NAZARETH — His players kneeling around him, Mahanoy Area coach Dave Holman talked to his Golden Bears for the final time this season.
He thanked his seniors for their effort, and urged his underclassmen to work hard in the offseason.
It was two sentences of his post-game speech, however, that summed up Saturday’s 26-7 loss to Pius X in a District 11 Class A semifinal at Nazareth Area High School.
“It’s a shame we weren’t at full strength,” Holman said. “I would have liked our chances.”
Already without senior Jason Richmond for most of the season, the Golden Bears lost four of their top skilled-position players to injury during Saturday’s contest, yet still stayed with the top-seeded Royals the entire game.
In the District 11 playoffs for the first time in 15 years, Mahanoy Area just didn’t have the depth necessary to pull off the victory after its offensive leaders limped to the sideline.
“It’s disheartening right now,” Holman said. “I would have loved to see what we could have done with a full squad.
“We had a great drive with our first team in there, took the lead. Every other play, it seemed like a guy was walking off the field with some type of injury.”
Pius X (9-2), which faces Marian in the District 11 title game next weekend, used two field goals by Dalton Tucker on its first two possessions to take a 6-0 lead midway through the first quarter.
The Bears (5-6) answered with an eight-play, 47-yard drive that was set up by a 41-yard kickoff return by Mason Evitts.
Getting good blocking by the offensive line of Nolan Fegley, Bailey Forte, Henry Blume, Troy Kimmel and Jeremy Markiewicz, and strong running by Lenny Dulsky, Mahanoy Area reached paydirt to grab the lead.
Mason Ryan’s 1-yard plunge and Joseph Bradley’s conversion kick two plays into the second quarter put Mahanoy Area up 7-6.
“They were the big question marks coming in. We lost a couple of big-name people from last season,” Holman said of his offensive line. “Nobody gave them a chance, nobody knew their names. A lot of those seniors are first-year starters, and they did a great job this year.
“All the skilled guys get the accolades and their names in the paper, but those guys up front really worked hard from last spring to fill the holes for us on the line. I can’t say enough about those guys. They had a superb season for me.”
Things went downhill from there, however, for the Golden Bears.
Ryan, who twisted his knee the previous series, never returned after the touchdown, leaving backup Matt Yedsena to guide the offense. Yedsena struggled to throw the ball, misfiring on nine passes — one of which was an interception — and was sacked four times.
Without Ryan in the lineup, Pius X stuffed the box and run-blitzed on nearly every play, and the Mahanoy Area offense ground to a halt. Over the final 11-plus minutes of the first half, Mahanoy Area ran 17 plays, punted four times and gained just 7 yards.
There were brief moments of success in the second half, but the Golden Bears could never put together a scoring drive.
Dulsky gave Mahanoy Area a boost with a 72-yard run in the third quarter, and finished with 116 yards rushing, but didn’t play much of the fourth quarter with a shin injury. Yedsena exited in the second half with a knee injury, leaving freshman Matt Lewandowski in charge. Evitts suffered an ankle injury in the fourth quarter and didn’t return.
Pius X, meanwhile, used a pair of touchdown runs by Tre Jordan to take a 19-7 halftime lead. Predominantly a passing team, the Royals kept the ball on the ground after the Golden Bears’ defense focused on stopping the pass.
Jordan, who entered the game with 2,223 yards passing and 30 touchdowns, was 14-of-23 for just 88 yards. His 8-yard TD pass to Nate Stewart in the fourth quarter accounted for the final margin.
On the ground, however, he ran for 107 yards on 18 carries. The Royals also got solid efforts from Jalen Simpson (10-69) and Jared Alphonso (6-60) to finish with 282 yards rushing on 42 carries.
“The way that their defense was set up, we thought we could take advantage of running the ball a little more,” Pius X coach Phil Stambaugh said. “I thought (Mahanoy) did a good job of not letting any big plays pop. We had yards, but we didn’t pop anything. They did a good job of bottling us up.
“Obviously, the injuries didn’t help them, just as they wouldn’t help a small team like us.”
Mahanoy Area loses four of its five starting offensive linemen, but return all of its skilled players except Richmond and nine of its 11 starters on defense. Holman is excited about the Bears’ future.
“It should be an exciting offseason for these guys if they want to work hard and try to not only reach this level again next year, but surpass it,” Holman said.
Game Summary
District 11 Class A Semifinal At Nazareth High School
MA (5-6) 0 7 0 0 — 7 Pius X (9-2) 6 13 0 7 — 26
PX —FG Tucker 25
PX —FG Tucker 19
MA —Ryan 1 run (Bradley kick)
PX —Jordan 12 run (Tucker kick)
PX — Jordan 2 run (pass failed)
PX —Stewart 8 pass from Jordan (Tucker kick)
Mah Pius
First Downs 7 20
Rushes-Yards 39-124 42-282
Passes 1-14-2 14-23-1
Passing Yards 16 88
Total Yards 140 370
Fumbles-Lost 4-1 3-2
Penalties 8-66 6-42
INDIVIDUAL LEADERS
RUSHING: Mahanoy Area — Dulsky 12-116, Evitts 8-12, Lewandowski 3-10, Ryan 4-7, Wronski 1-2, Yedsena 10-(-10), Team 1-(-13). Pius X — Jordan 18-107, Simpson 10-69, Alphonso 6-60, Stewart 5-35, Palma 2-12, Team 1-(-1).
PASSING: Mahanoy Area — Lewandowski 1-4-0, 16; Yedsena 0-9-1, 0; Evitts 0-1-1, 0. Pius X — Jordan 14-23-1, 88.
RECEIVING: Mahanoy Area — Evitts 1-16. Pius X — Moran 2-31, Stewart 4-25, Weller 2-10, Beck 2-8, Alphonso 1-6, Woody 2-5, Palma 1-3.
INTERCEPTIONS: Mahanoy Area — Wronski. Pius X — Stewart, Moran.