Marauders Defeat Muncy, Make Return to State Final | News, sports, jobs

Photo for the Mirror by Jeremy Boland BG’s Nick McCloskey makes a tackle on Muncy as Rocco Cacciotti (60) approaches the play on Friday night.

LOCK HAVEN – It’s only been three years since Bishop Guilfoyle Academy played in the PIAA high school football championship game, but the Hershey Kisses flew onto the Hubert field following the Marauders’ 21-6 Class 1A state semifinal win Lock Haven University Muncy’s H. Jack Stadiums showed Friday that it’s been a while.

Since BG’s last state championship in 2021, the PIAA has moved the final from Hershey to Cumberland Valley High School’s Chapman Field – and that’s exactly where the Marauders will be on Thursday at 1 p.m. when they face District for their fifth PIAA title 9 in program history champion Port Allegany, which defeated WPIAL champion Fort Cherry 46-8 in the other semifinal.

“It never gets boring,” Bishop Guilfoyle coach Justin Wheeler said. “It’s a great feeling knowing what these guys have been through and how hard they’ve worked, and the disappointment of last year – to come back and get back to their goal, which is to play for a state championship. It’s so exciting for the school, the program, and my family – everyone. It’s a great feeling.”

For the second time in a row, the Marauders gained a big lead early on.

Bishop Guilfoyle won the coin toss and provided the opening kickoff. The Marauders then gained 78 yards in 11 plays, spending much of the first quarter before Chase Kissell hit Braden Reilly with a 19-yard touchdown pass.

“Two weeks in a row, that opening drive really helped set the tone,” Wheeler said. “Overall, we weren’t particularly good offensively today. Sometimes we were, but we knew that if we went after them and made them do things they didn’t want to do, we had a good chance.”

Muncy drove to the BG 10 before the Indians failed a reverse play attempt, and Jesse Georgiana tied it for the Marauders, who eventually scored on a 3-yard touchdown run by Hamilton Gates.

This was far from Gates’ greatest move.

After Bishop Guilfoyle stopped Muncy on downs on the Indians’ next drive, Kissell threw a perfect deep pass to Gates for a 71-yard touchdown that made it 21-0.

“When you have the best quarterback in the state and he just puts it in your hands,” Gates said. “It couldn’t be better.”

Wheeler said it was a blessing to have Gates and Kissell.

“It makes coaching easy and fun,” Wheeler said. “(Gates is) such an incredible athlete, and Chase can put the ball on the money. The two of them just have a great connection.”

With BG leading by three points, Muncy was forced to pass the ball and break away from its running game, resulting in several drives in BG territory ending with no points, including one after a Reilly interception in the end zone.

“It was the little things,” Muncy coach Sean Tetreault said. “We got into the red zone a couple of times and didn’t finish. That’s the difference in the game. It’s unfortunate, but our children did their best. Bishop Guilfoyle is a great team and I couldn’t be more proud of this senior group at Muncy and what they have done for us.”

Play: Gates’ long touchdown catch put the game out of reach for Muncy, which relied heavily on the run.

“It’s so hard for defenses to prepare against him,” Kissell said. “You want to load up the box against our run, but if you do that you can’t protect Hamilton one-on-one. This makes our lives much easier.”

Player of the Game: Gates finished the game with six catches for 136 yards and a touchdown and threw the ball nine times for 36 yards and another score.

“It means everything (to win the state championship), especially given the history of this team,” Gates said. “We had to go back to where we had dreamed of playing since we were little.”

Unsung hero: Rocco Cacciotti had a key sack with 11:45 left in the second quarter and forced a Muncy punt that resulted in BG taking a two-point lead.

Key stat: Muncy’s star running back Austin Johnson, who is headed to Division I Oklahoma State to wrestle, ran for 162 yards on 11 carries in the first half but managed just 27 yards in the second half, finishing with 189 and Muncy’s only Hit score.

“They abandoned some of their tendencies early on,” Wheeler said. “They put us on the weak side a couple of times. We have made some adjustments. We have some great coaches who made a change in the second half and shut him down for the most part. I am happy with our coaches, our players and our performance. With a kid like that you have to tackle and swarm in groups, and when we didn’t do that, he made some big runs. But once we got there, we did a good job.”

Tetreault: “There will only be one team in Class 1A that is happy with the end of the season. Everyone except the champion must lose. It’s unfortunate that it was us tonight, but this is a very good team that I know will do well next week.”

Kissell: “That was our goal all year long. After a disappointing year last year, we set a goal in the offseason to make this run. We’ve put a lot of work into this and it’s really paying off.”

Of note: Bishop Guilfoyle improved to 6-1 in PIAA semifinal games since winning its first PIAA title in 2014, with its only loss attributed in part to a penalty in 2020 that led to a game-winning field goal by Steelton-Highspire Home stadium of the Rollers. … Chase Kissell broke up a fourth-down pass with 5:41 left and Muncy never touched the ball again. … Taurean Consiglio rushed for 100 yards on 20 carries for BG. … Friday marked Muncy’s first appearance in the PIAA semifinals.

Records: Bishop Guilfoyle Academy (14-1); Muncy (12-3).

Next week: Bishop Guilfoyle will face WPIAL District 9 champion Port Allegany in the PIAA Class 1A championship on Thursday at Cumberland Valley High School’s Chapman Field at 1 p.m. Muncy’s season is over.

RESULTS BY QUARTERS

Bishop Guilfoyle 7 14 0 0 – 21

Muncy 0 6 0 0 – 6

First quarter

BG–Reilly 19 pass from C. Kissell (Cacciotti kick), 5:43.

Second quarter

BG–Gates 3-run (Boland kick), 8:27.

BG–Gates 71 pass from C. Kissell (Cacciotti kick), 4:38.

M–Johnson 13-run (kick missed), :45.

TEAM STATISTICS BG M

First downs 18 13

A total of 345,276 yards

Rushes yards 36-163 32-234

Yards passing 182 42

Passing (comp.-att.-int.) 10-19-1 4-13-1

Punts Avg 3-30.7 4-26.8

Fumbles – 1-0, 2-1 lost

Penalties – Yards 5-45 5-37

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING–Bishop Guilfoyle, Consiglio 20-100, Gates 9-36, C. Kissell 5-29, TEAM 2-(-2). Muncy, Johnson 20-189, Wommer 7-69, Eyer 4-2, TEAM 1-(-26).

PASSING – Bishop Guilfoyle, C. Kissell 10/19/182. Muncy, Eyer 4-13-1-42.

RECEPTION – Bishop Guilfoyle, Gates 6-136, Reilly 1-19, Lestochi 1-13, J. Kissell 1-10, Consiglio 1-4. Muncy, Rogers 1-18, Derr 1-13, Kamerer 1-11, Wommer 1-0.