Phil Jurkovec fights through sickness, helps Pine-Richland reach PIAA Class 6A title game

By: HSSN Staff
Saturday, December 2, 2017 | 4:03 PM

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ALTOONA — When Phil Jurkovec arrived Saturday in Altoona, the quarterback hadn’t eaten much in days and felt weak from an illness that hit Pine-Richland’s roster at a terrible time.

But with the Rams one win away from Hershey, the senior gutted it out, threw two touchdowns and rushed for another in Saturday afternoon’s 28-7 victory over Manheim Township in a PIAA Class 6A semifinal at Mansion Park.

The victory awarded under-the-weather Pine-Richland its first trip to the state finals since 2014.

“Phil, I think he had one day of practice this whole week,” Rams coach Eric Kasperowicz said. “He’s horrible. I can’t tell you how proud I am of him. It’s not just Phil (who played while sick), but obviously he’s the main man out there.”

Pine-Richland (15-0) will face defending state champion St. Joseph’s Prep (13-0) next Saturday at Hersheypark Stadium. Kickoff is 6 p.m. It’s a rematch from 2014, when Pine-Richland lost 49-41.

The Rams also were state runners-up in 2003, losing 39-38 to Manheim Central in two overtimes.

This trip to Hershey will be the second this calendar year for Jurkovec and two-way tackle Andrew Kristofic, who were key players on Pine-Richland’s basketball team that won the state Class 6A title last winter.

The Rams have a week to get healthy.

“We’ve had a bunch of guys sick,” said Jurkovec, who completed 20 of 33 passes for 243 yards, two touchdowns and an interception. “I don’t know exactly what it is, but I’ve been sick for the past week. That’s why coming up here today, I’m happy with the way I played because I knew it wasn’t going to be my best performance.”

This passing performance won’t rank among his best, but he did more than enough, all things considered. Pine-Richland’s defense forced five turnovers Saturday, so the Rams didn’t need a 400-yard day from the Notre Dame recruit.

Pine-Richland led 13-0 at halftime after Jurkovec threw a 6-yard touchdown to Raymond Falcone and a 33-yarder to Jordan Crawford. The Rams pulled away with consecutive touchdown runs 42 seconds apart by Jurkovec and Crawford in the third quarter, with a Manheim fumble in between.

District 3 champion Manheim Township (12-2) was in the state playoffs for the first time.

Jurkovec’s coaches had prepared a wildcat package this week just in case he wasn’t available and had their backup quarterback handle two full days of practice.

“I knew I’d be able to play, but how strong would I be?” Jurkovec said. “I was so weak from not eating. … I felt real drained and tired but still able to throw. I definitely felt it out there.”

Jurkovec didn’t ride the team bus to Altoona, and Kasperowicz wasn’t certain he’d play until Saturday.

“Everybody knows nothing would keep him from playing this football game,” Kasperowicz said, “but it was dicey there for awhile.”

“I knew he was going to be here,” Crawford said. “I know Phil better than that. He was going to play no matter what.”

Pine-Richland had 16 players sick last week and 12 this week, Kasperowicz said. Along with football coaches, Kasperowicz’s staff has become health care workers, urging players to get enough rest and stay hydrated while trying to keep the locker room sanitized.

“Really out of five days or preparation, we had one day of preparation,” Kasperowicz said. “Jason DeFrancis was out for three days. Jordan was out. Phil was out. Multiple linemen. … You have to be able to adjust. It was a very tough week. A very scary week for us.”

Pine-Richland’s defense made sure Jurkovec and the offense didn’t have to over work. Cameron Ballay, Andrew Kristofic, Tyler King and Michael Katic all recovered fumbles, and Crawford added a third-quarter interception.

“Holding them to 28 points was our number, and we did that,” Manheim Township coach Mark Evans said. “But offensively we laid an egg. You can’t turn the ball over. I thought we could move the football. We just never got comfortable all day.”

The first takeaway came 61 seconds into the first quarter on Manheim Township’s third offensive snap. Pine-Richland’s Ryan Geyer stripped the football from Manheim quarterback Luke Emge and Ballay recovered at Manheim’s 17-yard line. The short field led to Falcone’s touchdown catch.

“Really, it was our defense that won us the game because they set us up with great field position,” Jurkovec said. “They stopped them over and over and over.”

Manheim’s offense didn’t earn a first down until its fifth possession. By then, Pine-Richland already led 13-0. But the Rams weren’t sharp in the first half, in part because of Manheim’s solid man-to-man defense.

Jurkovec completed 12 of 20 attempts for 147 yards and two touchdowns in the first half, but Pine-Richland punted three times and turned the ball over on downs three more before half.

Manheim’s only score was a 15-yard touchdown run by Grayson Sallade that narrowed Pine-Richland’s lead to 13-7 in the third.

“Defense had to step up because the offense was slow … especially in the first half,” Kristofic said. “We knew we had to come out and get stops. We felt confident, and that’s what we did.”

Chris Harlan is a Tribune-Review staff writer. Reach him at charlan@tribweb.com or via Twitter @CHarlan_Trib.

Tags: Pine-Richland