Wexford, PA - This past Friday, the 20th, the North Catholic Trojans beat the Indiana Indians 42-6 in a dominant blowout win. The Trojans played their most complete 48 minutes of the year on Senior Night.
Some Background: North Catholic entered this game 4-4 overall with a 3-1 record in section play. The previous week, Avonworth walloped the Trojans 42-21 to keep their unbeaten streak alive heading into the season's home stretch. The secondary play was the most prominent issue for the North Catholic defense, as they gave up 221 yards along with 4 touchdowns to Lopes quarterback Carson Bellinger, who leads a primarily run-first offense. One of the reasons for this was not having Reed Rinker in the lineup for that game. He is crucial to the personnel that make up their six defensive back dime packages. Man coverage is not their strength, and that was exposed well by Avonworth's offense. However, with an additional DB back against Indiana because of Reed's return, prospects were looking up defensively. North also gave up an extra 171 yards on the ground to those superb Avonworth running backs, who put up the most rushing yards the Trojans allowed this year. North Catholic's offense didn't help much, generating 202 total yards with 140 on the ground. Jack Fennell accounted for 64 yards of that total on one play. He scored a touchdown on that play, too. Fennell has been unbelievable for the Trojans this year. He's fast, physical, extraordinarily talented, and he's consistent. Jack Fennell is the complete package. He and the rest of his team were looking for a bounce-back win against the struggling Indians on Senior Night at Lt. JC Stone Field.
The Indiana Indians entered this game 2-6 on the year with a 0-5 record in section play. To put it lightly, they're bad. Their main problem has been scoring. Indiana has scored just 54 points in their section games this season while giving up 175. That gives them an average loss of 24.2 points per game. They have scored just 7 points in each of their last three games heading into this matchup. However, they have some athletic players and strong linemen, but how would they fare against a far more explosive and motivated team in North Catholic?
The Game: If this game had to be described in two words, they would be Jack Fennell. Fennell started things on North Catholic's first drive of the game after the Trojans' defense forced a turnover on downs at the North Catholic 35. He began with a 42-yard run which brought North Catholic to the Indiana 22 and then followed it up with a 22-yard Touchdown run to put the Trojans up early (7-0 NC). On North Catholic's next drive, he was back at it again, getting the first 9 yards after getting the ball at the Indians' 44. Danny Franco got the next 14 yards on the ground; then it was back to Fennell, who ran the ball 19 yards down to the 2 and punched it in on the next play (14-0 NC). The Trojans would get the ball back quickly at their 44-yard line to start their next drive. If you blinked, you missed it, and Jack Fennell took the ball, turned on the jets, and was gone, all 56 yards for the Touchdown. It was 21-0 at the end of the 1st quarter. Just 3 drives later, the Trojans had the ball back at the Indiana 41 after backing up the Indians to their own 10 on the preceding set of downs. Kaden Sarver took the snap, handed the ball off to Fennell, who looked to his right, cut through the gap, and went into action as the senior scampered his way down the far numbers to the house for the Touchdown (28-0 NC). That score would remain unaltered at the end of the half, with the Trojans getting the ball to start half 2. Jack Fennell finished half 1 with 15 carries for 234 yards and 4 touchdowns!
Indiana started the half with a James Mill interception and got the ball at their own 28. Their first play was a 20+ yard first down that was called back due to a holding penalty on the Indians' offensive line. The penalty brought up a 1st and 20 from the 18. Trevor Smith, the senior Indiana quarterback, handed the ball off to his running back Porter, who was met immediately by Alex Jackson behind the line of scrimmage and dropped the ball, which was recovered by a newly recovered senior from North Catholic, Chase Aguglia. A remarkable defensive play set up the Trojans with excellent field positioning within the redzone. 3 plays later, stop me if you've heard this before: Touchdown, Jack Fennell! After the 11-yard score, North Catholic was up 35-0, which started the running clock for the remainder of the contest. Even though the game was far out of reach, Indiana put together a gritty, hard-fought 11-minute and 44-second drive that resulted in a touchdown run by Levi Porter. The Trojans blocked the extra point, which made it a 35-6 game. North Catholic was frustrated about losing the shutout bid and wanted to get back in the endzone quickly, and they did. Jack Fennell got an 82-yard kickoff return Touchdown to make it 42-6. Another amazingly athletic play by the best player on the Trojans and one of the best in 4A. That score would carry them the distance, as North Catholic ascends to 5-4 on the year overall and 4-1 in section on Senior Night.
Offensive Takeaways: It was the Jack Fennell show for the Trojans offense in this one. He ran for 253 yards on just 19 carries, an average run of 13.3 yards per rush, and six touchdowns. In addition, he had the 82-yard kickoff return for a touchdown as well. All said and done, the stud senior totaled 335 all-purpose yards and 6 touchdowns. He's worth the price of admission, folks. North Catholic had just 14 yards passing, but they didn't need anymore. The only two drives, besides the one with the interception that started the 2nd half, that were disappointing were two drives with a turnover on downs in the redzone during the 2nd quarter. Other than that, there are no negatives to talk about. The Trojans ran only 37 offensive snaps compared to Indiana's 53, but that's where the comparisons end. The offensive line was remarkable throughout this game and aided in the effectiveness of Fennell tonight. North is playing against a much stronger team on Mars this upcoming Friday, and 14 yards passing won't cut it unless Fennell generates the magic he did this week again. Maybe he will, but some additional passing plays would undoubtedly help the offense as a whole.
Defensive Takeaways: The Trojans' defense played a significantly better game than they did against Avonworth, even when considering the strength of their opponent. They allowed 155 yards of offense, 74 of which came on Indiana's touchdown drive. That was the lone dark spot on an otherwise unblemished night for the North Catholic defense. Their best moment of the night was Chase Aguglia's fumble recovery of the forced fumble by Alex Jackson. Chase has worked his tail off to get back in the lineup since he suffered a severe meniscus injury the week before the start of the season and has fought tooth and nail during his recovery to get back to full health, with the number one focus of getting back on the football field with his teammates again, which he accomplished, while playing an excellent game. Danny Franco and Brady Koziara garnered 6 tackles, with Gavin Kamody playing another impressive game as he netted 4.5 tackles. It was a good game all around for the Trojans' Defense.
Moving Forward: This was an important game for North Catholic to regain their confidence before facing off against Mars this week. The Trojans had a much-needed bounce-back performance on both sides of the ball and looked like a top team. It's easy to look over a weak team like Indiana when you have your eyes set on a game against Mars that will decide the section championship and has significant seeding ramifications, but North Catholic didn't. They were focused on beating the Indians on every down, which showed in the result—quality over quantity on offense, with precision over passiveness defensively. The special teams also had another touchdown tonight, which makes it that much sweeter. This week will be a much more demanding and meaningful matchup when the Planets from Mars meet the Trojans from North Catholic in a marquee game under the lights at Lt. JC Stone Field this Friday, the 28th. We hope to see you there, but if you cannot attend, you can watch from the comfort of wherever you please while enjoying our broadcast on the North Catholic Sports Network. Have a great week! Let's go Trojans!
North Catholic's Senior Class
The best teams in the world value the quality of the person more than they value the quality of the player. That is the basis of a great team—Person over Player. Every one of these incredible athletes is a better person than they are a player. For me, it's indisputable. From the top down, each player has contributed to the team's overall success this season. Success not just generated between the hours of 7 and 10 for the last 9 Friday nights, but the countless hours of training, studying and practicing together that they have had with their teammates over the last many months. A group that can never be replicated and is impossible to replace.
