Ever since the PIAA shifted from four to six classifications in 2016, there have been countless changes to the high school football landscape — with teams moving up and down in class, new conferences and rivalries forming, and elite programs attempting to navigate the PIAA’s competitive balance formula while forging new paths toward a championship.
But amidst all the chaos and uncertainty, there remains one constant variable football fans all across the state can always count on — St. Joseph’s Prep playing for a PIAA title in Class 6A.
A vaunted Philadelphia Catholic League dynasty featuring several of the most coveted recruits in the nation, St. Joe’s has won six out of eight PIAA Class 6A championships and has never missed out on the big game since the shift to six classes in 2016. This year will mark the Hawks’ ninth consecutive PIAA championship appearance — tied with Southern Columbia for the most all time — and more often than not, the outcome was already a foregone conclusion, with most of their victims already feeling defeated long before the game began.
That won’t be the case on Saturday night.
When WPIAL champion Central Catholic (12-2) takes the field at Cumberland Valley High School at 7 p.m. Saturday for the grand finale of the high school football season, the Vikings will do so with a boatload of confidence while riding the wave of a 12-game winning streak. With second-year coach Ryan Lehmeier and senior quarterback Jy’Aire Walls steering the ship, this Central team has every intention of bringing home its fifth state title and first since 2015.
Make no mistake about it — St. Joe’s will still be the favorite in the eyes of many in its bid for a PIAA championship three-peat, but this is no “David vs. Goliath” underdog story.
“Obviously, their reputation is what it is for a reason,” Lehmeier said. “They have been the standard in [Class] 6A for the last decade. But I think we have a really good team, too. We didn’t get here by accident. We’re not preparing all week to go up there Saturday just to participate.”
Although the Hawks (10-2) are still a star-studded team with an abundance of blue-chip prospects under sixth-year coach Tim Roken, this is far from their most dominant team of the past decade. Earlier this season, they suffered their first loss to a Pennsylvania opponent since 2021 in a 35-34 defeat against La Salle in four overtimes. St. Joe’s then avenged that loss with a 21-14 victory in the rematch for the PCL title on Nov. 9.
The Hawks have since cruised through the PIAA tournament with a trio of lopsided wins, outscoring Imhotep Charter, Parkland and Downingtown West by a combined score of 124-14. But unlike last year, when St. Joe’s finished as one of the consensus top-10 teams in the country, the Hawks currently find themselves outside the national top 25 going into this year’s state finals. MaxPreps currently has them ranked No. 34 in the nation.
Meanwhile, the Vikings opened up their season in the KDKA Kickoff Classic against St. Frances Academy, Md. — currently ranked No. 8 in the country according to MaxPreps. And although they lost by a score of 44-16, that was the first start of Walls’ varsity career, and there is no question Central has improved leaps and bounds since then. At the same time, that Week 0 experience should prove vital for the Vikings going up against a team with a similar level of size, strength and speed on Saturday.
“It’s not so much any individual,” Lehmeier said. “It’s not about one guy. It’s more about the collective group playing together and playing with a passion to play football.
“I don’t think you need much motivation to play in this one.”
Another reason for optimism on Central’s side on Saturday is the departure of former St. Joe’s star quarterback Samaj Jones, who graduated after leading the Hawks to back-to-back state titles in 2022-23. Jones’ final act before moving on to begin his college career at Cincinnati was a scintillating performance with 357 total yards and five TDs in a 45-23 rout against North Allegheny in last year’s PIAA Class 6A final.
In his place, sophomore Charlie Foulke has taken over under center — and while he is certainly no Samaj Jones, Foulke has shown plenty of promise so far this season.
“You can see that the ball jumps off his hand,” Lehmeier said. “He has a live arm and understands throwing lanes and anticipation and all of the things it takes to play high-level QB in [Class] 6A. They make you defend the field with the run game and the pass game.
“He’s a young kid but obviously has played some good football this year and has been exposed to some good teams out there in the PCL.”
Still, astute WPIAL observers will remember that the only loss Jones took against a Pennsylvania opponent came in the 2021 PIAA Class 6A final against Mt. Lebanon in his sophomore year. With that in mind, Foulke may still blossom into a superstar QB as a junior or senior, but one could argue that St. Joe’s might be a bit more vulnerable this year in his first season as a starter.
