Short-handed Saints can’t keep up with powerhouse Friars

By Jason Guarente — MikeDragoSports.com senior correspondent

Whatever plans Berks Catholic had for its daunting matchup against Malvern Prep were scrambled about seven hours before kickoff. 

The Saints were told five starters were unavailable because of health and safety protocols. One of them was quarterback Mitchell Gatz.

Knocking off Malvern Prep at full strength was going to be difficult. Beating the Friars short-handed proved impossible.

Malvern Prep defeated Berks Catholic 37-7 in a non-league football game at Forino Sports Complex Friday night.

“I was disappointed we didn’t hold up our end more against a really good team,” BC coach Rick Keeley said. “But I’ll tell you what, the kids we had on the field spent it tonight. They gave it their best shot. The effort they gave in the face of the adversity we were hit with, I’m so proud of them.”

Gatz is the conductor of Berks Catholic’s option, which is fueled by running backs Christian Cacchione, Luke Hughes and Josiah Jordan.

Keeley had to decide who was going to take the snaps instead: sophomore William Hess or senior Ryan Scheivert, a transfer from Twin Valley. Most of them went to Hess, who grew up running the system. Scheivert played two series in the second half.

Berks Catholic’s offense never got moving. The Saints were held to a season-low 134 yards rushing and several drives bogged down on third-and-short plays. Those are usually easy conversions for this attack.

“It’s tough,” Hughes said. “There are going to be small mistakes when we don’t have our guy that we’ve been playing with all season. We rallied together. We had some offsides. Some fumbles. That happens with a new guy in there.”

There was a flicker of hope in the first quarter when Berks Catholic sacked Malvern Prep’s Jack Capaldi. Aron Reinhart scooped up the fumble and ran it to the Friars’ 16.

Jordan scored on a 3-yard touchdown four plays later to tie it at 7. That was Berks Catholic’s best moment.

Malvern Prep (3-1) had too much size and speed. Isaiah Wright rushed 15 times for 112 yards and three touchdowns. He was spelled by Yaahdir Nash who had 57 yards rushing and a TD.

“They’re impressive to watch,” Keeley said. “They have everything. They have speed in the backfield. They have big linemen up front. They have a quarterback who is well-skilled at his position. And a kicker who should be in the NFL.”

The kicker is Jake Reid, who has committed to the Naval Academy. He made a 26-yard field goal, sent his extra points into the trees and nearly put a kickoff through the uprights.

Hughes pulled his teammates together and tried to get them fired up shortly after the final play. There’s still plenty more season ahead.

“We did everything we could do out there against a team that just has a lot of guys that want to play,” Hughes said. “Those guys were huge. It’s tough when you’re coming up the middle and somebody is bringing it every play.”

Each of BC’s coaches used the same word in the postgame huddle: proud. This was one of those nights when the scoreboard didn’t tell the full story.

Berks Catholic (3-2) pulled through its rough non-league schedule with a winning record. Five league games await the Saints.

Keeley hopes to have his full roster in place when his team travels to Daniel Boone next week. 

“I think we’re ready to go into our league now,” he said. “I think we can make some noise.”

	1	2	3	4	Final
Malvern Prep	7	13	10	7	37
Berks Catholic	7	0	0	0	7

Scoring summary

Team	Player	Play	From	PAT Player	Extra Point
Malvern Prep	Wright	4 run		Reid	kick
Berks Catholic	Jordan	3 run		Givens	kick
Malvern Prep	Nash	14 run		Reid	kick
Malvern Prep	Wright	35 run			Kick failed
Malvern Prep	Reid	26 field goal
Malvern Prep	Wright	9 run		Reid	kick
Malvern Prep	Czarzasty	2 run		Reid	kick

Team statistics

	Malvern Prep	Berks Catholic
First downs	20	7
Rushes-yards	39-310	42-134
Passing yards	94	17
Total yards	404	151
Passes	5-8-1	2-5-0
Fumbles-lost	2-1	2-0
Punts-average	1-35.0	7-42.1
Penalties-yards	4-29	4-35

Individual statistics

RUSHING

Malvern Prep: Wright 15-112, Nash 7-57, Evans 5-54, Pippin 3-45, Czarzasty 4-40, Stocker 1-4, Capaldi 4-(-2).

Berks Catholic: Cacchione 15-57, Jordan 13-33, Hughes 7-27, McGeary 1-10, Bradley 1-9, Casantini 1-8, Scheivert 2-(-3), Hess 2-(-7). 

PASSING

Malvern Prep: Capaldi 3-5-0–79, Pippin 2-3-1–15.

Berks Catholic: Scheivert 2-3-0–17, Hess 0-2-0–0.  

RECEIVING

Malvern Prep: Brecker 3-35, Stocker 1-53, Falkenstein 1-6. 

Berks Catholic: Hughes 1-13, Pichardo 1-4.  

INTERCEPTIONSBerks Catholic: Armistead.