Bishop Canevin Looking to Make Second Trip to WPIAL finals in a row with Semifinal Matchup against South Side Beaver

Tagged under: District 7, News, Playoffs, Podcasts

Ethan Spozarski | November 16, 2022

This Friday the number one seeded Bishop Canevin Crusaders will be taking on the South Side Rams at 7 p.m at Peters Township.

South Side finished the season 11-1, and 5-1 in conference. The WPIAL seeded them at the number 10 seed in the 1A conference. While the Crusaders finished 11-1 as well and a 7 -0 conference record and are the number one seed along with the defending 1A WPIAL champions.

The Rams are coming off of a huge upset by defeating the Tri County South champions the Mapletown Maples 47-6 last Friday.

Junior running back Ryan Navarra led the way for the Rams with 192 yards, three total touchdowns, a blocked punt and an interception. The Rams finished the game with 311 total yards of offense.

On top of the offensive production they were able to shut down the Maples offense. Granted Landan Stevenson had gotten hurt late in the second quarter, however while he was in the game the Maples only rushed for 31 yards, and no passing yards by the end of the first half.

Heading over to the Crusaders side of things, this like recent history this season has been nothing short of exceptional. The Crusader offense has outscored their opponents 502-85 this season.

Starting QB Kole Olszewski has completed 61% of his passes, thrown for 1,314 yards and 16 touchdowns. Junior Marquis Carter ran the ball 179 times for 1,463 yards and 10 touchdowns. Senior wide receiver Xavier Nelson has 1,086 yards (30.2 yds/catch) and 16 touchdowns. Nelson leads the team in all receiving categories and has scored the most points as well.

The Crusaders defense has scored 92 points this season as well which provides a dual threat for this team, especially when facing a very versatile team in South Side.

Something worth noting; of the four remaining teams in the 1A part of the bracket,only one is in the top four. (Bishop Canevin). Nonetheless, this should be a very good football game. One school looks to continue establishing dominance in 1A football, while another looks to continue their Cinderella story.

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