St. Joseph’s Prep takes down Pitt Central Catholic for PIAA 6-A title
In recent history, St Joseph’s Prep and Pittsburgh Central Catholic have been no strangers to the state championship in the PIAA’s highest classification.
The Hawks entered the contest seeking its third state championship in four years. Pitt Central Catholic kept the seat warm for SJP as it laid claim to the title last season. Prep’s run started with a win over the Vikings in 2013.
“They’re a great program,” Prep coach Gabe Infante said. “Any time you lock horns with a program like that, it’s a great accomplishment for us.”
With a dominant performance in the inaugural PIAA Class 6A championship game Saturday night, Prep brought the state championship back east as it defeated Central Catholic 42-7 at HersheyPark Stadium.
“Pennsylvania has got to be one of the toughest states in the country to win a state title in,” Infante said. “What this program has been able to do over the past four years by even coming this far is amazing but it takes a lot of people to do that.”
The Hawks were lead by all-star running back D’Andre Swift as well as stout defensive performance headlined by fellow co-captain James Johnson. Swift finished his illustrious career at the Prep with a school-record 4,252 career-rushing yards.
“He’s the greatest player I’ve seen in 20 years,” Infante said of Swift. “I’m not talking about guys I’ve coached, he’s the greatest football player I’ve seen in 20 years. I’ve coached two US national teams, two Army All-American teams, I’ve had the honor of coaching Heisman Trophy winners, and he’s the best football player I’ve seen in 20 years.”
SJP changed the momentum of the game midway through the second quarter. After quarterback M. McCray threw an interception deep in the Hawks own territory. As Central Catholic took over on the Prep 27 yard line, the Hawks forced a fumble to get the ball back.
After SJP regained control of the ball, the Hawks went 71 yards in three plays in less than a minute capped by 34 yard Swift TD.
The teams traded punts after the Swift touchdown as the Hawks found a way to put one more score in before halftime as McCray hit Darryle Simmons for a 35-yard touchdown just 13 seconds before halftime.
“In a game like this you’re going to have the ebb and flow of things,” Infante said. “There is going to be momentum shifts. I got to survive when the momentum is against you and you got to capitalize when the momentum is with you. When you’re playing great opponents and the game is very close your ability to capitalize on those moments is critical to your success.”
Even though the Hawks built themselves a 28-0 lead about halfway through the third quarter it still needed a couple stops from the defense as they were put on a couple short fields to truly put the Vikings away.
“When we get on to our side of the field that’s when we got to play with our best discipline. We took a step back, took a deep breath and we knew we were carrying the team at that point,” Johnson, who finished with a team-high eight tackles, two for loss and a game-high two sacks, said.
