Lansdale Catholic rallies back from 14 down to beat Bonner & Prendergast
LOWER GWYNEDD >> Kevin Gianoni described it as “a flash of light.”
“It gave us life,” the junior lineman said of his onside kick recovery that helped fuel a Lansdale Catholic comeback on Saturday night. “It changed everything.”
Gianoni pounced on his opportunity, and just three plays later, Evan Hannings dashed 43 yards, all the way to the tying touchdown that officially erased what was once a 14-point deficit with 7 minutes and 48 seconds left to play.
The Crusader defense forced a punt on the ensuing possession and then the offense needed just five plays to get back in the end zone. With 1:43 to go, quarterback Peter McHugh sprinted 12 yards and dove over the goal line for his first-ever game-winning touchdown, the final piece to a rousing 35-28 comeback victory over rival Bonner & Prendergast.
“We’ve had some rough games the past couple weeks,” McHugh said after the Crusaders lifted their overall record to 2-3 and improved to 1-2 in the Philadelphia Catholic League Blue Division, “but it felt good putting everything together and coming out with a win.”
The Crusaders, down 28-14 midway through the fourth quarter, slashed the deficit to seven when Mike Shragher pushed his way in from a yard out, and then a timely onside kick surprised the Friars and was clutched by Gianoni.
“We said before the game: ‘we’re brothers. We win together. We lose together,'” he said. “That game just showed us that we’re brothers.”
The Crusaders’ 21-point fourth quarter capped off a day in which their running game rolled: Danny Dutkiewicz battled for 149 yards on 27 carries, McHugh ran for 46 yards, and Hannings added 54.
“Danny is such a special player, and once he got going, you saw Evan get going and you saw Pete get going,” coach Tom Kirk said after his squad racked up 256 rushing yards on the Wissahickon turf. “You just saw guys feed off of that momentum, and momentum was a big part of what it was.”
Bonner & Prendergast (2-4, 0-3 PCL Blue) had built its lead to 28-14 due in large part to the many strengths of quarterback Kyle Lazer. Lazer broke free for 23 yards and a touchdown on a draw play, pushing the Friars ahead, 18-14. He then hit James Welde for the two-point conversion, making it 20-14 late in the third.
Bonner made it a two-touchdown lead with 7:48 to go, thanks to a 14-yard run by Nasim Cooper. Lazer again hit Welde for the two-pointer, this time on a fade to the corner. Lazer found five different targets for 96 yards, and was even more dangerous with his legs, converting scrambles and designed draw plays into 106 rushing yards.
“Boy, that kid can run,” Kirk said of Lazer. “I give Bonner a lot of credit with their game plan. (Lazer) is tough. He doesn’t look to go down. He runs the ball to get more yardage, so he’s a pretty impressive kid.”
LC’s defense clamped down in the clutch, forcing a punt and a turnover on downs on Bonner’s final two series.
The first half was just as back-and-forth as the second, with Bonner taking a 6-0 lead on a two-yard run by Charles Ingram. LC then went ahead 7-6 on a five-yard, McHugh-to-Evan Zawadski connection, and then back came the Friars, when Nasim Cooper reached the end zone on a 12-yard run, making it 12-7.
The Crusaders took a 14-12 lead into the break after Dutkiewicz scored on a three-yard touchdown, and then Bonner went ahead in the third.
“We can’t give up 21 points in the fourth quarter,” Friars coach Jack Muldoon said. “Unfortunately, I think our guys were getting a little too comfortable on the sideline.
“Give credit to Tom (Kirk). Tom’s a great coach and his kids always play hard. We did a lot of good things. We’re a pretty young team so we really hit our stride today in being able to get positive plays. We gotta learn how to close games.”
The Friars moved it to their 46 on their final possession, but LC stopped them there, taking over with 1:01 to play. A pair of kneel-downs by McHugh ended it.
Said Gianoni of the team’s resiliency: “We bend but we don’t break. There was no way we were losing this game.”
