Posted December 4, 2008





By John Knebels
Special to The CS&T

Apologetic.

That’s what West Catholic High School’s football team seemed like as it was posting a 49-21 victory Friday night over Dunmore High School in a PIAA Class AA state quarterfinal game that wasn’t even as close as the already-wide margin suggests.

It was as though any time West Catholic wanted to score a touchdown it was simply a matter of handing the ball off to someone or passing it to someone and watching him race untouched to the end zone.

“That was definitely a fun game to be a part of,” said senior quarterback Curtis Drake. “I don’t think they could stop us.”

That much was evident right from the start.

On the first play from scrimmage, Drake ran for 13 yards. Senior running back Rob Hollomon raced for 12 more on the next play. Then Drake decided to test Dunmore’s secondary, but that wasn’t much better when he and senior Eric Young hooked up for a 54-yard touchdown pass.

If ever a game was over at 7-0, this was the one. Before the half was over, Drake would rumble 53 yards for another touchdown. Hollomon would take the ensuing punt and dart 75 yards for yet another score.

It never got any better for Dunmore, which allowed a frightening 547 yards to the 13-1 Burrs. Meanwhile, defensive stalwarts Covisia Wilson and junior Dante Dickens helped keep the opposition’s offense mostly quiet.

West Catholic will take on Lancaster Catholic 7 p.m. Friday at Northeast High School.

“As soon as one game is over, we are thinking about the next game,” said Drake. “We’re not going to lose our focus.”

Archbishop Wood

rolls on

Nor has Archbishop Wood’s football team lost its focus.

In a PIAA Class AAA state quarterfinal at PlymouthWhitemarsh High School, the Vikings whipped Bayard Rustin of West Chester, 37-7, and will play District 4 champ Selinsgrove 7 p.m. Friday at Hersheypark Stadium in Hershey.

Running back Sean Cunningham and quarterback Sean McCartney were unstoppable. Cunningham scored five touchdowns and gained 177 yards on 23 carries, the most telling of which was a 70-yard scoring run in the second quarter that followed a goal-line stand by the Wood defense with the Vikings already leading, 13-0.

“Huge play by our defense,” said Wood coach Steve Devlin. “That was a turning point.”

When Cunningham wasn’t scoring, McCartney was picking apart the Rustin defense. He completed nine of 12 passes for 130 yards and a touchdown. The Vikings collected 382 yards of total offense, despite guard Gerry Campi being unable to play because he was sick. Junior Dave Messina replaced Campi and played flawlessly just like the rest of his teammates.

John Knebels can be reached at jknebs@aol.com.