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Cathedral Prep handles South Fayette

By Luke Campbell staff Writer lcampbell@observer-Reporter.Com 4 min read
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South Fayette’s Andrew Franklin splits two Erie Cathedral Prep defenders as he carries the football during the Nov. 23 state playoff game.

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Eleanor Bailey/The Almanac

Mike Trimbur, left, consoles Charley Rossi after South Fayette’s season-ending loss to Erie Cathedral Prep, 42-10, in the PIAA playoffs Nov. 23.

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RayQuin Glover attempts to tackle Erie Cathedral Prep quarterback Regan Schleicher.

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RayQuin Glover breaks free of tacklers after making a reception for South Fayette. He scored the Lions' lone TD in first half.

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Billy Lucas fends off Ben Coyne during PIAA football action. Lucas rushed for 342 yards in Erie Cathedral Prep's 42-10 win over South Fayette.

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Jaelin Krocker (57) celebrates after recovering a fumble for South Fayette to thwart an Erie Cathedral Prep scoring opportunity at the goal line.

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Eleanor Bailey/The Almanac

Mike Trimbur looks for room to move after making a reception for South Fayette against Eric Cathedral Prep.

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Luke Sittinger pulls down Peyton Tinney but not before the South Fayette receiver makes the reception.

The glimmer of hope the South Fayette High School football team had was that it faced the same deficit in the same fashion less than one week ago in the WPIAL championship.

The problem Nov. 23 at Veterans Memorial Stadium was there was no answer for the third-down defensive struggles, sloppy tackling or Erie Cathedral Prep in its entirety.

Billy Lucas rumbled for 336 yards and Cathedral Prep controlled play from the start to add to its list of victims from the WPIAL, defeating South Fayette 42-10 in a PIAA Class 4A quarterfinal game.

It’s the seventh straight time Cathedral Prep ended the season of a WPIAL championship team.

“That is a good football team,” said South Fayette coach Joe Rossi. “They are the two-time state champs for a reason. They weren’t just going to hand over that trophy easily.”

Lucas and the Ramblers ripped the heart and hope out of South Fayette (12-2) when they went 12 plays and 80 yards for a touchdown on the opening drive to start the second half. Lucas finished the drive with a 12-yard score, his second of the game to extend the lead to 28-10.

“He was good,” Rossi said of the senior running back. “Tonight, he was special. We just couldn’t get off of the field. We had some opportunities but didn’t get it done. We had a chance, but they came out at halftime and ran it right down our throats.”

Cathedral Prep (11-3), the District 10 champion, converted on 12 of its 15 third-down opportunities, including scoring its first five touchdowns of the game all on third down.

Quarterback Regan Schleicher scored his second touchdown of the game on a two-yard run near the end of the third quarter to give Cathedral Prep an insurmountable 35-10 lead.

“I thought our offensive line played great,” said Cathedral Prep coach Mike Mischler, who also earned his 200th victory. “The last thing we told them was that (South Fayette) would not quit. We couldn’t quite either. Our kids kept pushing.”

The Ramblers continued their dominance in the third quarter, when they held South Fayette to two total yards of offense.

Lucas had 144 yards rushing in the third quarter.

“It was just about trusting my offensive line, being patient and trying to hit the holes,” Lucas smiled thinking about his productive 39 carries. “It was big to start out quick because South Fayette is a really good team. Establishing the run early opened up a lot of other things.”

Cathedral Prep raced out to its lead faster than when it got off the bus in full uniform and ran on the field for warmups.

Schleicher finished a six-play, 80-yard drive in less than two minutes with a 21-yard touchdown on a keeper up the middle with 7:13 left in the first quarter.

Just over three minutes later, Schleicher found tight end Joe Scarabino with single coverage on a skinny post for a 36-yard score, giving the Ramblers a 14-0 lead.

A stalling South Fayette awoke after the Ramblers’ second score as Jamie Diven threaded a pass down the Lions’ sideline to RayQuin Glover, who evaded a pair of defenders and raced for a 50-yard touchdown to cut the deficit to 14-7 with 2:41 left in the first quarter.

Glover was the only form of consistent offense South Fayette could find, but it was only in the first half. Glover had 11 catches for 122 yards.

“(Cathedral Prep) was able to get a pass rush with a minimal amount of guys,” Rossi said. “They also had some players in the secondary. There is nothing else I can really pinpoint other than those two things.”

A swarming Ramblers defense only allowed usually high-scoring South Fayette to gain 18 yards in the second half. The Lions only had 210 total yards and averaged one yard per carry.

“We put in a bunch of stuff defensively,” Mischler said. “They have a great quarterback but didn’t have a great night with the wind. We put in some zone blitzes and were doing a bunch of stuff to get some pressure. We just didn’t want to give him pre-snap reads and were trying to confuse him.”

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