St. Joe’s Prep trounces Parkland in PIAA playoffs, remains unbeaten against District 11 schools

Ozmany Guzman, the senior quarterback, was the last Parkland football player to join the handshake line after a 46-7 loss Friday night to St. Joseph’s Prep in the quarterfinals of the PIAA Class 6A playoffs. The Hawks had hounded Guzman, who passed for 147 yards but was sacked four times and threw an interception.

The Prep (9-2) will move on to the semifinals next weekend, where it will face Downingtown West, who beat North Penn, 35-16, on Friday. Guzman was a little bit begrudging in his praise of the Hawks’ defense, but he did say, “It was difficult to get things going.”

He said, softly, “They were aggressive for all 48 minutes.”

This was supposed to be sort of a rebuilding season for the Prep, which lost many of the top offensive players who’d propelled the Hawks’ run in 2023 to the school’s eighth state championship in 11 years. Friday’s victory, however, included 13 penalties and was hardly flawless.

But the defense got after Guzman, whom the Prep had identified as a dual threat. Parkland scored its only touchdown against the Prep second-team defense with 3 minutes left and the clock running. Running back T.J. Lawrence, who finished with six yards on eight carries, scored the lone touchdown.

No sooner had the Parkland band completed a peppy version of its fight song when St Joe’s Prep senior Jamir Rowe returned the kickoff 92 yards for a touchdown to end the scoring.

“I think we’re playing phenomenally, but we still have stuff to polish up,” said Cam Smith, the senior Prep outside linebacker who’s committed to Penn State.

Parkland (11-3), the District 11 champion, was eliminated by the Prep from the playoffs for the sixth straight time. District 11, which includes Allentown, Bethlehem, and Easton, is 0-10 against the Hawks since 2013, the year the Prep won its first state championship.

A year ago in this round, the Prep scored four touchdowns in the first eight minutes to trounce Nazareth, 59-21. Parkland had a little something going for it entering Friday, winning the district title by avenging losses earlier this season to Bethlehem Freedom and Emmaus.

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“Sometimes there’s a tendency for people to complain about recruiting,” Tim Moncman, the Parkland head coach, said of St. Joe’s Prep, “but we were not going to talk about that. We were just going to play another football game.”

The problem, of course, is that the Prep is not merely talented, but extraordinarily deep, with players either on offense or defense. Parkland did not have that luxury, and the Prep wore out the Trojans after Parkland had made a somewhat encouraging start.

“I think in the first half, we battled,” Moncman said. “They knew they were in a football game.”

He said of the Prep’s depth, “That’s why they are who they are. They’re a large squad with a lot of talent.”

Prep led at the half, 20-0, on three gorgeous touchdown passes by the poised sophomore quarterback Charlie Foulke, who had fumbled on Prep’s first drive after he was sacked. Two of the TD catches were made by the Temple-bound wide receiver Rameir Hardy.

“We took two losses earlier this season, and people said, ‘You’re down. You’re young,’” Hardy said, “but at 17th and Girard, we’ve got killers across the board. We still haven’t played our best game yet.”

With the Hawks leading, 13-0, midway through the second quarter, Parkland blocked a Prep punt, gaining possession near midfield. Here is where the Hawks’ defense came on strong, sacking Guzman once and forcing him to throw two incompletions. Parkland punted.

Elijah Turner reeled off a 28-yard punt return, and after three rushes by junior running back Khyan Billups, Foulke threaded a 21-yard touchdown pass to Hardy.

“He’s good,” Moncman said of Foulke, “and he’s got kids to throw to.”

Billups, the shifty and powerful running back who’d replaced the injured Isaiah West (committed to Ohio State), took over after halftime, scoring two touchdowns and finishing with 144 yards rushing. Tim Roken, the Prep coach, replaced his starters at the start of the fourth quarter.

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Perhaps because of the wintry mix Friday, the attendance for the game at Pennridge was light, not much more than 1,000 spectators. There will certainly be a larger crowd for the game against Downingtown West (13-1), which the Prep has never faced in the playoffs.

A year ago, the Hawks took on Central Bucks South, another opponent they’d never faced, in the state semifinals. Prep returned the opening kickoff for a touchdown, owned a 42-0 lead at halftime, and cruised to a 49-0 victory. This year’s semifinal game won’t be such a snap.

But this St. Joe’s Prep team, which does not seem so young any more, will play another week. La Salle College, an archrival which the Prep lost to earlier in the season, has been eliminated, and so has Imhotep Charter, the 2023 Class 5A state champions. The Hawks held Imhotep’s Jabree Wallace-Coleman, soon headed to Penn State, to 21 yards on nine carries.

“I feel like we were a young team that developed into grown men throughout the season,” Smith said.

The Prep is 28-2 in the last three rounds of the state playoffs since 2013, with losses only to Pine Richland and Mount Lebanon in the 2017 and 2021 state-title games, respectively. The Hawks have stuff to fix, but they are also as robust as ever. Ask Ozmany Guzman.