At long last, Pine-Richland gets PIAA finals rematch with St. Joseph’s Prep

By: HSSN Staff
Friday, December 8, 2017 | 9:27 AM

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After each win this season, Pine-Richland’s players gathered in a circle around coach Eric Kasperowicz and then broke the huddle by shouting the name of their next opponent.

Last Saturday in Altoona, after a win at Mansion Park, the Rams shouted the name they’d waited a long time to say: St. Joseph’s Prep.

“It’s an incredible feeling because you never know,” said Kasperowicz, moments after that semifinal victory. “You’ve got to come out, you’ve got to win, you’ve got to perform … to be able to get over that hurdle to where you’re finally there.”

“There,” is the state championship.

In a matchup widely anticipated since late summer, Pine-Richland faces St. Joseph’s Prep in the PIAA Class 6A final at 6 p.m. Saturday at Hersheypark Stadium. The two teams started this season as the top teams in the state, with Prep ranked No. 1 as the defending state champion.

Neither team stumbled along the way.

It’s a Pittsburgh vs. Philadelphia matchup that at times seemed inevitable. Pine-Richland (15-0) won the WPIAL title. St. Joseph’s Prep (13-0) dominated the Philadelphia Catholic League.

“If they’d have lost last week, I wouldn’t have been too upset,” Kasperowicz said with a laugh. “Now that they won and they’re there? Heck yeah, I’m glad it’s them. It’s a rematch. It’s a matchup that was supposed to happen.”

It’s a rematch from the 2014 state championships when Pine-Richland lost 49-41 in the Class 4A final. That Prep team sent running back recruits to Georgia and Virginia, a defensive back to Penn State and a lineman to Michigan. Kasperowicz said he re-watched that game this week and noted similarities to this year’s Prep team.

“This team doesn’t have quite the star power,” he said, “but it might be a better football team.”

Prep quarterback Marquez McCray ran for four touchdowns and threw two more in a 53-49 semifinal victory last Friday over Coatesville. The senior has passed for 1,414 yards and 13 touchdowns this season but also has rushed for 11 scores. The 6-foot-2, 220-pound dual-threat passer lists offers from Sacred Heart and Morgan State.

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Prep had trailed Coatesville by 18 points in the second half, but rallied to reach Hershey for the fourth time in five years. The Hawks won their first three finals appearances. They defeated Central Catholic, 42-7, in last year’s state final, and also defeated Central, 35-10, in 2013.

But despite last week’s offensive outburst, Prep’s strength this year is its defense, coach Gabe Infante said. His District 12 champions held nine of their 13 opponents to a touchdown or less, including a 27-7 victory over Class 5A state finalist Archbishop Wood.

“It was funny, last week in our shootout with Coatesville, our offense came of age, finally,” Infante said. “For many weeks it was us playing defense and special teams while protecting our offense a little bit. And then last week, you talk about the flower blooming at the right time.”

Defensive tackle Ryan Bryce (6-4, 285) is an Army recruit, middle linebacker Phil O’Connor (6-0, 210) is a Richmond recruit and safety Dawson De Iuliis (5-10, 195) is a Princeton commit.

“Without a doubt, they’re the best defense we’ve seen all year,” Kasperowicz said. “It’s going to be a challenge. They’re very multiple, they do a lot of things. They hit you from all areas. They run multiple fronts, multiple coverages. They bring pressure from all over the place, so we’re going to have to be very sound in what we do.”

When Pine-Richland last faced Prep, then-quarterback Ben DiNucci led a wild fourth-quarter rally with three touchdown drives. Prep saw a 42-21 lead shrink to one point with 2:15 left, but the Rams couldn’t steal the lead.

Infante’s memories from that game: “A lot of Rolaids.”

“People said to me afterward, that was one of the greatest high school games they’d ever watched,” Infante said. “I’m sure it was very entertaining to be a fan. … It was a see-saw battle. Two teams that refused to go down. That’s what happens at this time of the year.”

When he looked closely at Pine-Richland this week, Infante said he saw a team with a better defense and more offensive weapons than three years ago. Running backs Jordan Crawford and Kenny White might be the fastest they’ve faced, he said.

“Obviously, the quarterback is special,” Infante said of Rams senior Phil Jurkovec. “A lot of people talk about him. I understand why he’s going to Notre Dame. … But his talent kind of overshadows the other guys who are very talented.”

Jurkovec, who played through illness last week, is now healthy, Kasperowicz said.

Gone from Prep’s roster is star running back DeAndre Swift, who’s now a freshman at Georgia, but the team still runs the football. Three rushers have more than 500 yards.

Sophomore running back Kolbe Burrell (5-8, 185) leads with 721 yards and junior Marques Mason (5-8, 170) has 677. Each has 13 touchdowns. McCray, the quarterback, has 511 rushing yards.

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“The run game is what makes them go,” Kasperowicz said. “They’re going to try to run the ball. If we can do a good job of stopping the run, then we’re going to be in pretty good shape. If they run it at 4, 5 or 7 yards a clip, then it’s going to be a long day for us.”

Chris Harlan is a Tribune-Review staff writer. Reach him at charlan@tribweb.com or via Twitter @CHarlan_Trib.

Tags: Pine-Richland