St. Joseph’s Prep holds off La Salle to win PCL-6A final

MARPLE >> John McSorley began the season as a running back and long snapper for the La Salle football team.

The junior, however, found himself with a new role late in the year with the Explorers in need of a quarterback.

“I played QB freshman year so they kind of knew I had it in me,” McSorley said. “And we were really low on QBs at the time and they tried me and I played pretty good so they kept me around.”

While his fourth start under center came Thursday night against St. Joseph’s Prep in the Philadelphia Catholic League Class 6A final, the limited amount of experience at the position did little to faze McSorley.

“I’ve been in these moments before,” he said. “Grade school and stuff, I’m used to it.”

McSorley threw a 10-yard touchdown pass to Nole Henry in the second quarter then scored from a yard out in the fourth as La Salle cut the Hawks’ lead to eight. But Prep’s duo of quarterback Semaj Jones and running back Khaseem Phillips combined for 219 rushing yards helped the Hawks hold on and advance with a 21-13 victory at Cardinal O’Hara.

“We came into this game thinking we can play anyone and we can stick with anyone,” McSorley said. “It was some of our guys’ last-game ever in this uniform so we all just wanted to play our hardest, give our last shot every play. And I think we did that even though we didn’t come out on top.”

Phillips put Prep up 7-0 with a 59-yard touchdown run on the third snap of game and finished with 126 yards on 13 carries. Jones added a pair of TD run in collecting 93 yards on 16 carries as the Hawks (8-1) won their eighth straight to earn a spot in next week’s District 12-6A final against either Lincoln or Northeast.

“We played a tough team and every time around this year none of the games are easy,” Jones said. “Every team that’s here they deserve to be here and they played like it. We played a tough team, they were hard up front and we want to beat where they’re best at so that’s why we put the ball on the ground and we kept driving with those guys up front.”

Jones gave Prep a 21-7 lead with his 10-yard touchdown run at 6:14 in the third quarter. La Salle (5-6) punted on the following drive but the Hawks fumbled on the return – the Explorers recovering at the Prep 34.

On 4^th-and-3 at the 16 Prep was called for offsides to give La Salle a first down at the 11 and four plays later McSorley powered over the goal line on a QB keeper from a yard out with 8:30 remaining. A blocked extra point kept the margin at 21-13.

“Momentum definitely shifted I think,” La Salle senior linebacker/running back Sean McFadden said. “These guys, they haven’t been playing a lot in the fourth quarter cause of how dominant they are. And we’ve been playing a lot of games in the fourth quarter because the season hasn’t been the best but I think it was a really good fight.”

A fumble on a high snap derailed Prep’s ensuing series and after a punt La Salle took over at its own 48 with 6:50 left. The Explorers, however, gained just a yard and gave the ball back to the Hawks after their three-and-out.

On 4^th-and-1 at the Prep 40 with 2:36 to go, Jones plowed through the line to pick up two yards and move the chains.

“We kind of made that play up in the huddle,” Jones said. “We put everybody in the right spot, I just get in there, I squat over 500 pounds so I get in there, drive my legs until I can’t anymore.”

Three plays later on 3^rd-and-5, the junior QB broke off a 27-yard run down to the La Salle 26 and the Hawks proceeded to kneel down three times to finish the win.

“I don’t care if I’m not playing and we win, as long as we move onto the next round,” said Jones, who was limited to 35 yards on 3-of-10 passing. “I just want to be here for another week and keep playing with these seniors because all of these guys, these are my brothers.”

Since falling to St. Joseph’s Prep 40-11 in their first meeting Oct. 8, the Explorers had won three of four – topping Father Judge 28-7 in last Friday’s PCL semifinal – but could not end its postseason drought against the Hawks. Prep has beaten the Explorers in six straight league playoff contests with La Salle’s last win coming in the 2015 4A final.

“There’s sadness, it’s my last high school football game but my team put everything out there, we did everything we could,” McFadden said. “We played against a great team that I think will probably go on to win the championship. So, left everything out on the field, we burned the ships and we did all we could.”

