Pope John Paul II downs Father Judge in OT at Ocean City

Call it the Boardwalk Walkoff.

That was the Pope John Paul II football team’s method to victory Saturday in its game with Father Judge in Ocean City, N.J., as Boyd Skarbek’s two-point conversion run gave the Golden Panthers a 22-21 overtime win.

The decisive conversion was set up by Brent Mitala’s 16-yard touchdown reception from Logan Wesselt in overtime. That halted a run of 21 straight Father Judge points spanning from the start of the fourth quarter.

Pope John Paul II improved to 2-0 by coming through in the extra period after seeing a 14-0 lead through three quarters evaporate. Two-way force Mitala opened the scoring with a 75-yard TD reception from Chris Lucci. Mitala had four catches for 98 yards and two touchdowns and registered eight solo tackles.

Skarbek’s 28-yard run to the end zone in the third quarter staked PJP a 14-0 lead following Ben Bosio’s second extra point. Skarbek totaled 20 carries for 141 yards and had two catches for 23 yards.

It was a good day through the air for PJP: Luke Terlesky was 7-for-11 for 83 yards (1 INT), and Chris Lucci and Logan Wesselt were each 1-for-1, (respective TD passes of 75 and 16 yards).

Braden Reed (one catch for 34 yards) and Brendan Kenning (2 receptions, 19 yards) also caught passes for balanced PJP (174 yards passing, 178 yards rushing).

Defensively, linebacker Ryan Lamson had seven tackles, lineman Nyzir Lake had a sack and Makel Parker and TJ Boccella combined on a sack.

Pope John Paul II hosts District 3 heavyweight Berks Catholic next Saturday at 1 p.m.