Hollywood’s Cutting Room Floor- District XI 4A Championship Contest
Tagged under: District 11, pfn, Playoffs
Brian Ptashinski | November 7, 2022
Part II of “The Holy War” Set 6-5 Allentown Central Catholic Vikings vs 6-5 Bethlehem Catholic Golden Hawks. The Site: Whitehall Zephyr Stadium Saturday Night 7pm.
Two of the most successful programs in the Lehigh Valley will clash once again on the gridiron Saturday night. Between them both they have a combined 13 District XI championships. In their last meeting on October 28th, the Golden Hawks earned a hard fought 14-13 win in overtime, on a Luke Thomas to Jaiden Ellis-Lahey two-point conversion. Prior to that win, the Vikings had won the previous four meetings dating back to 2019.
Both teams found the passing game to their liking this past weekend as Thomas tossed the rock for over 150 yards and four touchdown in a 41-16 win over Blue Mountain. While Tamlin Ferguson also threw for four scores against Bangor and 274 yards in a 42-7 win. Ferguson was a cool 16 of 20 passing. Thomas was also very efficient in passing game completing 10 of 14 passes against the Eagles. Eric Wert, Ellis-Lahey and Jacob Sutton all caught three passes for the Golden Hawks. with Wert going for 62 yards while Ellis-Lahey and Sutton having 56 and 22 yards respectfully. Jareel Calhoun had a game-high eleven receptions for 89 yards for the Vikings Friday night. Griffen Patridge had just three catches but for 144 yards along with all of them for touchdowns from 45, 25 and 74 yards.
Central Catholic’s RB Nathan Shultz made his return to the lineup against Bangor picking up 28 yards on 6 carries. Shultz’s teammate in the backfield Caiden Shaffer picked up 61 of the team’s 98 total on 10 carries and a touchdown. The Hawks gained 138 yards rushing on Saturday on 34 carries with Sutton gaining a game high 39 yards on 12 carries along with a touchdown, Zyaire Morris added 24 yards on 4 rushes. Thomas also had a rushing score in addition to gaining 30 yards on seven tallies.
What’s At Stake: The winner of this game will advance to the PIAA State 4A Playoff and face the champion of District 4 either 9-2 Selinsgrove Seals or 11-0 Jersey Shore Bulldogs, that game will be played Friday night at Jersey Shore. Last year the Bulldogs defeated Central Catholic at J. Birney Crum Stadium 20-7. Jersey Shore dismantled the Seals back on Sept. 9th 63-0.
HOLLYWOODS THOUGHTS: Both teams have been inconsistent all year long. Central Catholic came up 5 points short of beating 6A Semi-Finalist Emmaus 12-7 loss in week two and knocked off another 6A playoff taem Parkland 21-14 in week 4. They also played an excellent first half against Nazareth only to give up 28 second half points in a 42-14 loss and another blowout loss the following week to Whitehall 37-7. Becahi opened up the season with a 35-7 win over the Zephyrs, after shutting out PMW 21-0, the Hawks dropped a 21-6 loss to Nazareth. EPC North’s Northampton then handed Becahi a 21-12 loss at BASD Stadium. A 28-14 win at Cottingham Stadium followed versus Easton. Parkland and Freedom handed them two consecutive losses before winning the first “Holy War”. Expect a close tight defensive game again, with probably the last team with ball will probably win. Take Central Catholic by 2 20-18.
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