McSorley paced the Explorers on the ground with 32 yards and a touchdown on 14 carries while completing 8-of-13 passes for 73 yards and a TD. Henry had three catches for 44 yards and a score.

“It could’ve been better, we couldn’t get stuff down the field that’s cause they were blitzing so much,” McSorley said. “The stuff that was there we were trying to hit and it wasn’t there, we couldn’t really do much about it.”

Prep, looking to reach its seventh straight PIAA championship game – it was denied a fourth-consecutive state title last year by Mount Lebanon – got Thursday off to a quick start as Phillips raced through the left side then down the sideline for a 59-yard TD at 11:02 in the first quarter.

“We were still in our opener plays that we had scripted from the beginning of the week,” Jones said. “We got the look that we wanted, we lined up in a certain formation, we got our big guys on a certain side, drove ‘em all the way and “Caddie” Phillips, he hit the hole really tight, took it all the way to the house.”

La Salle knotted things 7-7 in the second quarter. McSorley found Henry for a 27-yard completion to set up 1^st-and-Goal at the six. The Explorers lost four yards on the next two plays but on 3^rd-and-Goal McSorley rolled right and connected with Henry, who dove into the end zone for a 10-yard TD at 7:29.

“So we did play action and I rolled out on it,” McSorley said. “I was waiting for him to break off the out and as soon as he did I threw it. He was wide open, made a nice play on it.”

But the Hawks responded by taking back the lead on the next series, going 65 yards on 10 plays – all runs – with Jones going up and extending the ball over the goal line on a QB sneak for a one-yard TD with 3:02 left before halftime.

“The best thing is having a team that can overcome adversity and you know that’s what these guys did. We got tied up where we didn’t think we’d be but they just put their foot on the pedal and we did what we did best and we ran the ball all the way down, got in the end zone.”

After La Salle went three-and-out on the first possession of the third quarter, Prep extended its lead to 21-7. Jones’ 18-yard run gave the Hawks a 1^st-and-Goal at the 10 and two plays later from the same distance Jones found the front left corner of the end zone on a QB keeper at 6:14.

“The best thing about offense is we got the golden egg so they’re trying to stop us,” Jones said. “So we’re always in control.”

St. Joseph’s Prep 21, La Salle 13

La Salle (5-6) 0 7 0 6 – 13

St. Joseph’s Prep (8-1) 7 7 7 0 – 21

First Quarter

SJP – Khaseem Phillips 59 run (Skyler Sholder kick), 11:08.

Second Quarter

LS – John McSorley 10 pass to Nole Henry (Andrew Park kick), 7:29.

SJP – Samaj Jones 1 run (Sholder kick), 3:02.

Third Quarter

SJP – Jones 10 run (Sholder kick), 6:14.

Fourth Quarter

LS – McSorley 1 run (kick blocked), 8:30.

 

LS SJP

First Downs 8 12

Rushes-yards 30-38 33-228

Passing 8-13-0 3-10-0

Passing yards 73 35

Totals yards 111 263

Punts 5 4

Penalties-yards 5-30 11-85

Fumbles-lost 1-0 2-1

 

Rushing

La Salle: John McSorley 14-32, TD; Stevie Davis 9-8; Chris Fileppo 5-2; Sean McFadden 2-(-4).

St. Joseph’s Prep: Khaseem Phillips 13-126, TD; Samaj Jones 16-93, 2 TD; Taj Dyches 4-9.

Passing

La Salle: John McSorley 8-13-0, 73, TD.

St. Joseph’s Prep: Samaj Jones 3-10-0, 35.

Passing

La Salle: Nole Henry 3-44, TD; Stevie Davis 1-11; John Koch 1-9; Ryan Sorge 1-5; Chris Fileppo 1-2; Mike Martino 1-2.

St. Joseph’s Prep: David Washington 3-31; Alijah Turner 1-6; Elijah Jones 1-(-2).

Interceptions
La Salle: None.

St. Joseph’s Prep: None.