Pennsylvania High School Football Week 9 Rewind

Easton QB Cole Ordway scores seven rushing TDs; Liberty wins Bethlehem City championship; McDevitt topples State College; Farrell crushes Cathedral Prep

Burrell's Antonio Perkins, right, set a school record by rushing for 360 yards Friday night at Burrell High School. The Buccaneers' sophomore also set a school record by scoring seven touchdowns in a win over Deer Lakes. / Josh Rizzo

Easton quarterback Cole Ordway knocked off a lot of milestones against Nazareth. Ordway set a new school record by piling up seven rushing touchdowns in a 51-14 win over Nazareth.

The win allowed the Rovers to win the EPC Northampton title and move to 10-0 on the season.

Wild Card Madness

The WPIAL’s playoff system has several classes in which the playoff participants are determined by a committee. Plum grabbed one of the Wild Cards in 5A by winning in unique fashion. The Mustangs beat Penn Hills 20-14 Friday after returning a potentially game-winning kick for a touchdown.

Plum kicker Austin Kolanowski’s 10-yard touchdown run as time expired eliminated Penn Hills from the playoffs. It also meant that Shaler, which would have likely been eliminated from the playoffs with a Penn Hills win, would earn its first playoff spot since 2019 thanks to the blocked kick.

Special teams propels McDevitt

Bishop McDevitt used a strong special teams performance to roll past State College 36-20 in a Mid-Penn Commonwealth game. 

The Crusaders won despite not making life easy on themselves. Bishop McDevitt turned the ball over four times. 

Patrick Wright ran a kick back 75 yards for a score for McDevitt. Jerome Laure Jr. also ran a kick back 98 yards for a touchdown for the Crusaders, which stretched McDevitt’s lead to 29-20.

Liberty wins George “Shadow” Resetco Memorial Football Trophy

Liberty earned the city championship for the first time since 2018 by beating Freedom, 42-14. The battle between the two Bethlehem-based schools has been a mostly one-sided affair for the past few seasons.

Liberty’s win snapped a six-game losing streak in the series. The Hurricanes won their first outright city league championship since 2010.

Liberty’s win was the largest in the series since 2006.

Farrell crushes Cathedral Prep

Juelz Johnson and Aaron Pegues each scored three touchdowns to help the Steelers knock off Cathedral Prep, 46-7. The Ramblers finished the season 3-6, which is their smallest win total since 1997.

Clearfield overcomes deficit to beat Penn Cambria

The Bison trailed by eight points with 63 seconds remaining before rallying to win 34-28 in overtime. Penn Cambria had taken a 28-20 lead when Evan Latterner scored on a 50-yard touchdown run.

Clearfield (7-3) cut the lead to two when Xavier Curry scored on a 1-yard run. Landyn Rankin evened the score by completing a pass to Curry on the 2-point conversion. Penn Cambria missed a 23-yard field goal attemp on their overtime possession before Colton Ryan won the game with a 1-yard scoring run.

Berwick finishes first undefeated season since 2013

The Bulldogs put an exclamation point on their regular season dominance before the opening of the playoffs next week. Berwick pounded Tunkhannock 53-0 to wrap up the season 10-0. The Bulldogs also defeated Selinsgrove 56-0 the prior week.

Ty’Meere Wilkerson led the way for Berwick, piling up 215 rushing yards on 11 carries. Wilkerson scored four times.

--Josh Rizzo | rizzo42789@gmail.com | @J_oshrizzo