Berks Catholic grinds up York Catholic 40-17

READING>> Berks Catholic is just warming up.

With the Saints’ title defense of their Berks League Section 2 crown due to get underway in couple of weeks, head coach Rick Keeley’s crew looks primed for the fight.

The Saints welcomed York-Adams diocese staple York Catholic to town Friday night, and after a slow start, found that feared running gear and quickly shifted into overdrive.

Berks Catholic (3-0) rolled up 369 yards rushing — without its top back for most of the contest — and subdued York Catholic 40-17 after spotting the Irish a brief field goal lead.

Once the potent Berks Catholic hybrid Wing-T attack found its footing, York Catholic could not provide the resistance necessary to weather the storm.

Filling in for injured brother Isaac — who tweaked a hamstring in the first quarter — wingback Cooper Lutz shifted behind the line to halfback and proceeded to rip off 164 yards on 12 carries. With the lead securely in hand and the bulk of his work done, Lutz handed the baton to Brandon George, who ran for 59 on two totes, including a 55-yard steamroll through York Catholic’s second level for a third-quarter score.

Justin Huntsman shifted to Cooper Lutz’s abandoned wingback slot and added 88 on six, including 65- and 2-yard TD scampers. The attack was so potent that quarterback Terrance Derr basically had the night off. Derr threw four balls, completing three of them for 19 yards. He suffered an early pick that did not do damage.

It was a thorough display of execution and precision, from the offensive line on down. York Catholic isn’t Wyomissing, and there are still some things to be cleaned up, but the Saints show no signs of slowing down coming off last year’s 12-1, 6-0 effort.

“I really like the way the team responded,” Keeley said. “We lost Isaac early, who’s our go-to guy.

“There were a couples times where he was just a trip or stumble out-of-bounds away from turning in a couple more big runs.”

The Saints started sloppily, however. It’s something the team was able to recover from, but also something that might bite them against the likes of Wyo later in the year. York Catholic recovered a Lutz fumble on Berks’ first series and cashed it in for an early 3-0 lead on a 31-yard field goal by Luke Brennan.

Derr was picked off on a deep toss inside the Irish 10 on next on the Saints’ next possession. As it turned out, it was as good as a punt, because York went 3-and-out on its possession, then suffered a 21-yard punt that sputtered out-of-bounds at the Irish 32.

Lutz gave a hint of things to come when he took the first snap 32 yards to the end zone and a 7-3 Berks lead.

“We were close, we were inches away from making plays,” York Catholic head man Eric Depew said. “We didn’t the tackle, guys came up short there. But they’re a good football team. They’re fourth in the state (AA).

“Well, we were the first to score on them this season and we had some momentum there. Again, just inches away. Guys reaching for tackles. Little things that we’ve got to get better at.”

The spirit-breaker was an 11-play, 50-yard march midway through  the second quarter, a foray that resulted in a 20-3 lead. The Irish had the Saints on fourth down twice, but Berks converted both times to keep the drive alive. Huntsman punched it in from two yards out for the first of his pair of scores.

Defensively, Berks had York quarterback Daniel Yokeman on the run much of the night. Yokemick’s accuracy suffered outside the pocket, as he was harassed into an 8 of 22 night for just 62 yards. Running back Sean Lamont gained 85 yards on 14 rushes and scored a late TD, but the bulk of that was picked up after Berks emptied its bench.

 

York Catholic – 3  0  0  14 — 17

Berks Catholic – 7  20  13  0 — 40

 

First Quarter

YC – Luke Brennan 31 FG, 7:22

BC – Cooper Lutz 32 run (Alex Gunderson kick), 2:28

 

Second Quarter

BC – Terrance Derr 1 run (kick blocked), 9:32

BC – Justin Huntsman 2 run (Guunderson kick), 3:26

BC – Marcus Wilson 4 run (Gunderson kick), :39

 

Third Quarter

BC – Brandon George 55 run (Gunderson kick),  5:36

BC – Huntsman 65 run (kick failed), 2:59

 

Fourth Quarter

YC – Daniel Yokemick 6 run (Brennan kick), 2:31

YC – Sean Lamont 2 run (Brennan kick), :55

 

First Downs

BC 12, YC 8

Rushes-yards

BC, 37-369; YC, 31-150

Pass C-A-yards-Int

BC, 3-4-19-1; YC, 8-22-62-1

Total Yards

BC 388, YC, 212

Fumbles-Lost

BC, 1-1; YC, 0-0

Penalties-Yards

BC, 5-45; YC, 3-33

Punts-ave.

BC, 3-29.0; YC, 8-34.4

 

Individual stats

Passing

BC, Terrance Derr 3-4-19-1; YC, Daniel Yokemick 8-22-62-1

Rushing

BC, Issac Lutz 2-10, Marcus Wilson 9-45, Cooper Lutz 12-164, Justin Huntsman 6-88, Marco Ramos 3-10, Tom Molteni 1- (-2), Derr 2-5, Brandon George 2-59; YC, Sean Lamont 14-85, Yokemick 8-8, Andrew Polson 7-33, Joseph Bauhof 2-24.

Receiving

BC, Tanner Pajakinas 2-6, Huntsman 1-13; YC, Brandon Creisher 6-32, Bauhof 2-30.