Cathedral Prep Knocks Out East Stroudsburg South @Prepramblers @cpmisch87 @ESSCavalierFB @CoachWalters81

Tagged under: District 10, District 11, Gameday Hub, News

Phil Myers | November 20, 2021

The Ramblers of Cathedral Prep had their offense operating on all cylinders last night at Bald Eagle Area’s Alumni Stadium when they KO’d the Cavaliers of East Stroudsburg South by the score of 69-20.  Winning coach, Mike Mischler said, “We’re missing 5 starters and we had a ton of respect for them.  They are well coached and I have a lot of respect for their quarterback.  We were very worried.”

After E.S.S. forced Prep to punt on the first possession of the game, the Ramblers scored touchdowns on 9 of their next 10 possessions.  The only time they didn’t score was when a 39-yard field goal attempt hit the upright and bounced wide midway through the second quarter.

Prep’ Sageon Stoica pressuring E.S.S. quarterback Bobby McCloskey.

The Rambler punt pinned the Cavaliers back at their 3, but they eventually moved the ball to their 41 where they faced a fourth and four.  E.S.S. Coach Matt Walters decided to roll the dice and go for it, but the Prep defense stopped Gary Welge a yard short.  That gave Erie Prep good field position at the Cavalier 44.  After a holding penalty set the Ramblers back 10 yards, Carter Barnes found Wakeem Page for a 54-yard touchdown.  Cole Constable kicked the PAT and Prep led 7-0.

East Stroudsburg South bounced back with a 6-play 57-yard scoring drive.  Welge scooted 9 yards to pull his team to within one point at 7-6 as the 2-point conversion attempt failed.  The big play on that drive was QB Bobby McCloskey handing the ball off to Colin Burdian who faked running wide, stopped and hit a wide-open McCloskey for a 27-yard gain.

McCloskey handing off to Burdian who would throw back to McCloskey for a 27 yard gain.

Prep answered that score with one of their own when Barnes blasted in from 5 yards out to finish off a 51-yard drive.  Twenty seconds later, a 25-yard pick six by De Mario Crawford gave the Ramblers a 20-6 advantage.  Then with four seconds left in the first quarter, Michael Parks’ 8-yard run put the team from Erie up 26-7.

Parks scurrying for big yardage.

The Ramblers scored three more times in the second quarter, while East Stroudsburg scored once.  Parks score twice for E.C.P. and Suhtain Lewis weaved his way 41 yards to score.  Welge bulled his way into the end zone from the one for the Cavs.  The score at the half was 48-14 and for all intents and purposes, the game was over.  “The defense buckled down after their first two drives and did a good job.  The adjustments we made were just settling down and substituting a little.  They threw a lot of stuff at us early on,” Mischler said.

Lewis in the midst of his touchdown run.

But to the Cavaliers’ credit, they never stopped playing hard.  E.S.S. opened the third quarter with an 18-play 80-yard drive that consumed over 5 minutes and culminated in Welge’s third TD of the night to inch his Cavaliers closer at 48-20.

On the first play from scrimmage, Suhtain Lewis ran 28 yards for the touchdown to put Erie up 55-20 and put the mercy rule into effect.  In fact, Cathedral Prep only ran 2 plays the entire third quarter and scored on both.  The second one-play drive was an 80-yard Barnes to Page pass.  That increased the E.C.P. advantage to 62-20.

That one-play drive theme continued in the fourth quarter when Dajoure Hollingsworth raced 40 yards to pay dirt on the third play offensive play the Ramblers ran in the second half, putting Mike Mischler’s squad up 69-20 with still over eight minutes remaining.  The Ramblers would run three more plays, but those would be by the second team as they ran out the clock at the end of the game.

Cathedral Prep outgained East Stroudsburg South 498-426.  The Cavaliers had 25 first downs to Prep’s 13.  The Ramblers did not turn the ball over on offense and forced 3 Cavalier turnovers on defense.  E.S.S. possessed the ball for 34:59 and ran 89 plays.  Prep ran 34 plays scoring on 9 of them, while having the ball for a measly 13:01.  “We did a lot of really good things mixing the pass and run,” stated Mischler.

For the Ramblers, Barnes was 10 for 16 passing for 311 yards and 2 TDs.  Page caught 6 passes for 193 yards and 2 scores.  Lewis had 69 yards rushing on 2 carries scoring 2 touchdowns to lead Prep’s ground game.

Barnes looking for a receiver.

McCloskey was 14 for 31 for 158 yards and 2 interceptions for East Stroudsburg South.  He rushed for 77 yards on 21 carries and he caught a pass for 27 yards.  Welge had 76 yards on the ground on 17 totes and scored all 3 touchdowns.

Cathedral Prep is now 11-1 and moves on to play the winner of the Imhotep-Father Judge game in the quarter finals next week.  “Whoever we play, it’s going to mean a lot,” said Mischler.  “Imhotep is arguably the best football team in the state and seeing them in the quarterfinal is hard, but we’ll get ready no matter who we play,” he added.  East Stroudsburg South ends the year with a 9-4 record.

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