Central Catholic will be left to wonder what could have been in the wake of a 21-13 loss to Pine-Richland in Friday’s Class AAAA WPIAL Championship game.
An early drive deep into Pine-Richland territory ended on a Johnny Petrishen fumble at the 12 yard line. The mistake loomed larger as the game progressed given the low scoring by both teams.
Later on another deep drive into Rams territory, an offensive personal foul penalty pushed the Vikings back to a 3rd and 30 which they could not convert and they had squandered another golden chance.
The biggest “what if” will come as the result of a controversial inadvertent whistle which negated a Romello Broughton fumble recovery by the Vikings (11-2) at their own 12 yard line. Pine-Richland (13-0) took advantage of the gift on the very next play as D’Ondre Gastion threw a wide-receiver trick pass to quarterback Ben Dinucci to extend the Pine-Richland lead to 14-0. DiNucci finished his day 16 of 29 for 174 yards and a rushing and receiving touchdown.
Petrishen got the Vikings within seven with 7:54 left in the game. He finished the day with 170 yards rushing and a touchdown on 34 carries.
Central Catholic’s Gunnar Frerotte threw a touchdown pass to Graham Adomitis as time expired but by rule the point after was not attempted.
Pine-Richland advances to the PIAA playoffs and will play the winner of Saturday’s matchup between State College and McDowell next week.
Photo Credit: Sidney Davis – Trib Total Media
