Skarbek helps Pope John Paul II football run past Springfield in District 1-4A semifinal

UPPER PROVIDENCE >> Pope John Paul II’s game plan was to come out running the football in Saturday afternoon’s District 1 Class 4A semifinal against Springfield (Montco) Township. And Boyd Skarbek rose to the occasion for the Golden Panthers with 134 rushing yards and two touchdowns in a 49-14 win.

The Golden Panthers (10-1), the No. 2 seed, will play for the district title on Friday night at No. 1 seed Interboro, a 48-28 winner over defending champion Bishop Shanahan on Friday.

“We had a game plan to come in here and run it down their throats,” said Skarbek, who carried the ball 16 times in the first half and 18 on the afternoon. “And if that didn’t work, go to the pass. Both worked great.”

Pope John Paul II drove 51 yards for a score on its first possession with Skarbek carrying the ball three times for 29 yards, including a 20-yard trip into the endzone. A 42-yard drive, topped off by a 9-yard run by Brent Mitala, made it 14-0 just four minutes into the contest.

“We wanted to run the ball and throwing was actually a little challenging in the first quarter with the wind in our face,” Pope John Paul II coach Scott Reed said.

Q1, 7:51 — Aided by a personal foul on the Spartans, the Golden Panthers go up two scores after a 9-yard scamper from Brent Mitala.

Pope John Paul II 14, Springfield 0 pic.twitter.com/Mnz9uEVe2C

— Evan Wheaton (@EvanWheaton) November 5, 2022

Then Golden Panthers quarterback Luke Terlesky (9-of-15, 137 yards, 2 TD) went to work in the second quarter with a 30-yard touchdown toss to Braden Reed (four receptions, 67 yards).

The Golden Panthers drove 57 yards in the last minute of the half, scoring on a 3-yard run by Skarbek, to make it 28-0 at the intermission. Mitala caught a 28-yard scoring pass from Terlesky a little over a minute into the third quarter to start the running clock.

Meanwhile, Pope John Paul II’s defense held the No. 3 seed Spartans (5-5) to just 56 total yards in the first half.

That despite Springfield trying everything it could to move the ball with an assortment of counters, reverses, long passes and alternating quarterbacks.

“The defense really played lights out,” Reed said. “That No. 1 (Dylan McKenzie), we had to stop him. You’ve got to play assignment football. That’s what’s going to happen in the playoffs.”

“We just did our thing,” said Skarbek, who also played at linebacker. “We played a really good Wing-T team before – Berks Catholic. We had an idea of how to stop it. Our defensive line was a big part of our game today, especially Nyzir (Lake).”

John Beach came off the bench for a rushing touchdown for the Golden Panthers in the third quarter and Denny Owens scooped up a fumble and ran it into the endzone for a touchdown.

Springfield got on the board with an 80-yard touchdown pass from Mateo Ringgold to Miles Goodwin and Max Sanchez ran 26 yards for a score for the Spartans.

Q3, 4:10 — Apparently PJP’s reserves wanna eat, too.

Senior RB John Beach chops up 15 yards and rolls on into the endzone.

Pope John Paul II 42, Springfield 0 pic.twitter.com/UnmZTvkT6Q

— Evan Wheaton (@EvanWheaton) November 5, 2022

Pope John Paul II wound up with 331 total yards and Springfield had 190, split evenly between rushing and passing. McKenzie finished with 91 yards on 21 carries.

The Golden Panthers were coming off their first loss of the season, 21-14 to Perkiomen Valley in the Pioneer Athletic conference championship game.

“After that loss, we just wanted to come out with a 1-0 mentality,” Skarbek said. “Keep the mentality up. One game doesn’t define our season.”

The Golden Panthers expect a tough game with Interboro (9-2).

“You know what you’re going to get,” Reed said. “They’re very athletic. They have an unbelievable running back (Abu Kamara), one of the best in the state. We’ll have ourselves a huge challenge.”

Incredibly, Pope John Paul II has played only one night game the entire season, so that will add a twist to the contest at Interboro.
“It’s going to be a big week for us,” Skarbek said. “It’s our first Friday night game in a while (since Sept. 30 at Pottsgrove). We’ve got to be locked in all week in practice. They’re one of the best teams we’ve played all year.”

“I’m sure our kids will be excited,” Reed said. “They don’t get to play much on a Friday night.”

Pope John Paul II 49, Springfield (Montco) 14
Springfield (Montco) 0 0 7 7 – 14
Pope John Paul II 14 14 21 0 – 49
Scoring
First quarter
PJP-B Scarbek (20 run) Bosio kick)
PJP-Mitala 9 run (Bosio kick)
Second quarter
PJP-Reed 30 pass from Terlesky (Bosio kick)
PJP-B Skarbek 3 run (Bosio kick)
Third quarter
PJP-Mitala 28 pass from Terlesky (Bosio kick)
PJP-Beach 15 run (Bosio kick)
PJP-Owens 3 fumble return (Bosio kick)
SM-Goodwin 80 pass from Ringgold (A Kim kick)
Fourth quarter
SM-Sanchez 26 run (A Kim kick)
TEAM STATISTICS
SM PJP
First downs 5 14
Rushing yards 95 176
Passing yards 95 155
Total yards 190 331
Passes C-A-I 6-13-0 11-21-2
Fumbles-Lost 3-1 1-1
Penalties-Yards 10-51 4-40
Punts-Avg. 4-30.8 0-0
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
Rushing
Springfield (Montco); Mckenzie 21-91; Sanchez 1-26, 1 TD; Johnson 3-15; Ware 1-4; J Kim 3-(-2); Granderson 1-(-3); Ringgold 4-(-11); Team 1-(-25)
Pope John Paul II: B Skarbek 18-134, 2 TD’s; Mitala 4-29, 1 TD; Beach 5-18, 1 TD; Reed 1-2; Conrad 1-0; Sandor 3-(-2); DiBricida 1-(-2); Vigilante 1-(-3)
Passing
Springfield (Montco): Ringgold 5-9-90, 1 TD; Mckenzie 1-4-5
Pope John Paul II: Terlesky 9-15-127, 2 TD’s, 1 INT; Wessalt 2-4-28, 1 INT; Sandor 0-2
Receiving
Springfield (Montco): Mckenzie 3-11; Goodwin 1-80, 1 TD; Sanchez 1-5; Gibbons 1-(-1)
Pope John Paul II: Reed 4-67, 1 TD; Mitala 2-29, 1 TD; B Skarbek 1-24; Beach 1-19; Lucci 1-9; Kenning 1-6; White 1-1
Interceptions: SM-Johnson, Mckenzie
Sacks: PJP-Parker, Lake