UPPER PROVIDENCE — Pope John Paul II picked apart the Berks Catholic defense with short passes play after play early in Saturday afternoon’s non-league contest. That and a solid performance by the offensive line and running backs led to a 21-point lead seconds into the second quarter.
And though the visiting Saints managed to get their offense moving in the second half and make things interesting a couple times, PJP still had plenty of points to spare in a 49-28 win.
Sophomore quarterback Luke Terlesky completed 19-of-26 passes for 294 yards and three touchdowns and Boyd Skarbek ran for 93 yards and two scores for the Golden Panthers (3-0). Josiah Jordan rushed for 106 yards and three TDs for Berks Catholic (0-3).
“My offensive line, they were great all game,” said Terlesky. “The receivers were getting open. But mostly my offensive line.”
“We took advantage of a couple things,” said Golden Panthers coach Scott Reed. “The run game set up the pass and Luke did a nice job of delivering the football.”
Terlesky completed 12 of his first 13 passes, including 11 in a row at one point. Among them was a 50-yard toss to Brent Mitala that opened the scoring three minutes in.
Skarbek ran 10 yards for a score a few minutes later and Mitala hit the end zone again on a 2-yard run for a 21-0 lead just 17 seconds into the second quarter.
Berks Catholic got on the board late in the half when Devin Garcia rumbled up the middle for 89 yards to the PJP 8 and Jordan ran in from the 6 on a fourth-down play.
“They picked us apart with their passing game,” said Saints coach Rick Keeley. “We regrouped a little bit. If it was 21-7 at halftime, we could make it a ballgame.”
But that was not to be as the Golden Panthers countered with two touchdowns in the final minute before the break on a 39-yard TD pass from Terlesky to Mitala, an interception by Chris Lucci and a quick 36-yard strike from Terlesky to Skarbek to go up 35-7.
Jordan scored on a 42-yard run for the first TD of the second half. Midway through the fourth quarter, Jackson Haas scooped up a fumble and returned it to the PJP 1-yard line, setting up a 1-yard sneak by quarterback William Hess to pull the Saints to within 42-28.
But PJP clinched it with an 80-yard drive, topped off by a 1-yard sneak by Terlesky with 2:20 remaining.
“They’re a good program and so you know they’re not going to go away,” Reed said concerning the Saints. “They have phenomenal running backs who can break it at any time. We wanted to take control of the football.
“I was really proud of our offensive line today. Every time they scored, we controlled the line of scrimmage.”
Mitala finished with five catches for 110 yards and two scores, Skarbek had four receptions for 90 yards and Brendan Kenning caught six passes for 77 yards. The Golden Panthers racked up 432 total yards.
“We’ve been learning our offense since Coach Reed took the job,” said Terlesky. “Everybody’s been doing a great job and been in the play book.”
Keeley was happy with his team’s effort after the halftime break.
“We talked about coming out hard in the second half, instead of putting our heads down and quitting like some teams might do,”he said. “I liked the way we played in the second half, but it was too little, too late.”
Source: Berkshire mont
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