Joseph Eckenrode celebrates with his teammates after scoring a touchdown against Northern Cambria on Saturday night.
Written by John Hartsock
jhartsock@altoonamirror.com
Winning and success are never old for Bishop Guilfoyle Academy football coach Justin Wheeler.
Now in his 14th year at the helm of the Marauders, Wheeler has led the BG team to four PIAA state championships and eight District 6 titles.
The latest district championship was decided Saturday night at Mansion Park Stadium, with top-seeded BG (12-1) clinching the District 6 1A title with a 42-18 victory over Northern Cambria.
“I think the first goal of every District 6 coach every season is to win a district championship,” Wheeler said. “Every time it happens, it’s special, and tonight is no exception.”
BG advances to a PIAA Class 1A quarterfinal round game this Friday night against Pittsburgh City League champion Westinghouse. The game will be played at Greater Johnstown High School’s Trojan Stadium, with kickoff set for 7 p.m.
Senior standout Hamilton Gates had a great performance in BG’s district championship game, scoring four touchdowns, including two game-breaking scores in the third quarter, after the Marauders led by just eight points. They had a 29-12 advantage. , 14-6, halftime.
Gates, who had 13 carries for 107 yards and caught four passes for a total of 83 yards, returned a punt 49 yards for a touchdown with 9:38 left in the third quarter to give BG a 21-6 lead. He then ran for 31 yards for an extra point. The score with 3:28 left in the third period gave the Marauders a 29-12 lead and two more touchdowns.
Gates also ran for 2 yards in the first quarter for BG’s first touchdown of the game and ran for 6 yards for the final score of the night early in the fourth quarter.
“As I always say, he’s an extraordinary person,” Wheeler said of Gates. “He can make plays even when the defense is set up in good positions trying to stop him. He’s been at his best in big games and that’s a credit to him.”
Gates said the Marauders’ cohesiveness as a group is a big, invisible factor in the team’s success.
“I’m really happy to win the district championship,” Gates said. “This shows how good of a team we are and how good we are at playing together.”
After the Marauders’ defense stopped Northern Cambria on a three-and-out to start the third quarter, Gates rallied around the Colts’ fourth-down punt near midfield, using his superior elusiveness to cut to the right side. He broke two tackles. I turned on the afterburners to complete the touchdown return.
“I caught the ball, I saw the cutback lane, my teammate Braden Riley threw a great block downfield, and the rest was history,” Gates said of the big play.
After Northern Cambria responded with a 9-yard touchdown pass from senior quarterback Ty Damm to junior running back Reece Wagner to pull the Colts within 21-12, BG scored Gates’ 31-yard touchdown. He responded with a run, proving once again his speed and evasion ability in the game. open field.
“After the front linemen, especially Joe Eckenrode, threw some great blocks and got me into the open field, I definitely kicked into second gear,” Gates said.
Northern Cambria coach Sam Shutty, who led the second-seeded Colts to an 11-2 season, knows what a powerful weapon Gates is for the Marauders.
“His punt return was a huge momentum booster for them in this game,” Shatty said. “He’s really exceptional. He’s really elusive. You can’t completely contain a player of his type.”
Junior running back Taurean Consiglio ran 1 yard for a BG touchdown in the second quarter to give the Marauders a 14-0 lead, but the Colts picked up steam before the end of the first half. Damm, who has totaled more than 3,000 yards rushing this season, threw the ball 1 yard up the middle for a touchdown, cutting BG’s lead to 14-8 at halftime.
Damm gained 91 yards on 22 carries in the game, 85 of which came on 17 carries in the first half, and completed 13-of-19 passes for 224 yards. Sophomore Daniel Farrell had six catches for 166 yards, including one reception on a diagonal pattern that covered 80 yards in the third quarter, paving the way for the Colts’ second touchdown of the game. Ta. Dam and Farrell also connected on a 34-yard touchdown pass late in the fourth quarter.
Eckenrode, a 283-pound all-state two-way lineman for BG, contributed to BG’s final touchdown with 4:54 left in the game, running for 1 yard as a tackle eligible.
“It’s great to win a district championship,” said Eckenrode, a member of three district championship teams during his career at BG. “We came out as a team tonight and played really hard. This was a total team effort.”
After competing at the Class 2A level for the past two seasons and winning the District 6 title in that class in 2022, BG returned to Class 1A competition this season. The Marauders won four Class 1A state titles and appeared in the 1A state championship game five times from the 2014-2021 seasons.
BG lost in the first round of the District 6 Class 2A playoffs last year, but quarterback Chase Kissel, a senior on this year’s team, said that gave the Marauders plenty of motivation this season. .
“Winning the district championship this year is a great feeling considering what happened to us last season,” Kissel said. “We used what happened last year as motivation and we weren’t going to let the same thing happen again this year.
“We have been working hard this year since preseason, and all that hard work has paid off.”
How the game unfolded: Gates’ punt return and TD and 31-yard scoring run in the third quarter helped the Marauders clinch the victory.
Game Player: Gates.
Unsung Hero: Hmm.
Most important stat: The Marauders maximized their efficiency offensively, never having to punt.
What to note: Bishop Guilfoyle’s district championship was the 10th in school history since district playoffs began in 1985… Westinghouse, who defeated Wimber 61-6 in the PIAA playoff opener last Friday, is also in the class. This year, the class was demoted from 2A to 1A. Westinghouse (9-1) reached the Class 2A state championship game in both of the past two years, losing both times.
Record: North Cumbria (11 wins, 2 losses). Bishop Guilfoyle (12-1).
NEXT: Bishop Guilfoyle advances to the quarterfinals of the PIAA Class 1A tournament and will take on Westinghouse this Friday night at Johnstown High School’s Trojan Stadium. The season in North Cumbria is over.
Score per quarter
North Cumbria 0 6 6 6–18
Bishop Guilfoyle 7 7 15 13–42
1st quarter
BG-Gates 2 runs (Boland kick), 8:03.
2nd quarter
BG-Consiglio 1 run (Boland kick), 1 minute 55 seconds.
NC-Dumm 1 run (failure to pass), 0:21.
3rd quarter
BG-Gates 49 punt return (Boland kick), 9:38.
NC-Wagner 9 Pass from Dam (run failure), 6:12.
BG – Gates 31 run (Riley passes from Gates), 3:28.
4th quarter
BG-Gates 6 runs (missed kick), 10:40.
BG-Eckenrode 1 run (Boland kick), 4 minutes 54 seconds.
NC-Farrell 34 Dam to pass (kick failure), 3:02.
Team statistics NC BG
First down 15 17
Total yards 325 330
Rush Yards 33-101 33-230
Passing Yards 224 100
path (comp.-att.-int.) 13-19-0 5-6-1
Punt/Average 1-9 0-0
Lost fumble 1-0 2-0
Penalty Yards 9-96 6-41
personal statistics
Rushing – Northern Cumbria, Dam 22-91, Farrell 1-9, Fry 6-5, Fox 4-(-4). Bishop Guilfoyle, Gates 13-107, C. Kissel 6-45, Consiglio 9-36, Riley 1-21, Gioiosa 2-11, Wheeler 1-9, Eckenrode 1-1.
Passage – North Cumbria, Dam 13-19-0-224. Bishop Guilfoyle, C. Kissel 5-6-1-100.
Receiving – Northern Cumbria, Farrell 6-166, Dolney 3-36, Fox 2-10, Wagner 1-9, Fry 1-3. Bishop Guilfoyle, Gates 4-83, Riley 1-17.
