Serra Catholic defense leads way in win vs. Burrell

By: Liam Belan
Friday, September 16, 2022 | 10:40 PM

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Time and time again, Serra Catholic’s defense has come up with huge, game-changing plays.

A week after winning against Washington by stifling them on a 2-point attempt, the Eagles (3-1, 1-0) defense came up with the goods in a 38-20 conference-opening victory over Burrell (3-1, 0-1).

There were two defensive plays that tilted the game in the home team’s favor. First, with less than a minute remaining in the first half, the Buccaneers looked to convert on fourth and 2 from their own 38-yard line. Chase Fenner initially was stuffed at the line of scrimmage before he broke free and ran 52 yards, but John Payne hustled all the way back to punch the ball out, and Jesere Young recovered.

Then, the Eagles capped a monstrous third quarter with 28 seconds remaining when Amire Spencer picked up a Devin Beattie fumble and took it 51 yards to make the score 35-14.

“That’s what we do,” Serra coach Jose Regus said. “That’s what we teach. Doing our defensive practice, (defensive coordinator Akeeme Robinson) and the rest of the staff, we emphasize defense. It’s a learned behavior, so we’re going to continue to practice it.”

Serra outscored Burrell, 21-0, in the third frame to pull away after the Buccaneers that controlled much of the play in the first half.

The visitors had success with their potent rushing attack early on as they did not attempt a pass. Beattie finished with 121 yards and a touchdown on 23 carries, and Mason Jones added 79 more yards and another touchdown on 16 rushes. Jones also added two takeaways and a defensive touchdown of his own.

“(Jones) is only a sophomore, and he’s going to be really good,” Burrell coach Shawn Liotta said. “We needed him tonight with two linebackers injured, and he really stepped up to the occasion.”

The Buccaneers opened the scoring early as Beattie scampered 49 yards to find the end zone. On the first play of the impending drive, the Eagles fired back as Spencer scored the first of his two receiving touchdowns on a foot-long shovel pass from Elijah Ward. The receiver took it 72 yards to tie the score.

Burrell strung together a monstrous drive for its next score with 2:16 remaining in the first quarter. Jones capped off a 14-play scoring series with a 23-yard touchdown run to give his team the lead once again at 14-7.

On Serra’s fourth offensive play of the game, it tied the score with Quadir Stribling finding Jaden Banks for a 70-yard touchdown strike. Stribling finished 6 of 11 for 136 yards and two touchdowns, and Banks finished with two grabs for 74 yards and the touchdown.

The teams went into the halftime break all square as there was no scoring in the second quarter. Apart from the terrific defensive play from Payne and Young, neither team came close to allowing points.

Regus knew his squad had to improve on a few things coming out of the break.

“We got together and pinpointed a few key factors that we had to improve on,” Regus said. “We had to keep our effort going and make plays in the second half.”

The Eagles did that, and then some.

First, it was Spencer who hauled in his second touchdown grab, this time from Stribling. The reception was 37 yards and gave Serra its first lead of the game. Then, Payne had his lone catch of the game: a 46-yard touchdown from Ward, who finished 3 of 6 for 122 yards and two touchdowns. The last score of the third quarter was Spencer’s 51-yard scoop-and-score that made the score 35-14 in favor of the Eagles.

Both teams scored in the fourth quarter as Burrell added the lone touchdown through Jones who had a 60-yard fumble recovery for a touchdown after Stribling lost the ball and it pinballed around several players. This made the score 35-20 after a failed point-after attempt.

Caden Bauer closed the scoring with a 30-yard field goal to make the final score 38-20 in favor of Serra.

Liotta said that his team won’t take moral victories, but he feels like he has a squad that is competitive and could be playing in November.

Still, the defending WPIAL Class 2A champions came out with the better end of the bargain.

“We’re taking it one game at a time,” Regus said. “We’ll take the win. We’re going to continue to build and try and get better, and we’ll move from there.

Tags: Burrell, Serra Catholic