ALTOONA — For the second straight season, Harrisburg and Pittsburgh Central Catholic matched up in Altoona with a state championship berth on the line.

And for the second straight season, it was a vaunted Vikings squad, led by a ferocious offensive line and stellar run game, that came out ahead and stamped a passport to Chapman Field for the PIAA 6A championship game.

Bolstered by as stellar game from sophomore running back Chrys Black Jr., Central Catholic never trailed at Mansion Park Stadium, cruising to a 32-14 victory over Harrisburg in the state semifinals.

Here’s how the contest went down.

The stars

PCC’s Chrys Black Jr. was the standout in this contest, as the sophomore recorded 211 yards on 37 carries, scoring three times.

Top recruit Roman Thompson also scored a touchdown in the contest.

Jordan Ray and Yasair Ismail also had picks.

Harrisburg’s tailback and new Virginia Tech commit Messiah Mickens had a strong showing in the loss with 141 total yards (107 rushing, 34 receiving) and two touchdowns.

How it happened

The contest began inauspiciously for Harrisburg. The Cougars suffered a false start on the first play, a no-gain run after, and a botched snap that forced the team to pooch punt from its own 2-yard-line on third down.

Pittsburgh Central Catholic would utilize the field position advantage to their gain, running down the field before jumping out to a quick 7-0 lead on a Thompson touchdown rush.

Harrisburg would stave off the Vikings until the second quarter, when Black Jr., pirouetted out of trouble for a 34-yard touchdown run that put the team up 15-0 after a two-point conversion.

The Cougars would cut into that lead a bit, as a big pass to Jaiyon Lewis set up Mickens’ first touchdown run of the contest. But a failed two-point conversion would keep the deficit two scores deep.

Harrisburg then was unable to make the Vikings pay for a Black Jr. fumble, punting the ball back to PCC, which would drive down and score on another Black Jr. touchdown run, going up 22-6, which would settle as the score into the halftime break.

The Vikings then opened up the third quarter with a long field goal by kicker Antonio Mifatta, who was good from 43 yards out. But Harrisburg was able to mount its best response of the game after, narrowing the gap to 11 after another Mickens touchdown run and two-point conversion with 5:09 left in the third quarter.

With the ball back in the fourth down 11 points, though, Harrisburg had what proved to be its last best chance, facing a fourth-and-11. With pressure in his face, Shank attempted to run for the first down, but came up short and lost the ball.

Black would then put the finishing touches on the contest, unleashing a 26-yard touchdown run where he kept chugging in a morass of tacklers to score and put his team up 18 points, securing the state championship game berth.

The big picture

For the second straight year, Pittsburgh Central Catholic advances to the PIAA 6A state championship game against La Salle. That contest will be on Saturday, December 6 at 7 p.m.

Harrisburg’s season ends after the program’s first 13-0 start ever in the state semifinals.

They said it

“I was a receiver [last year], so I couldn’t really get the ball in my hands as much as I wanted. Because when you’re receiver, you don’t know if you will get the ball or not. But when you’re running back, you know you’ll most likely get the ball. So that’s played a bigger role this year, for sure.” – Pittsburgh Central Catholic’s Chrys Black Jr. on getting a chance to have a big game at this stage

“Throughout the course of a game, you can learn a lot about an individual. And I learned that my kids, no matter, no matter what’s going on, they’re winners because they fought. Even when the scoreboard indicated that there was a very slim chance in them being victorious, they still fought to the very end. And that’s all you can ask. And I’m extremely proud.” – Harrisburg coach Cal Everett on his reflection on the team’s season-ending loss

“They mean so much to the program. I can’t even put it in words. They’re leading the way, and they’re showing our young guys, the way that we’re supposed to conduct ourselves and and become better not only football players, but better young men. And that’s the most important thing.” – Everett on the impact this senior Harrisburg group had on the program

SCORING SUMMARY

Pittsburgh Central Catholic 7-15-3-7 — 32

Harrisburg 0-6-8-0 — 14

FIRST QUARTER

PCC- Roman Thompson 4 run (Antonio Difatta kick) 8:13

SECOND QUARTER

PCC- Chrys Black Jr. 34 run (Thompson run) 9:04

H- Messiah Mickens 3 run (Kick blocked) 4:56

PCC- Black Jr. 8 run (Difatta kick) 2:11

THIRD QUARTER

PCC- Difatta 43 kick 7:11

H- Messiah Mickens 16 run (Ja’auan Johnson run) 5:09

FOURTH QUARTER

PCC- Black 26 run (Difatta kick) 8:18

Team statistics PCC, HBG

First downs: 17, 17

Rush yards: 245, 112

Passing yards: 84, 230

Comp-Att-Int: 6-13-0, 19-35-2

Fumbles-lost: 1-1, 1-1

Punts: 3-40, 4-28.3

Penalties: 12-100, 13-82

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING — Pittsburgh Central Catholic: Chrys Black Jr. 37-211, Roman Thompson 8-34; Harrisburg: Messiah Mickens 17-107, Mikal Shank Jr. 4-(minus-12), Jaiyon Lewis 2-1, Trays Walker 1-24, PJ Dent 1-4, TEAM 1-(minus-12)

PASSING — Pittsburgh Central Catholic: Owen Herrick 6-13-0-84; Harrisburg: Shank Jr. 19-34-2-230, Elias Coke 0-1-0-0

RECEIVING — Pittsburgh Central Catholic: Aiden Nasiadka 3-45, Max Roman 2-33, Chrys Black Jr. 1-6; Harrisburg: Jaiyon Lewis 4-66, Coke 4-53, Ja’auan Johnson 4-51, Mickens 4-34, Keijuan Sinkler 1-15, Titus Brown 1-11

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