Lansdale Catholic falls in season finale to Neumann-Goretti

LOWER GWYNEDD >> In the last game of the season for both teams, defending District 12-3A champion Lansdale Catholic suffered a tough loss in a high-scoring Philadelphia Catholic League Blue Division affair to Neumann-Goretti at Wissahickon High School with a final score of 53-34.

Before the game, Lansdale Catholic (2-7, 1-6 division) honored its 11 seniors to celebrate Senior Night — Mike Shragher, Evan Zawadski, Jason Carr, Jack Griffin, Brian Allen, Sean Gallagher, Matt Brulenski, John McCabe, Timmy Quinn, Sean Sweeney and Colin McKeever.

Both teams were nodded up at 14-14 at the end of the first quarter as each side ran for two touchdowns, including a 35-yard and 60-yard touchdown run for LC junior running back Danny Dutkiewicz.

In total, Dutkiewicz finished the game with four rushing touchdowns, all of them coming in the first half.

“I have to thank the line for helping me today,” said Dutkiewicz. “They had great blocks and I was just there to get those touchdowns.”

Highlighting the victory for Neumann-Goretti (2-5, 2-5) was running back Malik Griffin, who also had four touchdowns in the game.

After having a close 28-27 lead at halftime, the Neumann-Goretti defense came up big in the second half, winning the third quarter 12-7 and the fourth quarter 13-0.

Lansdale Catholic head coach Tom Kirk was sad to see the season end with a tough loss in a high-scoring game.

“I thought this was going to be like a 50-49 game,” said Kirk. “It’s just that Nuemann-Goretti is a tough team to stop and they really had the defense going.

“In a shootout, it’s a tough win for us to get,” added Kirk. “I’m proud of the way the kids came out and battled. It has been a difficult year for us so I’m proud of the way they finished the season.”

In total, it was more of a running game for both teams as both teams combined for 728 rushing yards with Lansdale Catholic out-running Neumann-Goretti 374 to 354.

Dutkiewicz finished the game with 229 rushing yards and four touchdowns in the loss.

Neumann-Goretti had two running backs run for over 100 yards including Tysheem Johnson and Griffin. Griffin finished the game with 129 yards and four touchdowns while Johnson finished with 181 yards and two touchdowns.

Neumann-Goretti 53, Lansdale Catholic 34
Neumann-Goretti 14 14 12 13 -53
Lansdale Catholic 14 13 7 0 -34
NG- Griffin 33-yard run (PAT missed)
LC- Dutkiewicz 1-yard run (Menges kick)
NG- Johnson 35-yard run (Holmes run two-point conversion)
LC- Dutkiewicz 60-yard run (Menges kick)
NG- Lively 55-yard pass to Gentry (two-point conversion failed)
LC- Dutkiewicz 10-yard run (Menges kick)
LC- Dutkiewicz 23-yard run (two-point conversion failed)
NG- Lively 22-yard pass to Johnson (Lively run two-point conversion)
NG- Griffin 8-yard run (two-point conversion failed)
LC- McHugh 4-yard pass to Shragher (Menges kick)
NG- Griffin 4-yard run (two-point conversion failed)
NG- Griffin 25-yard run (Hall kick)
NG- Johnson 25-yard run (PAT missed)
LC NG
First downs 18 14
Rushing yards374 354
Passing yards 42 117
Total yards 416 471
Passing 5-8 4-7
Penalties 6-35 6-55
Fumbles lost 1 1
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING – Nuemann-Goretti: Johnson 14-181, 2 TD; Griffin 17-129, 4 TD; Warren 3-26; Lively 3-17; Bailey 1-4; Gabriel 1-(-3). Lansdale Catholic: Dutkiewicz 32-229, 4 TD; McHugh 12-72; Carr 7-71; Shragher 1-2.
PASSING – Nuemann-Goretti: Lively 4-7, 117 yds, 2 TD. Lansdale Catholic: McHugh 5-7, 42 yds, 1 TD. Dutkiewicz 0-1.
RECEIVING – Nuemann-Goretti: Johnson 2-77, 2 TD; Jones 1-25; Gentry 1-15. Lansdale Catholic: Shragher 5-42, 1 TD.