West Catholic holds on to beat Lansdale Catholic in PCL Blue clash

AMBLER >> It didn’t look good early for Lansdale Catholic when Carl Smith took a short pass from Zaire Hart-Hawkins and raced 61 yards for a West Catholic touchdown on the very first play from scrimmage.
But the Crusader defense dug in.
“The only thing that killed us was their speed,” said Lansdale Catholic linebacker Kevin Gianoni. “It was their speed that got to us. Otherwise, we had it down.”
The Crusaders (3-2, 1-1 PCL Blue) limited the Burrs (2-3, 1-0 PCL Blue) to just seven points after halftime, allowing room for a late comeback. That comeback fell short, as West Catholic held on for the 28-21 victory, but there were several positives for the Crusaders in the Philadelphia Catholic League Blue Division clash.
“We had Danny (Dutkiewicz) making plays left and right, Luke (Shrager) making plays left and right. Our d-line gave them pressure all game,” said Gianoni, who shined at center and at linebacker for LC. “We just fell short at the end. We’re back next week though.”
Hanging in >> LC surged ahead 7-6 in the first quarter when quarterback L.J. Phillips was able to scramble around and then find Andrew Fredrickson for a 35-yard touchdown.
West Catholic went back up 14-7 when Nelson Mandala Mensah bolted in from two yards out and then Justino Griggs caught the conversion pass from Hart-Hawkins.
The Crusaders tied it on their next possession.
A 16-yard pass from Phillips to Tyler Owen set the drive in motion, and soon after Peter McHugh broke free, sprinting his way to a 53-yard touchdown that deadlocked things at 14 apiece.
It looked as though the score would remain that way into intermission, but the Burrs moved it 80 yards in nine plays. There was time for just one more play, and on 4th-and-6 at the 16, Hart-Hawkins hit Julio DaSilva in the end zone for a 20-14 lead at the break.
Finding its way >> The LC defense forced a three-and-out to start the second half but then Justino Griggs caught a pass over the middle and dashed 32 yards for a touchdown, and along with the conversion pass to Shakur Smalls, the visitors had a 28-14 lead on the road at Wissahickon.
“If we make a mistake, we’re gonna surround each other. We’re not gonna get mad at each other,” Gianoni said of his squad.
“We bend but we don’t break,” he said of the defense. “We’re supposed to give our offense chances. And we’re there to pick up if they can’t finish.”
The Crusaders forced the Burrs to punt on each of their next two possessions, allowing just eight total yards in the fourth quarter.
That allowed LC to cut into the deficit, and when Dutkiewicz scored on a three-yard run, it was 28-21 early in the fourth quarter.
The Crusaders reached the Burrs’ eight-yard line on their next drive, but Phillips was sacked and fumbled, and West Catholic took over. The Burrs were forced to punt on their next series, and LC again drove it inside the 10.
However the fourth-down pass sailed out of the end zone.
The Crusaders controlled play for most of the second half, dominating in plays from scrimmage, 36-18.
“You could tell we picked the speed up in that second half,” Gianoni said.