The Funding Zone
 
SAFR: Safer Through Science
 

Warren John F. Kennedy Catholic holds off Liberty

Tagged under: Beyond The Keystone, Gameday Hub, News, Non-PIAA, pfn

| August 23, 2024


Liberty Township – John F. Kennedy Catholic scored 22 first-half points en route to a 22-19 victory over Liberty.

Warren JFK might not have played the most complete game, but in the end, the Eagles did enough to thwart Liberty High School’s second-half comeback attempt.

The Eagles scored two quick touchdowns to jump out to a 14-0 lead just over six minutes into the contest. Noah Elser started the season with a bang, returning the opening kickoff 90 yards for a touchdown.

“That’s not Noah Elser’s first time doing that,” said JFK head coach Damon Buente. “He did that last year against Garfield, taking the opening kick to the house. We have both of those guys back there returning kicks, and they were state runner-ups in the four by two.”

On their first offensive possession, JFK moved the ball 54 yards in eight plays and scored on Steven Thomas’s 3-yard run. Jaylen Murray’s 26-yard gain set up the score to put the Eagles up 14-0 at the 5:17 mark of the opening quarter.

“We started off well, no doubt,” Buente. “But in the middle of the game, things got away from us a little bit.”

Liberty, which held a 303-198 advantage in total offense, was able to move the football in the first half including an 8-play 34-yard drive that ended on downs at the Eagles 10-yard line.

After starting three consecutive drives in JFK territory, the Leopards finally got on the scoreboard when Chamir Franklin scored on an 11-yard run with 1:44 to play in the first half following a 34-yard drive.

On the ensuing kickoff, Jaylen Murray returned the ball to the Liberty 45-yard line with 1:33 to play in the first half.

Five plays later, JFK found the end zone when quarterback Freddy Bolchalk connected with LaMarcus Provitt for a 13-yard touchdown pass with 35 seconds to go in the first half.

“That was huge because, in the middle of the game, they started three consecutive drives in our half of the field, Buente said. “We were killing our defense with field position. We had plans to say hey, look, we’re looking clunky, slow, and lethargic. Let’s get into halftime – but when we got that field position, I was on the headset saying spread, spread, spread. Having that answer in a short time was great for us.”

Steven Thomas ran in the conversion as JFK led 22-6 at intermission and did not complete a pass in the second half.

Both Thomas and Provitt rushed for a team-high 50 yards on eight carries to lead the Eagles.

Receiving the ball to begin the third stanza, Liberty quickly got themselves right back into the game as they drove 66 yards in five plays, scoring quarterback Dawaun Moody’s 33-yard run.

The Leopards pulled to within a field goal with 6:18 to play when Moody scored his second touchdown of the night from a yard out, capping off a 14-play 89-yard drive that ate up 5:46 off the clock as the drive began with four seconds to play in the third quarter.

Moody led the Leopards with 19 carries for 137 yards, including 105 yards in the second half.

Unfortunately for Moody and Liberty, they never saw the football again. As JFK said, “Anything you can do, we can do better.”

The Eagles took over at their own 38-yard line with just over six minutes to play, and ran off the remaining clock in ten plays; including a sneaky 4th-and-13 keeper by Provitt as he raced 17 yards to the 1-yard line after JFK elected to take three kneel downs prior.

“That response was huge because it shows your kids’ character,” Buente said. “The game was on the line, and we had zero momentum going for us then. They had just gone on an 80-yard plus scoring drive, and we looked at our kids and said hey, go win the game. They just got into a phone booth and started fist fighting, not literally, but we closed the game out, and that taught us a lot about our kids.”

The Eagles also converted a 4th down earlier on the drive thanks to a personal foul penalty against the Leopards.

Liberty will look to rebound next Friday night when it travels to Girard. John F. Kennedy Catholic, meanwhile, will travel to Garfield.

“Well, we’re going to the film room tomorrow morning because we only played one and a half good quarters of football, Buente concluded. “We had cramping issues and didn’t capitalize on some of our opportunities. So we’ll be looking at film, lifting weights, and then we need to clean up a lot on Monday because we have a very tall mountain to climb at Garfield.”

Game Highlights:

 

John F. Kennedy Catholic 22 Liberty 19

Score by Quarters

John F. Kennedy Catholic – 8 14 0 0 – 22

Liberty – 0 6 6 7 – 19

Scoring Summary

First Quarter

JFK – Noah Elser 90 yd kickoff return, (Marcus Komora rush), 11:08

JFK – Steven Thomas 3 yd run, (rush failed), 5:17 – 8-54

Second Quarter

L – Chamir Franklin 11 yd run, (kick failed), 1:44 – 3-34

JFK – LaMarcus Provitt 13 yd pass from Freddy Bolchalk, (Thomas rush), 0:35 – 5-45

Third Quarter

L – Dawaun Moody 33 yd run, (rush failed), 9:29 – 5-66

Fourth Quarter

L – Moody 1 yd run, (Ethan Brookbank pat), 6:18 – 14-89

Individual Stats

Rushing: JFK – Thomas 8-50, Elser 5-16, Jaylen Murray 2-31, Bolchalk 9-24, Provitt 8-50, Komora 4-5, Team 3-0. Totals: 39-176. L – Dawaun Moody 19-137, Dyionn Tutwliler 5-17, Tayon Sly 4-22, Franklin 8-23, Juju Ferrell 1-19. Totals: 37-218.

Receiving: JFK – Thomas 1-2, Ian Odille 1-7, Provitt 1-13. L – Sly 2-30, Kamron Coleman 2-25, Franklin 2-20, Amar Watson 1-7, Ferrell 1-3.

Passing: JFK – Bolchalk 3-for-9, 22 yards, 1 TD, Provitt 0-for-1, 1 INT. L – Moody 8-for-15, 85 yards.

Interceptions: JFK – Ian Odille. L – Isaiah Gonzalez.

Follow PA Football News on Twitter @PaFootballNews

 
 
QwikCut
 
GoRout
 
Sports Paradise
 
 
x