Anyone who saw it will ever forget it, at least any time soon, and it happened only two months ago. On Sunday, La Salle College High School’s Joey O’Brien, now enrolled and taking classes at Notre Dame, was named the Pennsylvania Player of the year by the prestigious Maxwell Football Club.
O’Brien, the Explorers’ 6-foot-4, 193-pound, two-way, five-star defensive back and wide receiver, had what may amount to a career for most high school players all in one game—the most important game of the season, in La Salle’s 34-20 victory over District 7 champion Pittsburgh Central Catholic in the PIAA Class 6A state championship on December 6, 2025, at Cumberland Valley High School.
In the last 3:55 of regulation, O’Brien had three interceptions, one a 95-yard pick six with 1:17 to play, made a Lynn Swann-like one-handed, 41-yard reception while falling backward in the first quarter and threw a third-quarter touchdown pass, had 10 receptions on 13 targets for a game-high 98 yards and drove the team bus back to the school after the game (only joking).
“Joey is unlike any other player I ever coached,” La Salle head coach Brett Gordon said. “He changed a game I the way he sees the field, in the ground he covers, and he did what big-time players are supposed to do in big-time games, and that is dominate. I’ve been around football for a long time, but I have never seen anyone take over a game the way Joey did in the state championship. I don’t think anyone could do or would do what Joey alone did in the game offensively or defensively.”
It was actually O’Brien who saved the Explorers, who won its first PIAA Class 6A state championship and first state title since 2009. With 3:55 left to play, and La Salle holding a 21-14 lead, O’Brien grabbed his first interception of the season and returned it to the Central Catholic 2. La Salle scored on the following play. O’Brien’s second interception came off a deflection and chewed more valuable time off the clock.
Leading 27-14, his third was the 95-yard pick-six in the closing minutes that sealed the victory.
Before the season, O’Brien blatantly put it on himself if the Explorers did not win the 2025 state title, saying before the season, “I’m saying it right here, right now, if we don’t win the state championship this year, it will mean I didn’t do my job. I want to leave here a winner.”
After the state title game, he said, “I said back in the summer it would be my fault if we didn’t win a state championship, and we won, so I’ll take the blame for that. I get to share this with a team full of brothers who I will never forget.”
Leaving an indelible performance no one will forget.
Perhaps Central Catholic coach Ryan Lehmeier put it best when he said after the game, “Joey O’Brien is not going where he is going by some fluke accident. He has unbelievable ball skills, his agility to move, make him special. You can tell when he is out there, he is very cerebral. I don’t think anyone will be forgetting about what that kid did tonight any time soon.”