Bellefonte football falls to Pa. powerhouse Cathedral Prep in the 1st round of states

Erie Cathedral Prep ended the Bellefonte Red Raiders’ 2019 football season at Clarion University’s Memorial Stadium by beating the District 6 Class 4A champs 49-21. The Ramblers are the three-time defending state champions and are poised to make a run at a fourth.

“You don’t see programs like that frequently, and they’ve won three-straight titles for a reason,” Red Raider head coach Shanon Manning said.

Prep used special teams and short fields to score 49 points in the first three quarters. The Ramblers blocked a punt for a touchdown to go ahead by two scores only four-and-a-half minutes into the game.

Then after Trae Bauman caught a 5-yard TD pass from Ethan Rossman in the second quarter to climb back into the game, Prep’s Jaelen Carson returned the ensuing kickoff 88 yards for a touchdown.

“We crawled into it, but then had a special teams miscue. You can’t do that against quality opponents,” Manning said.

Rossman led the Red Raiders with 75 yards rushing and a touchdown pass. Nick Capparelle scored the other two touchdowns for Bellefonte, including the play of the game for the Red Raiders when he snared a Prep fumble out of mid-air and returned it 80 yards for the final score of the game.

Prep coach Mike Mischler wasn’t without compliments for the Red Raiders.

“Hats off to them, they’re a very good football team,” he said. “They hit hard and didn’t back down. They are well-coached as well.”

Bellefonte finishes the year 9-3, while Cathedral Prep is now 11-2 and moves on to play the District 7 winner, either Belle Vernon or Thomas Jefferson.

Cathedral Prep 49, Bellefonte 21

Score by Quarter

Bellefonte 0 7 0 14 - 21

Cathedral Prep 14 21 14 0 - 49

1st Quarter:

ECP — Jaheim Howard 36-yard run. Cole Constable PAT. 0-7

ECP — Jaelen Carson recovered blocked punt in end zone. Constable PAT. 0-14

2nd Quarter:

ECP — Howard 12-yard run. Constable PAT. 0-21

Belle — Trae Bauman 5-yard pass from Ethan Rossman. Dan Persico PAT. 7-21

ECP — Carson 88-yard kickoff return. Constable PAT. 7-28

ECP — Tamar Sample 2-yard run. Constable PAT. 7-35

3rd Quarter:

ECP — Luke Sittinger 1-yard run. Constable PAT. 7-42

ECP — Collin Johnson 31-yard run. Constable PAT. 7-49

4th Quarter:

Belle — Nick Capparelle 4-yard run. Persico PAT. 14-49

Belle — Capparelle 80-yard fumble return. Persico PAT. 21-49

Game Stats

Bellefonte Cath. Prep

First Downs: 13 9

Rushes-Yards: 43-151 28-262

Comp-Att-Int: 6-17-0 2-6-0

Passing Yards: 59 9

Fumbles-Lost: 1-0 1-1

Penalty Yards: 6-55 4-35

Total Yards: 210 271

Phil Myers is a writer for PAFootballNews. Follow him on Twitter at @Protime_PFN.

This story was originally published November 16, 2019 at 1:00 AM.