St. Joseph's Prep pulled off a stunning 49-41 victory over Pine-Richland on Saturday night for its second straight PIAA Class AAAA football championship title.
St. Joe needed two clutch defensive stops in the final moments of the game, played at Hersheypark Stadium. Seemingly in control early in the fourth quarter, the Philadelphia Catholic League's Hawks found themselves fighting to hold off the hard-charging WPIAL champion Rams in the closing minutes.
And St. Joseph's Prep did just that.
Olamide Zaccheaus' interception of Ben DiNucci's final heave into the end zone officially sealed the Hawks' triumph, finishing an 11-3 season for Gabe Infante's club.
A little more than two minutes earlier, after Pine-Richland (15-1) had scored to pull within 42-41, linebacker Joe Dumond rushed DiNucci on the two-point pass, forcing a failed conversion that kept St. Joe's in front.
Sophomore running back De'Andre Swift scored four second-half touchdowns for the Hawks, including a 47-yard sprint with 1:49 left that gave the Rams a fighting chance.
Had Swift stopped short of the end zone, St. Joe's would have been able to kneel and run out the clock, as the Rams were out of timeouts. Instead, DiNucci, led the Rams down field. They'd reached the Hawks' 32-yard line when his final pass was picked by Zaccheaus.
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Pine-Richland wide receiver Mike Merhaut established a PIAA playoff record with 14 catches for 113 yards.
Anthony Battaglia (8-120) and D'ondre Gastion (6-109) also eclipsed 100 yards receiving in the loss.
St. Joe's QB Jack Clements threw for 219 yards and three scores.
Pine-Richland was seeking its first PIAA championship in only its second title game; it also dropped the 2003 Class AAA game to Manheim Central in overtime.
The Hawks, who never trailed, seemingly took control when Swift scored two touchdowns in an 18-second span early in the third quarter.
After going into halftime tied 14-14, St. Joe's struck on Swift's 58-yard TD run. Then, after his team recovered an accidental onside kick, Swift caught a double-reverse flea flicker from Clements and ran 48 yards for another score.
When Swift scored from 1 yard out with 9:25 left in the game, Pine-Richland found itself in a 42-21 hole.
But DiNucci was just starting to heat up.
"Those guys have no quit in them, so we knew it was going to go down to the wire," Infante said of the Rams.
DiNucci threw a 4-yard TD pass to Battaglia, then 23- and 31-yard TD passes to Gastion to pull the Rams within a point, 42-41.
Head coach Eric Kasperowicz gambled by going for two after the second Gastion score, but that's when Dumond chased DiNucci and forced an off-balance throw into the end zone.
"I thought we came here tonight and represented the Western part of the state pretty well," Kasperowicz said. "We went for two there; it obviously didn't go our way. But then again we had a shot at the end to win it and came up a little bit short. Nothing but good things to say. That's a great football team over there."
