Shaffer leads Vikings to victory
Allentown Central Catholic beats Becahi
Caiden Shaffer had worn No. 26 all season for Allentown Central Catholic, but he lost his jersey.
But the Vikings senior wasn’t about to lose what he received Saturday night at Whitehall High School.
Shaffer firmly clutched the gold medal he received from coach Tim McGorry after he ran for 154 yards on 24 carries and scored two touchdowns in a 14-3 win over Bethlehem Catholic for the program’s third consecutive District 11 4A championship.
Central avenged a 14-13 loss to Becahi just 15 nights earlier in the regular-season finale to both teams.
Now, they’d like to keep the revenge theme going when the Vikings play District 4 champ Jersey Shore in the first round of the state tournament Friday night, somewhere in District 4. Jersey Shore ended Central’s 2021 season with a 20-7 win last November at J. Birney Crum Stadium.
As long as Shaffer plays regardless of what jersey he wears, ACCHS has a chance to advance.
“Honestly, I lost my jersey,” Shaffer said when asked about the number change. “I don’t know where it is. But No. 43 works.”
Shaffer and Central had to work hard, especially defensively, to improve to 7-5 and claim the program’s 14th district championship.
Becahi had seven possessions inside the Vikings’ 35 and came away with just three points.
The Golden Hawks’ last three drives ended on interceptions by three different ACCHS defensive backs.
Nasir McLean had the first, Armonie Torres had the second and Travis Foster claimed the third.
“We emphasized getting turnovers all week,” said Foster. “No matter where they were on the field, we made sure to keep pounding at it. We knew we had to make sure to finish their drives because we know their drives weren’t over just because they reached the red zone.”
Foster said that in the first meeting with Becahi “they were running all over us.”
“This time we had to make sure we set the edge and forced them to pass the ball because we have a very good secondary,” Foster said. “We had them pass the ball and we got the interceptions.”
The picks aren’t an accident. “We have really good coaches that teach us to get to the high point [of a pass],” Foster said. “We key on the receivers and we just are well coached.”
McGorry made sure to compliment the defensive coaches, led by defensive coordinator Geoff Laird.
“The reason this is the fourth straight district finals we’ve played in and the third one we’ve won is because of our defense and Geoff Laird does an amazing job,” McGorry said. “Jamie Pagliaro, Dionte Wilson, Scott Horoshko, Alvin Pacheco, Jason Dankel, Matt Kosciolek ... they all do a great job on defense. People might not know who they are so they don’t talk about them, but we wouldn’t be here without that defensive staff.”
The Vikings defense started slow.
Bethlehem Catholic got a 44-yard run from Jacob Sutton on his team’s first play from scrimmage and Luke Thomas hit DJ Kelly for a 20-yard completion to the Central 16.
But the drive stalled from there and Jeremy Fyrer booted a 26-yard field goal to give the Golden Hawks a 3-0 lead. It proved to be Becahi’s lone points despite the fact Sutton ran for 138 yards.
The Vikings fumbled away a chance to score in the red zone but were able to erase the 3-0 deficit with a 13-play, 83-yard drive that lasted more than five minutes and was capped by Shaffer’s 3-yard TD run with 7:57 left in the first half.
Becahi had a chance to score with a drive to the Vikings’ 18 but was turned away with 11 seconds left in the half.
That trend continued throughout the second half for the Golden Hawks who drove to the Central 32 on its first possession of the second half, but a 15-yard penalty for not having proper equipment helped to end that drive.
The next possession went to the
Vikings’ 32 and ended on McLean’s interception.
The next one went to the 14 and resulted in Torres’ pickoff and the final INT was notched by Foster.
“The bottom line is they made some plays and we left a lot of plays on the table,” said interim Becahi coach Chuck Sonon. “We moved the ball down the field, but we didn’t make the plays when we had to.”
The Golden Hawks defense was nearly as stout.
But Central was able to able to stage one quality drive in each half. The clinching drive came in the fourth quarter and it resulted in Shaffer’s 1-yard run on fourthand-goal with 3:38 left after he had gained just one yard on three previous plays.
Tamlin Ferguson’s 32-yard strike to Aidan Sorrentino was the key play of the 12-play, 80-yard drive.
“Our O-line played their hearts out, Tamlin played his heart out, the receivers played their hearts out, and the defense stuck it out,” Shaffer said. “We all just never gave up. This was amazing, especially because they just beat us. We
weren’t going to let them stand in our way.”
Sonon said he was proud of the effort of his kids, not only on Saturday but also over the last five weeks of the season after he was appointed interim coach following the resignation of Kyle Haas.
“It’ll take a little bit of time to get over this loss, but the sun will come up tomorrow,” Sonon said. “They worked so hard and overcame so much adversity. It’s a shame to end this way. But I am very proud of them because they fought to the end after so many people counted us out.”
Asked about the job he did after stepping in, Sonon made clear it was Haas’ team.
“This was his team,” he said. “The kids came here because of Coach Haas, the coaches came here because of Coach Haas. I just happened to be the oldest with the most experience, so they asked me to become the head coach. I have no idea what’s going to happen. As long as I’m healthy I would love to be coaching somewhere again next year. But it’s not about me. It’s about the players.”