Cardinal Wuerl North Catholic Wins First PIAA Football Crown in Overtime Thriller

By: HSSN Staff
Friday, December 13, 2013 | 5:21 PM

It was a fairytale ending for the Cardinal Wuerl North Catholic Trojans, claiming a 15-14 victory in overtime after rolling the dice. There was no doubt in Head Coach Bob Revenstahl’s mind, he was going for two and the win. It was, afterall, a decision that paid off in an opening season victory over Apollo-Ridge and it paid off with an undefeated season and a PIAA Class A Football Championship on Friday afternoon at Hersheypark Stadium.

After falling behind 14-7 in overtime, Junior running back PJ Fulmore scored from 10 yards out on the first play of Cardinal Wuerl North Catholic's first possession. Fulmore then used a second and third effort, as well as an extra push from Joshua Churchin to score the two-point conversion and give the Trojans their first ever state football crown. Fulmore carried 33 times for 109 yards in the win, but it was the final three yards that did not show up on the score sheet that were the biggest.

Fulmore said he knew the Trojans would go for two as soon as he scored. On the conversion, Fulmore was hit at the line of scrimmage and at the two yard line before surging into the endzone. He credited Churchin with a final push, allowing him to score after initially being stood up.

The game was hard fought throughout, as both teams used their ground game to grind out long drives and take time off of the clock. The Trojans, on their opening drive, took up seven minutes of the first quarter clock before turning the ball over at the Old Forge 31 on downs.

Defense ruled the remainder of the first quarter and into the second. Old Forge gained advantage of the field possession game and scored late in the first half. The Blue Devils drove to the 20 yard line, but faced a 4th and 2 with no timeouts remaining. Blue Devils head coach Mike Schuback dug deep into his bag of tricks and called a throwback pass as quarterback Jake Manetti lined up as a receiver and went in motion to the far side, Shane Schuback was in the wildcat and handed off to Manetti, who then passed to Schuback on the near side for a wide open touchdown with 28 seconds left in the half.

Old Forge took the second half kickoff and thought they would take a two touchdown lead, using 13 plays and eight minutes of clock. But Manetti tossed an incomplete pass on 4th down at the 14 yard line. Cardinal Wuerl North Catholic took over the football and Fulmore stole the show, carrying ten straight times to move the ball to the Blue Devil 33. Ryan Kirby took a handoff from Fulmore and tossed their version of a throwback screen to Fulmore to gain 11 on 4th and 9. Three plays later, the Trojans found the end zone as Fulmore hit Jerome Turner with a lateral, the junior got a block from Ronnie Meder and went down the sideline for a 16-yard touchdown, tying the game with 7:01 remaining. The drive took 15 plays and nearly nine minutes to complete.

Both teams would exchange punts, Old Forge gained possession at it’s own 32 with one timeout left. Using their senior running back Brandon Yescavage, the Blue Devils gained a first down before hitting on a big pass play from Manetti to Schuback for a 22-yard gain to the 16. Manetti then hit Schuback to the 12 with eight seconds left in the game.

Schuback would attempt a 29-yard field goal that came up short of the mark after being partially blocked by Meder, sending the game to overtime. Old Forge won the toss and went on offense first. It took two plays for the Blue Devils to score, as Yescavage carried twice for five yards each, including the go-ahead touchdown. Schuback kicked the extra point, setting up the Trojans for the dramatic win.

The win is the 36th victory for the WPIAL in the State Championships and the 12th State Championship for the WPIAL's Class A. The Trojans had just 145 yards of offense but held Old Forge to 219 yards. The Trojans finish the season unbeaten at 16-0. They will likely be one of the favorites to repeat next season with Fulmore, Turner and quarterback Adam Sharlow, who missed the last eight games with a knee injury, all returning. Defensively, Meder led the North Catholic with nine solo stops.

Yescavage was held to 69 yards on 22 carries, well below his average of 173.1 yards per game. Schuback was the big offensive weapon for the Blue Devils, rushing  8 times for 63 yards and catching seven passes for 63 yards, including the 2-yard score. The seven receptions ties a PIAA Class A Championship record/ Linebacker Jordan Sekol made 11 tackles to lead the Blue Devils' defense, which gave up more than 14 points for the first time since October 26th. Old Forge ends the season at 14-2 and saw an 11 game winning streak come to an end. DIstrict Two has not won a PIAA Championship in Class A since 1989. 

Scoring Summary:

Cardinal Wuerl North Catholic  0 – 0 – 0 – 7 – 8  = 15
Old Forge Blue Devils 0 – 7 – 0 – 0 – 7  = 14

1st Quarter:
No Scoring

2nd Quarter:
OF:  Shane Schuback 20 pass from Jake Manetti (Schback kick)  0:28

3rd Quarter:
No Scoring

4th Quarter:
NC:  Jerome Turner 16 run (Michael Tarasovich kick)  7:01

First Overtime:
OF:  Brandon Yescavage 5 run (Schuback kick) 
NC:  PJ Fulmore 10 run (PJ Fulmore run)

PJ Fulmore two-point conversion to win the PIAA Championship:

Tags: Cardinal Wuerl North Catholic, North Catholic