lancaster Catholic | Schuylkill Valley | |
| First downs | 23 | 16 |
| Rushes-yards | 46-315 | 33-172 |
| Passing yards | 139 | 186 |
| Total yards | 454 | 358 |
| Passes | 12-21-1 | 8-16-0 |
| Fumbles-lost | 2-1 | 1-1 |
| Punts-average | 2-27 | 2-40.5 |
| Penalties-yards | 5-35 | 6-70 |
Individual statistics
RUSHING
Lancaster Catholic: Cunningham 41-302, Cranford 2-8, Crawley 1-4, Parker 2-1.
Schuylkill Valley: Giuffre 14-113, Hohenadel 6-31, Goad 5-15, Woods 3-7, Nawrocki 5-6.
PASSING
Lancaster Catholic: Cranford 12-21-1–139.
Schuylkill Valley: Nawrocki 4-11-0–97, Goad 4-5-0–89.
RECEIVING
Lancaster Catholic: Parker 4-91, Gonzalez 4-31, Acker 3-24, Dresch 1-5.
Schuylkill Valley: Giuffre 4-112, Hohenadel 2-21, Crills 1-32, Spotts 1-21.
INTERCEPTIONS
Schuylkill Valley: Lackner.
