Blocked PAT preserves Pope John Paul II’s 21-20 win over Chichester
A brave crowd gathered in Conshohocken on Friday to watch the Pope John Paul Golden Panthers host the Chichester Eagles, but after a 47-minute weather delay and just 7 minutes of game time, the contest was suspended.
Once the game resumed Saturday night – now with Chichester’s home field as the venue – the Panther offense came alive, exploding for a pair of long touchdowns in the first half before a blocked point-after try in the final minutes preserved a 21-20 victory.
Pope John Paul II improved to 3-0 on the season while Chichester took its first loss to go to 2-1.
On Friday night, Chichester was able to take a lead in driving rain on a 59-yard touchdown pass from Nate Decenzi to Jamese Lundy-Byrd. That lead would hold up for roughly 23 hours as lightning flashed and the game was suspended and moved from Conshohocken to Chichester’s home stadium.
With 24 hours to scheme for his next offensive drive, Golden Panthers’ head coach Rory Graver dialed up a play to get his team back into the game quickly and quarterback Kamal Gray hit Justin Kormos down the seam for a 70-yard touchdown pass just two plays after the game resumed.
“We saw they were being aggressive when we sent our guys in motion,” Graver said. “They didn’t have a safety deep, so we were able to get our guy open down the middle of the field for the long touchdown.”
The teams traded three-and-outs before Chichester receiver Damian Thompson came up with a circus catch and scampered into the end zone for a 36-yard touchdown and a 14-7 lead.
Not to be outdone, Pope John Paul II went back to their vertical passing attack and Gray connected with Steve Skarbek down the sideline for a 62-yard touchdown that tied the game before the half. All told, the teams combined for 385 yards in the first half.
The Panthers took their first lead of the game, 21-14, early in the second half when a CJ McCafferty touchdown capped off a 4-play, 35-yard drive that followed Kormos’s second interception of the night.
The Eagles had a prime opportunity to tie the game late in the fourth quarter after recovering a fumble on the Pope John Paul 21-yard line. However, after gaining little ground on their first three plays, Decenzi took a shot for the end zone on fourth down, but Kormos knocked the ball away, forcing a turnover on downs.
“Kormos is a sophomore, but he played great for us tonight,” Graver said. “He had that long touchdown, a pair of interceptions and came up with that breakup late in the fourth quarter to prevent a touchdown.”
After forcing a three-and-out, the Eagles offense got one final chance to tie the game. Taking over at their own 48-yard-line with 1:39 remaining in regulation, the Eagles marched down to the 1-yard-line before Shaheem Pleasant dashed around the right end for a touchdown that pulled Chichester within 1.
However, after a short break to fix the clock, Pope John Paul was able to block the extra point and preserve their 1-point victory.
“That just shows you how resilient our guys are,” Graver said. “A bad football team would’ve hung their heads after that touchdown and admitted defeat, but our guys hung in there and made a play to win the game.”
The Panthers’ offensive attack was led by quarterback Gray, who threw for 168 yards and three touchdowns. AJ Natale was the leading rusher for Pope John Paul, picking up 83 yards on 21 carries.
Dicenzi completed 17 of his 33 pass attempts for Chichester, racking up 264 yards, two touchdowns and three interceptions.
