BLACK FRIDAY
Pennridge, LC and Upper Dublin suffer district defeats
CONCORD » Pennridge’s District 1-6A run ended Friday night in the semifinals as host No. 3 Garnet Valley erased a 14-7 halftime deficit with 21 straight point to beat the sixth-seeded Rams 28-20 at Moe DeFrank Stadium.
Matt Lassik ran for a pair of touchdowns while Danny Guy gave the Jaguars the lead for good with his 89-yard punt return for a TD at 8:08 in the third quarter as Garnet Valley (12-1) advanced to its second straight District final.
Pennridge (10-3), who was playing without Penn State commit Nick Tarburton — the Intelligencer’s Tom Moore first reporting earlier Friday he would miss the game due to school suspension — was making its first District 1 semifinal appearance since 2012.
Garnet Valley took a 7-0 lead on Cade Brennan’s 5-yard fumble return for a TD at 4:38 in the first quarter.
Pennridge pulled even at 11:10 in the second quarter on Zak Kantor’s TD on a 1-yard quarterback sneak. The Rams used a fumble recovery to go up 14-7, with Kyle Schetter scoring on a 5-yard run with 6:34 left in the first half.
Garnet Valley made it 1414 on Lassik’s 41-yard touchdown run at 9:54 in the third. Guy then took a punt down the right sideline for an 89yard TD for a 21-14 Jaguars lead.
Lassik’s 4-yard touchdown run made it 28-14 at 5:12 in the fourth.
Pennridge cut the margin to 28-20 with 2:00 left in the fourth as Kantor found Cooper Chaikin for a 30-yard TD pass.
Conwell-Egan 44, Lansdale Catholic 20
LEVITTOWN » Terome Mitchell’s 78-yard kickoff return for a touchdown followed by Mitchell’s two-point conversion run with just 15 seconds left in the first half put Conwell-Egan in front for good, and the Eagles went on to a commanding 44-20 win over Lansdale Catholic in the District 1/12-3A Regional Final at Truman High School Friday night.
The Crusaders had gone ahead for the first time, 7-6, on a play-action pass from Mike Dutkiewicz to Jake Doheny, but then Mitchell returned the ensuing kickoff for the score and ran in for two.
Mitchell even recovered the ensuing kickoff, but Egan would have a field goal blocked in the final seconds of the half.
The win sends the Eagles to the PIAA-3A Quarterfinals next week, to take on either Palisades or Lehighton — those two teams play Saturday.
Egan (6-6) took a 6-0 lead in the second quarter on a seven-yard run by Patrick Garwo. LC (5-7) blocked the extra-point attempt.
After Mitchell’s heroics in the final stages of the first half, Egan extended its lead in the third quarter with a blocked punt for a safety and a six-yard quarterback draw by Alex Goldsby, making it 23-7.
The Crusaders tightened things up on a three-yard TD run by Matt Cassee, but the two-point run was stopped, leaving it at 23-13.
Goldsby scored on an eight-yard bootleg to make it 30-13 after three.
The two teams traded scores in the fourth - Garwo had a one-yarder for Egan, Casee a one-yarder for LC. And then a 39-yard gallop by Garwo capped the scoring. — Kev Hunter
Springfield 17, Upper Dublin 6
SPRINGFIELD » Upper Dublin’s season came to an end Friday night when the No. 5 seeded Cardinals lost to No. 1 Springfield 17-6 in the District 1 Class-5A semifinals.
The Cardinals offense couldn’t get anything going until the fourth quarter. They managed just 28 yards of offense in the first half.
Trailing 17-0, quarterback Julian Gimbel led an eight-play drive that ended with a touchdown pass to Jack Jamison with 1:48 left in the game to make it 17-6.
The Cardinals defense held its own against an offense that’s scored more than 40 points five times. Max Winebrake recorded a sack and Mike Slivka grabbed an interception.