Strong second half propels Imani Christian to win over North Catholic

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Andrew Schaffer | September 27, 2025

It was a battle of two 5-0 teams Friday Night at Graham Field in Wilkinsburg and Imani Christian was able to defeat North Catholic 36-16 with a great second half performance.

North Catholic got the ball to start the game but went three and out and punted it away to Imani Christian, on the third play of the drive the ball was intercepted.

After the interception North Catholic started at the Imani Christian 24 yard line. On third down the ball was intercepted which ended the North Catholic drive.

The first points of the game occurred on the next drive when a bad snap went out of the end zone for a safety which made it 2-0 North Catholic with 6:11 in the first quarter.

North Catholic started the next drive close to midfield and after a penalty they were at the Imani Christian 32 yard line. A couple plays later Joey Felitsky found Preston Simko for a 36 yard touchdown pass which made it 9-o North Catholic with 2:57 in the first quarter.

Imani Christian got the ball back again and once they got into North Catholic territory the ball was intercepted. After the interception North Catholic got the ball close to midfield and on the sixth play of the drive Joey Felitsky found Preston Simko again for a 37 yard touchdown pass which made it 16-o North Catholic with 9:09 in the second quarter.

Late in the second quarter, Imani Christian started a drive at their own 35 yard line and eventually they were able to find the end zone on a 1 yard run by Gabe Jenkins after a successful 2 point conversion the score was 16-8 North Catholic with 1:44 in the second quarter and that was the score at halftime.

Imani Christian got the ball to start the second half they were into North Catholic territory but a couple of penalties stalled the drive.

Later on in the third quarter Imani Christian was able to put a scoring drive together. Eventually Gabe Jenkins scored on a 10 yard touchdown run making the score 16-14 North Catholic with 4:13 in the third quarter.

Imani TD Gabe Jenkins 10yd TD run. North Catholic leads 16-14 4:13 3Q @PaFootballNews pic.twitter.com/5X56PQy1f5

— WPIAL Football Zone 🏈 (@AJWPIAL) September 27, 2025

A couple minutes later Imani Christian took the lead. The drive started on their own 5 yard line and after a run by Gabe Jenkins he had to come out for a play due to leg cramps and David Davis was able to score on a 91 yard touchdown run which gave Imani Christian a 22-16 lead with 1:51 in the third quarter. “Dave is just a tremendous athlete” said Coach Johnson.

That play was truly the turning point of the game for Imani Christian being able to take the lead on that big play. “Yeah, that broke it right there, but I knew we would, I told them, I said we’re going to break them, we keep pounding on them, we’re eventually going to break them and like I said it was that look in the locker room, I knew those guys were committed, wasn’t no talking, I mean, wasn’t nothing going on in that locker room, but focus, pure focus and that’s what I appreciate about my team” said Coach Johnson.

North Catholic got the ball on their own 47 yard line and on the very first play the ball was intercepted. Imani Christian’s defense was a big difference in the second half as well. “I feel like they’ve been playing well the whole year, we haven’t gotten much notoriety, but if you look up the whole year, they’ve been playing lights out football for the last few weeks, you know holding teams to less than 100 yards, and been giving some shutouts in there, and they just have played well, and when you look across the defense, you got some real score players, you got Davis, obviously Jenkins, Criaghead, Will Gorman, I mean there’s a lot of really good players” said Coach Johnson.

After the interception Imani Christian was able to extend their lead when Gabe Jenkins found David Davis for a 29 yard touchdown pass making the score 28-16 Imani Christian with 9:58 in the fourth quarter.

Imani Christian was able to add one last score before the game ended when Tyvon Sewell scored on a 6 yard touchdown run which made the final score 36-16 Imani Christian.

Next week Imani Christian hosts East Allegheny and North Catholic hosts Central Valley.

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