WPIAL Class 6A champion Central Catholic to open state playoff run at McDowell

By: Don Rebel
Thursday, November 12, 2020 | 5:40 PM

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The WPIAL champion playing in the highest classification has usually hit the Road to Hershey by heading east.

In the last dozen years, whichever team won the 6A (or prior to 2016, the Class AAAA) football championship went on to face the District 6 champion, usually State College, 10 of those 12 years.

The two exceptions were in 2012 with North Allegheny and in 2013 with Central Catholic. Those teams squared off with District 10 champion McDowell in the PIAA quarterfinals and won by a combined score of 104-13.

In fact, the WPIAL champion in the highest classification has never lost a PIAA quarterfinal playoff game in the 32-year history of the state postseason.

Now all of that doesn’t mean the Vikings are in for a friendly stroll north when they face the Trojans on Saturday in Erie.

“Just watching them on tape, they are a sound football team with a winning tradition,” Central Catholic coach Terry Totten said. “They have some size, and they move the ball around pretty good.”

Rust, not history, might be the biggest obstacle to overcome on Saturday for McDowell.

The Trojans are 6-0 but have played five total games and only two contests since beating Cathedral Prep on Sept. 25. They were awarded the District 10 championship last week when Erie had to forfeit the title game due to covid-19 related issues.

It also has been a very emotional season for McDowell. In that Sept. 25 victory, senior Jonathan Heubel collapsed on the sidelines after making a tackle and walking off the field. He was flown to a Pittsburgh hospital with a traumatic head injury. He remains in a medically induced coma after undergoing two surgeries.

McDowell relies on three seniors on offense in quarterback Chris Juchno and running backs Justo Rivera and Taha Ramahi.

The two top receivers are also seniors in Anthony Emling and Braden Soboleski.

For Central Catholic, senior running back Eddy Tillman rushed for 132 yards and scored three touchdowns in the Vikings’ 38-24 WPIAL 6A championship game victory over North Allegheny, this after he was held to 26 yards on the ground in the first meeting, a 35-21 Tigers triumph.

Tillman has rushed for 982 yards on 123 carries this season and has scored 13 touchdowns to lead the Vikings.

Early in the season, Central Catholic made the switch from junior quarterback Branndon Pezzelle to senior signal caller Adam Obrin. The Vikings don’t throw a lot. However, Obrin has racked up 771 yards in the air this season with five touchdown passes.

“Adam’s like a coach on the field,” Totten said. “We do a lot with formations and motions, mostly to still give the ball to Eddy, but we get some reverses and passes out and he picked it up very well. He’s a really intelligent kid. He’s been successful.”

This is the third meeting between the Vikings and Trojans all time. Central Catholic won the two previous meetings, both in the state playoffs, and both were one-sided affairs.

In 2004, Central Catholic crushed McDowell, 44-3, in a PIAA quarterfinal on its way to winning the second of its four state championships.

In 2013, the Vikings beat the Trojans, 48-7, in the quarterfinals round. Two weeks late in Hershey, Central Catholic fell to St. Joe’s Prep in the Class AAAA finals, 35-10.

Totten knows that history doesn’t mean a thing come Saturday.

“We know going in we’re in for a battle up there,” he said. “We’re going to prepare and not leave any stone unturned.”

Tags: Central Catholic