With 7:14 left in the third quarter Friday of its season opener on national TV, St. Joseph’s Prep loomed even larger than being three-time defending PIAA Class 6A state champions.
For the next 19 minutes and 14 seconds, something happened that rarely ever happens to a St. Joe’s Prep team—it collapsed.
The monolith that has ruled the state for a decade dissolved under a spate of uncharacteristically missed tackles, missed assignments, missed blocks, and missed reads in a gut-punch 31-28 loss to defending Florida Class 4A state champion American Heritage.
It came after the Hawks had built an overwhelming 28-0 lead, where everything was going right.
To that point, Prep had outgained Heritage 239 to 69 in total yards, using a punishing ground game behind left tackle Sean Molley, left guard Sean Barth, center Jake Namnum, right guard Stephen Landers, left tackle David Contreras and tight ends Rob Novotny and Jake Wilson.
Running back Khyan Billups was explosive out of the backfield, grinding through the Patriots’ defense for over 100 yards and quarterback Charlie Foulke was dicing up the Heritage secondary with pinpoint passes on slant patterns, hitting his receivers in stride.
Defensively, the Hawks made the nation’s No. 1 quarterback, Texas-bound Dia Bell, the son of former NBA player Raja Bell, look pedestrian, causing him to lose two fumbles, while defensive back Masiia Acrey picked up a blocked punt by Brendan Flanery and converted it into a touchdown.
Anything the Hawks wanted to do on national TV, they did.
Penn State-bound Alex Haskell and fellow defensive tackle Colton Anderson were flushing Bell out of the pocket and causing him to run for his life the first 31 minutes of the game.
Defensive lineman Anthony Sciulli and linebacker Brandon Lockley were making plays.
Then they didn’t.
No one wearing St. Joe’s Prep gray did the remainder of the third quarter and the entire fourth quarter.
After leading 28-0, the Hawks gained just 27 yards of offense, advancing the ball more on Patriots’ penalties (35).
Meanwhile, Heritage pounded Prep for 248 yards of offense, scoring on five successive drives, with the end coming on a 41-yard Kade Bailey field goal for Heritage with :04 left in regulation.
The Hawks looked tired in the second half, and that may have caused blown assignments. Heritage receiver Jamar Denson awoke to catch a game-high 16 passes for 160 yards, most coming in the last 19 minutes of the game.
There was one sequence, when it appeared the Hawks had finally stopped the Patriots with 6:49 to play, when Bell hit a wide-open Denson for a 31-yard touchdown—on a blown coverage of a third-and-15 play.
The Hawks had four first downs in the fourth quarter—two of the four came on Heritage penalties.
This season marks an unusual spot for the Hawks this season, a team now in the shadow of a very talented La Salle team, which beat Pittsburgh Central Catholic, 23-6, in its season opener, out in Pittsburgh.
In the past, Hawks’ coach Tim Roken has been able to gather his team together after early nonleague losses against national teams.
How will this St. Joe’s Prep team react?
There was a line of blank faces in burgundy and gray during the postgame handshake line Friday night, all seemingly wearing the same bubble over their heads asking, “What happened?”
What will happen with the three-time defending state champions?
How will they respond to this?
Scoring Summary
St. Joseph’s Prep (0-1) 7 14 7 0-28
American Heritage (1-0) 0 0 14 17-31
1st Quarter
SJP – Charlie Foulke 11 run (Blake Sholder kick), 4:31
SJP – Khyan Billups 6 run (Luke Cochrane kick), 1:40
2nd Quarter
SJP – Masiia Acrey 8 blocked punt return (Sholder kick), 2:21
3rd Quarter
SJP – Foulke 1 run (Sholder kick), 7:14
AH – Jonathan Bueno 18 run (Kade Bailey kick), 3:50
AH – Bueno 10 run (Bailey kick), 3:50
4th Quarter
AH – Jamar Denson 31 pass from Dia Bell (Bailey kick), 6:49
AH – Bueno 4 run (Bailey kick), 2:51
AH – Bailey 41 FG, :04
Joseph Santoliquito is an award-winning sportswriter who has been covering high school football since 1992 and is the president of the Boxing Writers Association of America. He can be followed on Twitter @JSantoliquito. Follow EasternPAFootball.com on Twitter @EPAFootball.
One Response
Was that the 1st string quarterback for Prep? It didn’t seem like he was throwing the ball very well