Mirror photo by Jeremy Boland On Saturday afternoon, Bishop Guilfoyle’s sideline watches as Chase Kissel tries to elude Westinghouse defenders.
Written by Andy Stein
astine@altoonamirror.com
FARRELL — Snow, game time and location were never an issue for Bishop Guilfoyle Academy in the PIAA Class 1A quarterfinals against Westinghouse.
After Friday’s snow postponement and not one, but two venue changes, everything went smoothly as the Marauders defeated the Bulldogs 56-15 on Saturday afternoon at Farrell High School.
The game, scheduled to be played Friday night, was originally scheduled to be played at Johnstown High School, but was moved to Highlands High School in Natrona Heights due to predicted inclement weather in Cambria County. Travel conditions were too dangerous to make the trip to Highlands on Friday afternoon, forcing the PIAA to move the game to a Saturday afternoon venue in Farrell.
But when it came time to put the ball on the tee for the opening kickoff, the Marauders might have put together their best game of the season.
“This is definitely one of the best teams we’ve ever played against,” BG coach Justin Wheeler said. “Our players just kept fighting the whole game. I said, ‘I want you to do your best on every play, not 139 plays, but 140 plays,’ and I think they understood that.”
The Marauders jumped out to a 28-0 lead in the first 15 minutes of the game. The Bulldogs fought back by scoring two touchdowns with two deep touchdown passes, but the BG defense mostly contained the rest.
Westinghouse had been sent home from the state playoffs earlier this season after appearing in the PIAA 2A championship game in each of the past two seasons. The Bulldogs lost to Southern Columbia both seasons.
How the game played: Late in the first half, with Bishop Guilfoyle leading 28-15, Marauder defensive back Hamilton Gates picked off a pass from Westinghouse quarterback Khalil Green in the end zone. Had the Bulldogs scored before the first half, BG would still have led by one possession, but Westinghouse would have gone into halftime with momentum.
“I thought we had most of it under control except for a few big plays in the passing game,” Wheeler said. “If someone said, ‘We’re going to give you a two-goal lead by halftime,’ I would do it.”
Players of the game: One of the Kissel brothers, Chase or Jake, could be that guy. On this day, the two completed a touchdown pass. Chase threw for 281 yards and three touchdowns, while Jake had 130 receiving yards on four receptions.
Unsung hero: Taurean Consiglio didn’t shine on the report card, but he was counted on to handle the tough yards early on and set the tone for the Marauders. He also scored the team’s first two touchdowns in the first quarter, putting pressure on the Bulldogs.
The most important stat: Westinghouse got four big chunk plays from Green through the air of 55, 56, 61 and 53 yards. Two of those plays resulted in touchdowns. Without those four splash plays, the Bulldogs only had 71 yards of total offense.
Wheeler: “(Westinghouse) is a great team. We saw how quickly they can score. Our program is to try to be consistent. We never get too high or too low. We wanted to come out and take care of things up front.”
Westinghouse coach Donta Green: “(BG) is a hell of a team. They’re a great football team. Their coaches are great. They prepared the players well and played hard. They’re fast. They gave us some problems in the stages, but we didn’t execute as usual.”
Chase Kissel: “There’s no better feeling in the world. We went out today and just played our best football. We hung out together. If we keep playing like this, there’s no stopping us. ”
Gates: “What we’ve been working on and preparing for all summer has finally come to light. We played great.”
Worth noting: There were times when Westinghouse was penalized 15 times for 140 yards and the game was shaky. BG was flagged six times for 45 yards. …Westinghouse had a two-week bye week in the district playoffs and didn’t play its first postseason game until last week, defeating Wimber 61-6 in a District 5-8 subregional matchup. The Bulldogs had 20 days between the final regular season game and the game against Wimber. …The Marauders started two drives in the red zone thanks to fumbles on backward swing passes. BG punched in both times and scored a touchdown. …Gates led all receivers with 137 yards on five catches. … Green finished with 256 yards passing and needed just seven passes to reach that mark. Lloyd Penn had two receptions for 111 yards.
Record: Bishop Guilfoyle (13-1). Westinghouse (9-2).
Next week: The Marauders will play District 4 champion Muncie at Lock Haven University on Friday night at 7 p.m. Muncie defeated District 3 champion Delone Catholic 41-17 in the quarterfinals Friday night.
“I watched some of their games (Friday night),” Wheeler said. “They’ve got a great running team. They’re clicking on it. Whether it’s Clairton or Fort Cherry (Westinghouse), there’s no rest in Single-A and it’s going on week in and week out. We’re playing the conference well. I hope we can express. And I hope these teams will be ready for us to do something like this.”
Score per quarter
Bishop Guilfoyle 21 7 13 15 — 56
Westinghouse 0 15 0 0 — 15
1st quarter
BG – Consiglio 5 runs (Cacciotti kick), 5:45.
BG-Consiglio 1 run, (Cacciotti kick), 30 minutes.
BG-C. Kissel 8 runs, (Cacciotti kick), :09.
2nd quarter
BG-Gates 88, pass from C. Kissell (Cacciotti kick), 9:12.
W-Penn 56 Pass from Green (Pen Pass from Green), 8:38.
W – Bailey, 61 pass from Green (pen kick), 5:44.
3rd quarter
BG-J. Kissel 29 passes (C. Kissel), (Cacciotti kick), 4:18.
BG-C. Kissel 6 runs, (pass failed), 3:57.
4th quarter
BG-Pass from J. Kissel 67 (Pass from C. Kissel) (Pass from J. Kissel from Consiglio), 11:02.
BG – Gates 9 runs (Cacciotti kick), 3:22.
Team statistics BG W
first down 26 7
Total Yards 379 296
Rush Yards 46-98 23-40
Passing Yards 281 256
path (comp.-att.-int.) 12-17-1 7-21-2
Punt average 3-23.6 3-23.6
Lost fumble 1-0 6-3
Penalty Yards 6-45 15-140
personal statistics
Rush – Bishop Guilfoyle, Gates 10-35, C. Kissel 12-35, Consiglio 17-19, Gioiosa 3-13, Team 4-(-4). Westinghouse, Green 13-26, Mitchell 9-17, Hawkins 1-(-3).
Passed – Bishop Guilfoyle, C. Kissel 12-17-1-281. Westinghouse, Green 7-21-2-256.
Reception – Bishop Guilfoyle, Gates 5-137, J. Kissel 4-130, Riley 2-12, McCloskey 1-2. Westinghouse, Penn 2-111, Stanford 4-84, Bailey 1-61.
