JEFFREY REINHART jreinhart@LNPnews.com
MORE ON THIS GAME: Keith Schweigert blog post right here.
THE GAME: District 3 champ Lancaster Catholic Crusaders (13-1 overall) vs. District 12 champ Philadelphia West Catholic Burrs (13-1 overall), PIAA Double-A state semifinal, Charles Martin Stadium, Northeast High School, Philadelphia, Friday, 7 p.m.
LIVE BLOG: We will be blogging live from this game on the L-L League Insider at lancsports.com. So if you can’t make it to Philly, come and find us online and we’ll give you instant updates, scoring summaries, news and notes, plus your questions and comments.
LAST WEEK: Lancaster Catholic toppled Mount Carmel 41-28. … West Catholic routed Dunmore, the reigning state runner-up, 49-21.
WINNER GETS: District 7 champ Aliquippa (12-2) or District 10 champ Wilmington (13-1) in the PIAA Double-A state championship game, set for Saturday, Dec. 13 at 1 p.m. in Hersheypark Stadium.
THE COACHES: Lancaster Catholic’s Bruce Harbach is in his 7th season and he is 63-21 overall. … West Catholic’s Brian Fluck is in his 10th season and he is 83-43 overall.
LANCASTER CATHOLIC RESULTS: Trinity (L 20-0), Ephrata (W 44-7), @ Manheim Central (W 21-8), Donegal (W 35-12), @ Lampeter-Strasburg (W 21-17), @ Pequea Valley (W 68-14), Northern Lebanon (W 61-0), @ Columbia (W 49-13), Annville-Cleona (W 55-13), @ Elco (W 42-7), Biglerville (W 42-14), Wyomissing (W 45-7), Middletown (W 41-0), Mount Carmel (W 41-28).
WEST CATHOLIC RESULTS: Roman Catholic of Wildwood, N.J. (W 34-28), @ Penn Charter (W 35-0), LaSalle (L 27-26), Archbishop Carroll (W 63-12), Archbishop Wood (W 28-17), @ Kennedy-Kenrick (W 50-0), @ Cardinal Dougherty (W 64-7), Philadelphia Bishop McDevitt (W 62-7), Kennedy-Kenrick (W 63-21), Archbishop Carroll (W 56-7), @ Edward Bok (W 55-0), Benjamin Franklin (W 56-6), @ Palisades (W 63-20), Dunmore (W 49-21).
COMMON OPPONENTS: None.
LANCASTER CATHOLIC STAT PACK: Leading rusher – Jordan Stewart (152 carries for 910 yards, 6.0 avg., 15 TD); Leading passer – Kyle Smith (165-of-253 for 3,015 yards, 41 TD, 4 picks); Leading receivers – Travis Jankowski (53 catches for 1,150 yards, 21.7 avg., 20 TD), Tyler Purvis (53 catches for 1,069 yards, 20.2 avg., 11 TD); Team offense – 403.5 yards per game (3rd in the L-L League); Team defense – 186.3 yards per game (2nd in the L-L League).
WEST CATHOLIC STAT PACK: Leading rushers – Rob Holloman (125 carries for 1,742 yards, 13.9 avg., 34 TD), Curtis Drake (90 carries for 1,341 yards, 14.9 avg., 18 TD), Raymond Maples (114 carries for 1,020 yards, 8.9 avg., 16 TD); Leading passer – Curtis Drake (57-of-91 for 1,257 yards, 14 TD, 3 picks); Leading receiver – Eric Young (15 catches for 536 yards, 35.7 avg., 9 TD); Team offense – 458.1 yards per game; Team defense – 179.0 yards per game.
LANCASTER CATHOLIC NEWS AND NOTES: 13 wins are a single-season record for the Crusaders, who are making their deepest trip in the postseason. … Outscored opponents 565-160, including 169-49 in the postseason. … Plus-17 in turnover ratio with 30 takeaways (20 picks, 10 fumble recoveries). … 97 penalties for 796 yards. … 33.3 yards per punt on 32 boots. … 229 first downs. … Kyle Smith’s 41 TD passes are single-season school and L-L League record. … Crusaders also feature a pair of 1,000-yard receivers in Travis Jankowski (53-1,150) and Tyler Purvis (53-1,069). Jankowski’s number is a single-season school record.
WEST CATHOLIC NEWS AND NOTES: Burrs have won the last three Philadelphia Catholic League championships in a row. … West Catholic has outscored its opponents by an insane 704-173. That’s an average score of 50-12. In six postseason games (including the Philadelphia Catholic League playoffs) West Catholic has outscored the opposition 342-75. That’s an average score of 57-12. … The 704 points scored are the most in Philadelphia Catholic League history, shattering the previous mark of 584 points, scored by Archbishop Carroll in a 13-game run in 2000. … Trio of 1,000-yard backs, including RB Rob Holloman (1,742; 13.9 per carry), QB Curtis Drake (1,341; 14.9 per keeper) and RB Raymond Maples (1,020). That’s the third PIAA team since 2005 to have three 1,000-yard backs, joining Montoursville (2005) and Serra Catholic (2007). … Drake is a Penn State recruit. He will likely play WR or DB for the Nittany Lions. He’s put together quite the career for the Burrs: 2,171 rushing yards and 33 rushing TDs; 3,190 passing yards and 40 TD tosses. He’s also 32-2 as West Catholic’s starting QB, with the lone losses coming to Roman Catholic last year and to LaSalle this season. He was 8-0 in 2006, 11-1 last year and 13-1 so far this season. That was a one-point setback to LaSalle way back in Week 3, so the Burrs are riding a tidy 11-game winning streak. … Holloman has scored 37 touchdowns (a Philadelphia city single-season record) and he’s scored 234 points … K Tim Carroll has booted 82 extra points – another Philadelphia city single-season record. … Plus-17 in turnover ratio with 28 takeaways. … And this might be my favorite Burrs’ stat: West Catholic has punted 10 times in 14 games. That’s it.
QUOTABLE: Lancaster Catholic coach Bruce Harbach – “We’re in for a real battle. It’s going to be a barnburner. I just hope we can stop them.”
Lancaster Catholic QB Kyle Smith – “There is no familiarity there (with West Catholic), but that works both ways. … I think our film study will be pretty intense this week. We’re going to have to find out what they like to do on offense and defense.”
Lancaster Catholic WR Tyler Purvis – “We’re excited to keep playing. Our school has never gone this far. But we have a really big challenge in front of us next with West Catholic. They’re a good team, so we’ll have to practice really well this week to be ready to go in this big one.”
MULTI-MEDIA LINKS:
Ted Silary Philly Daily News West Catholic football page
Lancaster Catholic QB Kyle Smith interview after Mount Carmel win
Lancaster Catholic WR Tyler Purvis interview after Mount Carmel win
Lancaster Catholic coach Bruce Harbach interview after Mount Carmel win
Lancaster Catholic QB Kyle Smith New Era Player of the Week interview
Lancaster Catholic QB Kyle Smith “In his own Words” interview
Lancaster Catholic WR Tyler Purvis New Era Player of the Week interview
Lancaster Catholic’s Nick Schmalhofer “In his own Words” interview
