No. 5 Central Catholic sneaks past No. 3 Pine-Richland on late TD
As it turns out, Central Catholic also might have a star sophomore under center.
Vikings quarterback Troy Fisher threw three touchdowns and rushed for the winning 16-yard score in the final minute of Friday night's 35-28 victory over Quad North host Pine-Richland. Rams sophomore Phil Jurkovec delivered two fourth-quarter touchdowns to tie the score, but Fisher provided the winner.
“I don't want to say it was a statement game for anybody,” Fisher said. “We did what we do, and it came out in my favor.”
With the score tied at 28-28 and 33 seconds left, Central Catholic faced second-and-1 at the Rams 16. Fisher pushed straight ahead on a quarterback sneak and didn't stop until he crossed the goal line.
“I just followed my guys, closed my eyes and kept running forward,” Fisher said. “I said, ‘I've got to get in there.' ”
The 6-foot-4, 200-pounder completed 9 of 18 for 195 yards passing with touchdown throws of 12, 18 and 77 yards. He rushed for 55 yards on 11 carries.
“You hate to get beat by a quarterback sneak,” Pine-Richland coach Eric Kasperowicz said. “They're a good team. I'm sure we'll see them again.”
This was a rematch of last season's WPIAL Class AAAA championship that Pine-Richland won. The regular-season loss was the Rams' first in two seasons. It created a three-way logjam atop the conference now that No. 3 Pine-Richland (7-1, 6-1), No. 4 North Allegheny and No. 5 Central Catholic (7-1, 5-1) all have a loss.
“This is a great conference win,” Central Catholic coach Terry Totten said. “They're a good program, and they've got one of the best players on this side of the state.”
Totten was referencing Jurkovec, a promising passer who completed 29 of 47 throws for 294 yards and two touchdowns. He led the Rams back from a 21-0 deficit and tied the score late in the fourth with two touchdowns that showed his talent.
On the first, Jurkovec avoided a fourth-down sack and threaded an 11-yard touchdown to Jordan Crawford. On the second, he slipped one tackler, spun off another and then ran 6 yards for a game-tying touchdown with 2:52 left.
Jurkovec rushed 19 times for 96 yards. Ronnie Jones led Central Catholic with 93 yards on 19 carries.
With two touchdown throws by Fisher, Central Catholic scored on three consecutive first-half possessions to lead 21-0.
Central Catholic started slowly with consecutive three-and-outs but found a spark on its third possession. The Vikings moved 65 yards in six plays with a 22-yard throw from Fisher to Bricen Garner among them. A 24-yard touchdown run by Vinny Emanuele put Central ahead 7-0 with 3:32 left in the first quarter.
Fisher followed that drive with two second-quarter touchdown throws four minutes apart. The first was a 12-yarder to senior Rashad Wheeler. The second was a well-thrown 77-yarder to senior Jacob McKee, who outran Pine-Richland's secondary down the sideline. McKee had five catches for 142 yards.
Down three touchdowns, Pine-Richland's defense sparked its offense. The Rams took over at the Central 11 when Ronnie Jones fumbled. On fourth down, a 3-yard touchdown run by Jimmy Graf gave Pine-Richland its first points.
Central Catholic led 21-7 at halftime.
Pine-Richland cut into that lead with a 57-yard drive in the third quarter. The Rams trailed by seven after a 25-yard touchdown from Jurkovec to Brandon Humphries Jr.
Central extended its lead to 28-14 with an 18-yard touchdown throw by Fisher to Damar Hamlin on the first play of the fourth.
Pine-Richland answered with two touchdowns to tie the score.
“We can't get down 21-0,” Kasperowicz said. “Hats off to them. They made a couple more plays than we did.”
Chris Harlan is a staff writer for Trib Total Media. Reach him at charlan@tribweb.com or via Twitter @CHarlan_Trib.
