Photo for the Mirror by Jeremy Boland
BG’s Nick McCloskey makes a tackle against Muncy on Friday night as Rocco Cacciotti (60) closes in on the play.
LOCK HAVEN — It has only been three years since Bishop Guilfoyle Academy played in the PIAA high school football championship game, but the Hershey Kisses flying onto Lock Haven University’s Hubert H. Jack Stadium’s field following the Marauders’ 21-6 Class 1A semifinal win over Muncy on Friday signified 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. as they go for their fifth PIAA title in program history against District 9 champion Port Allegany, which defeated WPIAL champion Fort Cherry, 46-8, in the other semifinal.
“It never gets old,” Bishop Guilfoyle coach Justin Wheeler said. “It’s such a great feeling knowing what these guys have gone through and how hard they worked and the disappointment from last year — coming back and getting back to their goal, which is to play for a state championship. It is so exciting for the school, the program and my family — everyone. It’s a great feeling.”
For the second straight week, the Marauders established a big lead early.
Bishop Guilfoyle won the coin toss and took the opening kickoff. The Marauders then went 78 yards in 11 plays and chewed up much of the first quarter before Chase Kissell connected with Braden Reilly on a 19-yard touchdown pass.
“Two weeks in a row, that opening drive really helped set the tone,” Wheeler said. “We weren’t great offensively today overall. At moments we were, but we knew if we got up on them and made them try to do things they didn’t want to do, we’d have a good chance.”
Muncy drove all the way down to the BG 10 before the Indians fumbled on a reverse play, and Jesse Georgiana came up with the recovery for the Marauders, who eventually scored on a Hamilton Gates 3-yard touchdown run.
That was far from Gates’ biggest play.
After Bishop Guilfoyle stopped Muncy on downs on the Indians’ next drive, Kissell threw a perfect deep pass to Gates in stride for a 71-yard touchdown that made it 21-0.
“When you have the best quarterback in the state, and he’s just going to put it right in your hands,” Gates said. “It doesn’t get any better than that.”
Wheeler said having Gates and Kissell is a blessing.
“It makes coaching easy and fun,” Wheeler said. “(Gates is) such an incredible athlete, and Chase can put the ball on the money. Those two just have a great connection.”
With BG ahead by three scores, Muncy was forced to pass the ball and get away from its running game, which led to several drives ending in BG territory with no points, including one on a Reilly interception in the end zone.
“It was the little things,” Muncy coach Sean Tetreault said. “We got down to the red area a couple times and didn’t finish. That’s the difference in the game. It’s unfortunate, but our kids played their hearts out. Bishop Guilfoyle is a great team, and I couldn’t be prouder of this senior group at Muncy and what they did for us.”
Play of the game: Gates’ long touchdown catch put the game out of reach for Muncy, which depends heavily on the run.
“It’s so hard for defenses to prepare against him,” Kissell said. “You want to load the box against our run, but when you do that, you can’t guard Hamilton one-on-one. That makes life a lot easier on us.”
Player of the game: Gates finished with six catches for 136 yards and a touchdown and rushed the ball nine times for 36 yards and another score.
“It means everything (to make the state title game), especially with this team’s history,” Gates said. “We had to get back to where we have dreamed about playing since we were kids.”
Unsung hero: Rocco Cacciotti had a key sack with 11:45 left in the second quarter to force a Muncy punt that led to BG going up by two scores.
Most vital statistic: Muncy star running back Austin Johnson, who is going to Division I Oklahoma State to wrestle, ran for 162 yards on 11 carries in the first half but had just 27 yards rushing in the second half to finish with 189 and Muncy’s lone score.
“They went away from some of their tendencies early on,” Wheeler said. “They got us to the weak side a couple times. We made some adjustments. We have some great coaches who made an adjustment in the second half and for the most part shut him down. I’m happy with our coaches, our players and our effort. With a kid like that, you have to gang tackle and swarm, and when we didn’t, he made some big runs. But when we got there, we did a nice job.”
Tetreault: “In Class 1A, there will only be one team that’s happy with the way the season ends. Everyone but the champion has to lose. It’s unfortunate that it was us tonight, but that’s a very good team that I know will do well next week.”
Kissell: “This was our goal all year. After a disappointing year last year, we set a goal in the offseason that we were going to try and make this run. We put a lot of work into this thing, and it’s really paying off.”
Notable: Bishop Guilfoyle improved to 6-1 in PIAA semifinal games since it won its first PIAA title in 2014 with the only loss coming thanks in part to a penalty in 2020 that led to a game-winning field goal from Steelton-Highspire on the Rollers’ home field. … 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 was Muncy’s first appearance in the PIAA semifinals.
Records: Bishop Guilfoyle Academy (14-1); Muncy (12-3).
Next week: Bishop Guilfoyle will play WPIAL District 9 champion Port Allegany in the PIAA Class 1A championship at Cumberland Valley High School’s Chapman Field at 1 p.m. on Thursday. Muncy’s season is complete.
SCORE 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 failed), :45.
TEAM STATISTICS BG M
First downs 18 13
Total yards 345 276
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-lost 1-0 2-1
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 10-19-1-182. Muncy, Eyer 4-13-1-42.
RECEIVING–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.