Central Catholic football flexes EPC strength, mauls Meadville in PIAA quarterfinals
Allentown Central Catholic’s football team is battle-tested. And that allowed the Vikings to be overwhelmingly dominant on Friday night.
Central Catholic flexed its Eastern Pennsylvania Conference pedigree and crushed Meadville 50-7 in the PIAA Class 4A quarterfinals at Bald Eagle Area High School.
The victory puts the Vikings (9-5) into the state semifinals, where they’ll meet unbeaten WPIAL champion Aliquippa. It’s the first time the program has reached the PIAA semis since 2012.
“It’s awesome,” senior quarterback Tamlin Ferguson said. “All the guys up front played really well; the receivers played well; the running backs ran hard; our defense only let up 7. I’m really proud of these guys … Naquon (Godfrey), Mitch (Cowen), Braheem (Battles), Nick (Basilage), Fynn (McDonald) all of them do such a great job up front.”
The start of the game went exactly to plan for Meadville. The Bulldogs used 15 runs out of the Wing-T to reach fourth-and-12 at the Central Catholic 14-yard line. Then, Meadville attempted its first pass of the game – a touchdown from senior Gavin Longstreth to classmate Khalon Simmons.
Central didn’t allow Meadville’s momentum to linger for long. Senior Griffin Patridge returned the ensuing kickoff to the Vikings’ 47. The District 11 champions used a hurry-up attack and completed a drive of 1 minute and 58 seconds with a 1-yard score by Caiden Shaffer.
“We repped it this week, and I think we got comfortable with it,” Ferguson said of the up-tempo approach. “It was just about getting up to the ball and getting set. It was something we thought we could take advantage of; I thought we did a good job with it tonight.”
“They move a lot on the defensive line, and different guys pressure,” Vikings coach Tim McGorry added about Meadville. “We thought speeding it up was going to make them be a little bit more vanilla and not pressure as much.”
Meadville went three and out on its second possession. Central again took over at its 47 and needed just four plays to reach the end zone as Shaffer ripped off a 30-yard touchdown.
Shaffer later made a game-changing play on defense as Meadville tried to tie the contest late in the second quarter. The Vikings senior sacked Simmons for a 22-yard loss on fourth-and-7, giving Central possession at midfield with 39 seconds remaining in the first half.
Ferguson then tossed the ball up to sophomore Jareel Calhoun, who was in single coverage. Calhoun adjusted to the pass and cruised into the end zone for a 50-yard TD.
Meadville tried to get tricky with a reverse on the ensuing kickoff but fumbled. Senior Ethan Hosak jumped on the ball at the Bulldogs’ 20.
Shaffer converted the turnover into points with a 20-yard touchdown with 4 seconds left in the second quarter. Junior kicker Luke Myers’ PAT made the score 28-7 at the break.
The Vikings took six plays and 1 minute and 48 seconds to go 65 yards on the opening series of the second half. Shaffer took a direct snap for a 2-yard score (his fourth and final TD of the night) to push the lead to 35-7.
Ferguson completed 16 of 22 passes for 202 yards and a TD. He also scrambled for a 3-yard touchdown to push the Vikings’ lead to 41-7 early in the fourth quarter.
Ferguson started at QB for Central as a junior but lost a close battle for the position prior to this season. He eventually won the job back, and now he’ll be under center in the state semifinals.
“It’s been a big test. It’s been a huge learning curve for me. It was just perseverance – keep working hard, put your head down and grind every day in practice,” the senior signal-caller said. “I’m really proud of these guys; we did a great job.”
“Tamlin was productive a year ago ... He just kind of got behind rep-wise in the offense,” McGorry explained, noting Ferguson is a dual-sport athlete who also plays baseball. “You could see it Week 3, Week 4, as he started getting all those reps in him, he was starting to come along.
“There’s not a kid in the world who could have handled that situation better. He was a great teammate; he was great in the quarterback room ... His opportunity came, and he’s been fantastic.”
All the QB’s completions went to either Calhoun or Patridge. Calhoun had 10 receptions for 124 yards. Patridge, who forced a safety to enact the mercy rule in the fourth quarter, made six catches for 78 yards.
“They’re big-time receivers,” Ferguson said. “They go up and get the ball. They find holes in the defense. I thought they did a really good job tonight.”
Shaffer finished with 104 yards on 11 carries. Junior Nathan Schultz added 137 yards and a touchdown on 21 carries, all of which came in the second half.
“We want to be physical. We want to run the football,” McGorry said. “... We felt pretty good coming in that we were going to be able to run the football. Those guys up front did a great job.”
The Vikings finished with 452 yards of total offense.
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