North Catholic football undone by mistakes in WPIAL section loss to Beaver as playoffs loom
McCANDLESS TWP — North Catholic couldn’t find a big play.
Past the midway point of a 48-10 gridiron win, Beaver came across a treasure trove of them.
The Bobcats (6-2, 3-1 in Western Hills Conference) owned an 11-point lead at halftime at North Park’s J.C. Stone Field on Friday night. Still, the Trojans (3-5, 2-2) were poised at that juncture.
“I felt like our defensive plan was coming together a little bit,” North coach Chris Rizzo said. “We gave one up early, made a couple of adjustments. Offensively, there (were) a couple rare misses out there. But in a game against a team like that, those rare misses can’t happen because they capitalized.”
Trojans junior signal caller Joey Felitsky connected with classmate Ryker Kennedy for a 15-yard pass on the first snap of the third quarter, then a horse collar tackle moved North to midfield.
Two plays later, Beaver’s Amari Jackson intercepted a Felitsky pass in space and wheeled 66 yards for a touchdown. North’s Ryan Snyder lost a fumble on the ensuing kick return, and the visitors’ Quay Cain punctuated a six-play, 35-yard, ground-exclusive march less than two minutes later.
The Bobcats picked Felitsky off twice more in that frame. His counterpart, Travis Clear, scrambled for a 7-yard score and threw a 30-yard air strike to Jackson to draw out his side’s advantage to 38 points.
“We just talked about understanding what our role is on defense — read the route, drive the route, we’ll be OK,” Beaver coach Cort Rowse said. “We just talked to them about settling down, slowing down.”
Felitsky, who’d entered the contest as one of the WPIAL’s leading passers, had a night to forget. He was sacked four times in the defeat, and a 56-yard touchdown pass to Jack White with 10 minutes, 27 seconds remaining did little to diminish his frustration.
“He’s got to bounce back,” Rizzo said. “As a quarterback, you’ve got to have a short memory. That’s a part of the game that I think that he’s going to have to learn in these tough losses. Go back and watch the tape and be critical of himself. ... What you see on Friday night versus what you see on the tape, not always the same thing.”
Jackson starred for the Bobcats, finishing the night with a pair of picks, 156 yards from scrimmage and four total touchdowns. He caught a 57-yard score from Clear in response to White’s touchdown, which stands as the only one Beaver has allowed in its past three outings.
“They came out with their hair on fire and they’ve got a couple of really good dudes over there,” Rizzo said. “They got rolling. They got rolling early. They had a good plan.”
Cain punched it in from 17 yards out on the game’s opening possession. Trojans kicker Dylan Shantz split the uprights on a 36-yard try 7:06 before the intermission. Jackson capped off the first-half scoring with a 1-yard surge on the following series.
Beaver 7 7 27 7 — 48
North Catholic 0 3 0 7 — 10
First quarter
B — Quay Cain 17 run (Ty Cosky kick), 8:35
Second quarter
NC — Dylan Shantz 36 field goal, 7:06
B — Amari Jackson 1 run (Cosky kick), 4:45
Third quarter
B — Jackson 66 interception return (Cosky kick blocked), 11:17
B — Cain 8 run (Cosky kick), 9:32
B — Travis Clear 7 run (Cosky kick), 2:38
B — Jackson 30 pass from Clear (Cosky kick), 0:52
Fourth quarter
NC — Jack White 56 pass from Joey Felitsky (Shantz kick), 10:27
B — Jackson 57 pass from Clear (Cosky kick), 8:06
Individual Statistics
Rushing: Beaver, Quay Cain 10-89, Drey Hall 8-88, Amari Jackson 9-62, Travis Clear 3-23, AhMir Jackson 2-4, Avery Scales 1-8, Michael Derda 3-(-3). North Catholic, Christian Naylor 9-23, Logan Schade 5-18, Tom Arth 1-0, Joey Felitsky 8-(-10).
Passing: Beaver, Travis Clear 4-10-106-1. North Catholic, Joey Felitsky 14-27-188-3.
Receiving: Beaver, Amari Jackson 3-94, Philip Marino 1-12. North Catholic, Jack White 2-74, Ryker Kennedy 6-58, Will Waskiewicz 3-36, Tom Arth 2-23, Logan Schade 2-7.
