KEITH SCHWEIGERT, Online Sports Editor

Well, one thing’s for certain: Lancaster Catholic’s defense will have its hands full.

I’ve spent the last day or so gathering info on West Catholic, the Philadelphia school that the Crusaders will face Friday night in the PIAA Class AA semifinals at Philly’s Northeast High School (cheap plug alert — LancSports.com will be all over this one, blogging live from the game starting around 6:30 p.m.)

And after looking at the Burrs’ season stats, one word springs immediately to mind:

Yikes.

The Burrs (yes, they’re named after those annoying little prickly things that stick to your coat when you walk through a thicket) have posted some truly staggering offensive numbers this season. In 14 games, they’ve scored 704 points (a 50.3 per-game average) and rushed for 5,132 yards (373.2 per game). They have three — yes, I said three — 1,000-yard rushers in their backfield: Penn State-bound quarterback Curtis Drake (1,341 yards, 18 TDs), Division I prospect Rob Hollomon (1,742 yards, 34 TDs) and the slacker of the trio, Raymond Maples (a mere 1,020 yards, 16 TDs).

Then there’s the sheer size of their line, which is anchored by All Catholic League selections Jake Zuzek (6-2, 290) and Victor McNair (6-0, 280).

Meanwhile, their defense yields just 12.4 points per game, 109.2 rushing yards per game and 79.8 pass yards per game. They have some beef up front on that side of the ball as well, paced by All-Catholic picks John Ruppert (5-9, 290) and Chris Williams (6-2, 215).

Drake, who was recruited by Penn State as an athlete — and not necessarily a quarterback — is the first Philly signal-caller to rush and pass for 1,000 yards in the same season. He’s completed 57 of 91 throws for 1,257 yards and 14 TDs, with just three interceptions. His top receiver is Eric Young (15-536, 9 TDs), who had two TD catches in last Friday’s 49-21 win over Dunmore. Drake rushed for 182 yards and scored twice in that victory.

You look at numbers like West Catholic’s, and you wonder how Lancaster Catholic will have any hope of winning.

Here’s one way they could do it — by matching the Burrs score for score and turning the game into a shootout. Catholic certainly has the talent on offense to do it. While the Crusaders’ offensive stats aren’t as gaudy as West Catholic’s, they’re nothing to smirk at, either: 40.4 points per game, 219.3 pass yards per game and 183.1 rush yards per game. 

And while Lancaster Catholic may not have come across a team as fast as West Catholic when it was roaring through Section 3 of the Lancaster-Lebanon League and Mercy-Ruling its way through Districts, I don’t know if the Burrs have come across an offense with an arsenal like the Crusaders have at their disposal.

Are there many quarterbacks out there as efficient and talented as Kyle Smith, who has completed 65 percent of his passes for 3,015 yards and 41 touchdowns? Do many teams have two wide receivers as dangerous as Travis Jankowski (53 catches, 1,150 yards, 20 TDs) and Tyler Purvis (53-1,069, 11 TDs)?  Certainly not. And that’s not even taking the Crusaders’ ground game, which is paced by rising star Jordan Stewart (152-910, 15 TDs) into account.

Catholic should certainly be able to keep pace with Drake, Hollomon and company. There’s potential for the final score of this one look like a basketball game. But let’s not count out the Crusader defense just yet. Defensive coordinator Jami Sands threw some wrinkles at Mount Carmel in Catholic’s 41-28 victory last week, and his strategy worked. He’ll have to pull out all the stops to have any hope of slowing down West Catholic, but it’s not impossible to imagine.

And then there’s head coach Bruce Harbach’s ability to motivate. Last week, all the Crusader players heard about was how Mount Carmel thought they were a finesse team, unable to match up with the Tornadoes’ physical style of football. Harbach drove that point home repeatedly, and it resonated. The Crusaders came out roaring on both sides of the ball, taking a commanding 21-7 lead at the half despite having an insane amount of penalties called on them by an overly excessive officiating crew (10 flags for 106 yards in the first half alone).

You can be sure that this week, the Crusaders are having West Catholic’s offensive stats waved in their faces like a red flag in front of a bull. One good thing about being an underdog is that it’s easy to get motivated. Look for the Crusaders to come out with a chip on their shoulders on Friday.

Whether motivation and determination will be enough to stop West Catholic and earn a trip to the state finals remains to be seen. You certainly won’t see me offer any predictions — I haven’t seen any game film of the Burrs, and it’s impossible to guess how two teams with no common foes will match up until you see them on the field.

But I think I’ll decline a seat on the West-Catholic-is-the-favorite bandwagon everyone outside of Lancaster County seems to be jumping on. The Crusaders have the talent to win this one. It will all come down to execution.