UPPER PROVIDENCE — West Chester Rustin could have been demoralized for the rest of the afternoon after being stopped on two 4th-and-1 plays deep in Pope John Paul II territory in the first quarter and then falling behind in the second on Saturday. But the Golden Knights were rejuvenated by a touchdown on an interception return, eventually took the lead for the first time early in the third quarter and held on for a 20-13 win in a battle of undefeated teams coming off long playoff runs last season.
Pope John Paul scored on a long pass play to close to within 14-13 with 1:22 remaining in the non-league contest. But a pass attempt for two points was broken up by the Knights (3-0), who added a touchdown at the final buzzer when PJP (2-1) tried several pitches and laterals on a desperation final play and ended up fumbling the ball away into the hands of a Rustin’s Josh Colonia in the end zone.
Chase Hatton ran for 99 yards, Jojo Magolon came up with the key interception for the score, quarterback David McClain kept his team composed and the Knight defense held the potent Panther passing game mostly in check. Luke Terlesky passed for 250 yards and both TDs for PJP, including 11 completions to Braden Reed for 178 yards.
“They’ve got some players,” McClain said of the Golden Panthers. “We came out on fire and stayed with the ground game. We bounced back from adversity. I’m proud of the guys.”
“They’re very well-coached, very experienced, went to the (District 1) 5A semifinals,” PJP head coach Scott Reed said. “I’m just proud of our kids. They fought to the bitter end and gave ourselves a chance to win.”
PJP stopped the visitors on fourth-down running plays at the 15 and 3-yard lines, respectively, in the first quarter and then scored on a 15-play, 97-yard drive in the second, with Terlesky passing 12 yards to Dylan Skarbek for a 7-0 lead with 5:25 to go until the half.
Then Pope John Paul quickly forced a punt, but Magolon picked off a pass and ran it back 31 yards to tie the score.
“Early on, when you get stopped inside the 20-yard line twice, it can be tough,” said Rustin head coach Mike St. Clair. “But the pick six turned the tide and gave us emotion.”
A PJP possession to open the third quarter came to a quick end as a 15-yard penalty, the first of several costly infractions in the second half, forced a punt on 4th-and-23. Rustin proceeded to drive 39 yards on six plays, taking a 14-7 advantage on a 4-yard run by Ryan Loper.
That’s the way the score remained until the final minutes as PJP helped Rustin sustain drives with a pair of pass interference penalties and the Golden Panthers were forced to punt twice.
“A big part of the little things is you can’t have penalties like that,” Reed said. “It hurt us in field position. But they’re just trying to be aggressive. They’re just trying to play.”
Pope John Paul finally scored again when Terlesky hit Reed downfield in stride for a 74-yard scoring play. But Rustin defenders knocked down the two-point pass try at the goal line to preserve the slim lead.
“It was a shot at a win,” said Reed, whose team won the Pioneer Athletic Conference and District 1-4A titles last year. “That’s what we usually do. They’re a team built to go from the 10. We’re going to take a shot.”
PJP got the ball back with 10 seconds to go and tried everything it could to score from its own 12, only to have Colonia wind up with a touchdown.
Rustin’s goal was to control the ball with its ground game as it rolled up 204 yards on 45 rushing attempts while throwing the ball only three times for a total of 33 yards.
“We’ve got tons of moving pieces in the backfield,” said McClain. “It came down to physicality. Move the ball down the field, take time off the clock. As long as we have control of the ball, we’re confident. The defense deserves a ton of credit.”
“You try to attack some of their weak spots you think they might have, but they don’t have many,” added St. Clair. “You just try to ground it out. (McClain) is a three-year starter. He kept his composure and ran the offense. He kept them all focused.”
On the other hand, PJP threw the ball 31 times while running 18 times for a total of 22 yards.
“They’ve got a great quarterback, a great receiving corps,” said St. Clair. “It was what we thought it would be – a slugfest. We made one or two more plays at the end of the game.”
West Chester Rusin 20, Pope John Paul II 13
West Chester Rustin 0 7 7 6 – 20
Pope John Paul II 0 7 0 6 – 13
PJP-Skarbek 12 pass from Terlesky (Simonic kick)
WCR-Magolon 31 interception return (Adler kick)
WCR-Loper 6 run (Adler kick)
PJP-Reed 74 pass from Terlesky (pass failed)
WCR-Colonia 3 fumble return (no point attempted)
Team Stats
WCR PJP
First Downs 14 11
Yards Rushing 204 22
Yards Passing 33 250
Total Yards 237 272
Passes C-A-I 2-3-0 19-30-1
Fumbles 1-0 1-1
Penalties-Yds 5-50 9-93
Punts-Avg 3-31.3 5-35.0
Individual Stats
Rushing
West Chester Rustin: Hatton 16-99; Loper 9-37, TD; Jacobs 2-33; McClain 13-26; DiAntonio 3-8; Magolon 2-1; Totals 45-204.
Pope John Paul II: Lucci 9-24; Skarbek 2-9; Scruggs 2-1; Reed 1-0; Terlesky 4-(-12); Totals 18-22.
Passing
West Chester Rustin: McClain 2-3-33.
Pope John Paul II: Terlesky 19-30-250, 2 TD, 1 INT.
Receiving
West Chester Rustin: Loper 2-33.
Pope John Paul II: Reed 11-178, TD; Skarbek 3-40, TD; DeAngelo 2-7; Bass 1-17; Digiacomo 1-6; Scruggs 1-2, Totals 19-250.
Interceptions: WCR-Magolon.
