Central Catholic’s high-paced offense too much for State College in PIAA 6A Quarterfinals
State College quarterback Eddie Corkery said to his teammates with tears in his eyes, “Everything comes to an end.”
On Friday night, Corkery saw his and his fellow seniors’ high school careers come to a close in a 41-19 loss to Central Catholic inside Mansion Park.
Corkery and receiver Ty Salazer have been key in the Little Lions’ success this season, breaking school records along the way.
“Every senior class is special in their own right. Ty, Mike (Gaul), Sam Mayer, those guys literally been on this field for four years. You’re with these guys every day in season, out of season,” State College coach Matt Lintal said, holding back tears. “You’re just around them so much. You just love them like they’re your own. It’s really hard to not be their coach anymore, that’s really a challenge.”
The Little Lions had a challenge Friday night of containing a high-paced Vikings offense that has been averaging nearly 370 yards per game.
Central Catholic jumped on State College early by recording two scores midway through the first quarter. Quarterback Jy’aire Walls hit receiver Bradley Gompers for a 40-yard score just two minutes into the game. Four minutes later, running back Elijah Faulkner tallied his first of four rushing scores to make it 14-0 with 6:32 left in the first quarter.
Faulkner put the Vikings up three scores early in the second quarter on a 1-yard score.
“We knew that they came out and played fast. You try to replicate it, and you can’t until it’s there. We really made that a point of emphasis in practice,” Lintal said. “It still takes you two series to get acclimated, and then the kids kind of settled in a little bit. Our kids are too nice sometimes, they’re chasing footballs that go over their heads, then the ball is spotted, and (Central Catholic is) throwing the next play. We adapted to that. I think our kids settled in.”
The Little Lions did settle in and started to claw their way back into the game.
Trailing 21-0, Corkery led the offense 80 yards for a score. He threw a nice pass that Cooper Brushwood ran under for a 45-yard score.
The defense forced a punt on the Vikings’ ensuing possession. Corkery started airing it out again to drive his team down the field.
He threw a pass on a rope to Hank Lustig for a 28-yard score to get State College within 21-13 with 6:53 left in the first half.
“Matt is a great coach. He’s got a great group of kids. They always fight their tails off for 48 minutes,” Central Catholic coach Ryan Lehmeier said. “I thought the quarterback was outstanding. He was making a lot of throws, off platform and on his feet, some across his body, and they were hitting. Anytime you got a signal caller like that, he can keep you in the game, that kid is a tough out.”
The Vikings extended their lead to three scores again after Faulkner had his final two rushing scores with 10:17 left in the third quarter.
Corkery tried to get his team back in when he connected with Salazer for a 7-yard score with two seconds left in the third quarter, but that was the final score of the night for the Little Lions.
Corkery finished the game 18 of 42 for 273 yards with three passing scores and four interceptions. He ended his final high school season with 3,108 passing yards, 38 passing touchdowns and 10 interceptions.
“I’m just really proud of our kids. We got a bunch of kids who grew up in State College and have been playing together their whole lives. All year long, they just battled. They just gave everything they had,” Lintal said. “The crappy thing with high school football is, you either win one of the six state championships of each division or you go home with a loss at the end of the year, and it never gets easier. This is the worst but, when you sit here and think about the memories that you made with these kids, I just can be more proud of who they are and the young men that they’ve grown into.”
This story was originally published November 22, 2024 at 11:28 PM.
