Central Catholic wins in OT thriller

Whitehall takes care of business; Executive Education dominates

It was a clean sweep for District 11 teams in the opening round of the PIAA football playoffs Friday night, with Whitehall, Allentown Central Catholic and Executive Education Academy all advancing to the quarterfinals. Here is a roundup of the games.

Whitehall 34, Delaware Valley 13 (Class 5A):

Paulie Weinrich opened the scoring on an 11-yard rushing touchdown to give Delaware Valley a 6-0 lead with 5:25 left in the first quarter. Whitehall’s Andrew Deutsch kicked a 28-yard field goal to cut the lead to 6-3 to end the quarter.

The Zephyrs struck again, as Nigel Linton scored from three yards out and gave Whitehall a 10-6 lead. Delaware Valley retook the lead after Weinrich’s second touchdown of the night, this time a two-yard score, and Delaware Valley led 13-10 at the half. Whitehall scored first in the second half after Trey Dogmantis ran it in from two yards out, and Whitehall led 17-13.

Deutsch kicked his second field goal of the night, and his 23-yard field goal extended Whitehall’s lead to 20-13. Linton then broke the game open after running 52 yards to extend the Zephyrs’ lead to 27-13 with 4:56 left in the fourth quarter. Linton completed the hat trick as his third score of the night secured the win for Whitehall.

Allentown Central Catholic 38, Jersey Shore 31 (Class 4A):

Jersey Shore got on the board first to take a 7-0 lead with 5:54 left in the first quarter. However, before the end of the first, Allentown Central Catholic scored to tie the game at 7. Both teams traded scores, and Central added a field goal to lead 17-14.

Then, before the half, the Vikings blocked a punt and returned it for a touchdown, but Jersey Shore was able to score again to cut Central’s lead to 24-21 at the half. In the second half, Central Catholic started out with a pick-six to go up 31-21.

Jersey Shore answered again with a long touchdown run to cut the lead, and then a Jersey Shore field goal tied the game at 31 with 11:51 left. Central Catholic attempted a game-winning field goal, and it went wide left, so the game went into overtime. In overtime, Central Catholic scored first, and then Jersey Shore had a chance to tie it.

The Central Catholic defense made the play at the end, and Jersey Shore came up a yard short from tying the game.

Executive Education 42, Lakeland 15 (Class 2A):

After a scoreless first quarter, Executive got on the board first to take an 8-0 lead after Darmel Lopez threw a 45-yard pass to Damon Young. Lakeland was driving to tie the game, but a tipped pass led to a pick-six by Matthew Martinez, and Executive led 16-0.

Lakeland’s Lacota Dippre cut the lead to 16-8 at the half on a two-yard run. In the second half, Executive scored on its first drive when Lopez rolled right and found Emery Plummer for a 29-yard score to extend the lead to 22-8. On the ensuing drive, Dominico Spataro fumbled the shotgun snap, picked it up, and found Jon Seamans for a 9-yard touchdown pass. Executive answered right back, as the teams went three drives, three scores.

Lopez found a wide-open Young again, and this time for a 50-yard touchdown. Executive extended the lead to 36-15 as Jyhmiek Roman scored on a 38-yard run. Sylis Styles put the game on ice on a 37-yard touchdown run for the Raptors.