Central Catholic defense strong in rout of York William Penn

By: James Dotson
Saturday, August 24, 2019 | 12:45 AM

After losing the final two games of the 2018 season, Central Catholic saw its 2019 season start off a little rocky. After a three-and-out to start the game Friday night, the Vikings gave up a long scoring drive to fall behind early.

Central Catholic responded with 42 unanswered points to defeat York William Penn, 42-7, in the Western Pennsylvania vs. Everyone Showcase at the Wolvarena in Turtle Creek.

After forcing the early punt, York High went on an eight-play, 68-yard scoring drive, capped by a 5-yard touchdown run by quarterback Tobee Stokes to take the early 7-0 lead. All eight plays were on the ground, running out of a three-back shotgun formation that caught the Viking defense by surprise.

“I give those guys credit, that was a nice plan,” Central Catholic coach Terry Totten said of York, a Class 5A team out of District 3. “They have some skilled athletes, and they’re gutsy kids. But we took it over and didn’t let go of it.”

JD Younger returned the ensuing kickoff to the Bearcats 35-yard line. The short field led to a 1-yard Dom Pieto touchdown, his first of three touchdowns on the evening via the QB sneak, tying the game 7-7 late in the first quarter.

The defenses then took over for the remainder of the first half. After trading three-and-outs, Central Catholic linebacker Luke Harris picked off a Stokes pass over the middle and returned it 30 yards for a touchdown early in the second quarter. Eddy Tillman then snuck through the middle of the York High defense in the two-minute drill for a 51-yard score to give Central Catholic a 21-7 lead at the break.

The lead was nearly cut in half on the final play of the first half. After a muffed punt at midfield with four seconds left, Stokes lined up at running back, the position where he has played in his first three years at York High. He took a pitch from backup quarterback Samuel Stoner and heaved a long pass down the field. The pass went off of the fingertips of the Bearcat receiver who had streaked past the Central Catholic secondary.

The second half was all Vikings, as Pieto ran for two more touchdowns and threw another on a 31-yard pass to Anderson Cynkar. Central Catholic outgained York, 156-17, in the second half. After allowing 68 yards on the opening scoring drive, the Vikings defense held York to just 4 yards of offense the rest of the game.

“The first drive of the game was almost flawless,” York High coach Russ Stoner said. “I think we hit them in the mouth pretty well. At the end of the day, they’re a great football team, and I think we’re a pretty good team, also.

“I was really proud of our kids, especially in the first half I thought we really battled. Their size just wore us down as the game progressed.”

Tillman led the ground attack with 109 yards and a score on eight carries for Central Catholic. Pieto finished with a Jerome Bettis-style stat line of five carries for -3 yards, with three touchdowns.

While it was a great start to what he hopes to be a huge season for the Vikings, Totten knows that the challenges continue with conference foes Seneca Valley and North Allegheny in the next two weeks. Only then will they know just how good their team can be.

“I’d like to tell you in a couple of weeks,” he said. “We have two big conference games (coming up). We have the potential to be good, so we need to just keep working.”

Tags: Central Catholic