Astute observers will also remember the previous meeting between the Hawks and Vikings in the 2019 PIAA Class 6A semifinals. That year, St. Joe’s had one of its best teams in school history, led by standout quarterback Kyle McCord and star wideout Marvin Harrison Jr. Most expected Central to get wiped out, but the Vikings gave the Hawks everything they could handle in a heart-pounding 31-24 overtime defeat.
Of course, none of the players in that 2019 matchup are still around, but there is precedent for Central serving as a worthy challenger to St. Joe’s — and the teams certainly appear to be more evenly matched this time around.
“I’m not a big believer in chasing ghosts,” Lehmeier said. “It’s cool that both schools have a storied football history and rich tradition with football. It’s obviously an awesome matchup in that facet. But no team from Central Catholic or from St. Joe’s who played before will have anything to do with this one.”
While the Hawks will be relying on a sophomore signal-caller in Foulke, Walls has performed like a polished veteran in his senior season for the Vikings while only getting better and better as the season goes on. On the year, he has completed 50% of his passes while throwing for 2,404 yards and 26 touchdowns to seven interceptions, and he has several capable receivers to spread the ball around to.
Senior Xxavier Thomas is a Penn State recruit who shines on offense, defense and special teams for Central, and while his future lies at defensive back at the next level, he is enjoying a big season at wideout with a team-high 29 receptions for 626 yards and 11 TDs. Duke recruit Bradley Gompers is another senior whose focus will be on defense in college, but he has emerged as a big-play receiving threat this season with 25 receptions for a team-leading 753 yards (30.1 yards per reception) and 12 TDs. Plus, sophomore Max Roman has 27 catches for 427 yards and five scores, including a TD reception in the Vikings’ action-packed 38-33 win over Harrisburg in last week’s PIAA semifinals.
As for St. Joe’s, the Hawks may not have Harrison Jr. anymore, but they do have the next-best thing — his younger brother, freshman sensation Jett Harrison. At 6 feet 1, 175 pounds, Harrison is already being labeled as a future NFL talent just like his Hall of Fame father and his older brother, a first-round pick of the Arizona Cardinals in 2024.
“He is tremendously talented,” Lehmeier said. “He is very fluid in his route running and his ability to move. You can just tell by the way that he transitions that he is a special athlete. We’ve got our hands full. We have to make sure we’re buttoned up and using great technique and fundamentals.”
Lehmeier’s fast-paced spread offense has worked wonders for Central, with the Vikings averaging 42.1 points per game in 2024 after scoring 45 ppg in his debut season last fall. That being said, Central is still plenty capable of grinding out yardage on the ground with senior running back Elijah Faulkner as its primary ball carrier. Faulkner is now up to 244 carries for 1,349 yards and 19 TDs on the year, and the Vikings will likely need one more big-time performance from their workhorse on Saturday in order to take down St. Joe’s.
But while each team has more than its fair share of playmakers on offense, the real star power lies on defense for both schools.
For Central, Gompers (6-5, 215) headlines a ferocious linebacker corps heralded by some as the premier unit in the WPIAL, if not the entire state. Joining him at outside linebacker is junior Colsen Gatten (6-2, 210), who already holds more than a dozen FBS scholarship offers, and sophomore Roman Thompson (6-1, 210) is the man in the middle for the Vikings. Also an elite wrestler, Thompson is coming off arguably the best game of his career in the state semifinals against Harrisburg, and the multi-sport standout is making a compelling case to be labeled as Central’s next big star.
On the opposite side, the Hawks lay claim to one of the top linebacker tandems in the country in Cam Smith (6-0, 190) and Anthony Sacca (6-4, 225), both ranked as four-star recruits by Rivals. Smith will play his college ball at Penn State, while Sacca is going to Notre Dame.
“I think they have linebackers who are similar to ours,” Lehmeier said. “They have a lot of speed, a lot of length, the ability to bend and play the run and the pass. The way the game of football is played now, that’s what you want those guys to look like.”
When all is said and done, though, this game will be won or lost in the trenches — and that might just be where the Vikings’ biggest strength lies. With a stout offensive line fortified by senior center Sam Brackney (6-2, 280) and sophomore tackle Jimmy Kalis (6-6, 285), Central fans should feel confident about their team’s chances to hold their own at the line of scrimmage.
“I think our O-line can compete against any D-line,” Kalis said. “It doesn’t matter who we’re up against.”
Of course, once the ball is kicked off on Saturday night, all of the rankings and projections will go out the window, and it will be up to the players on the field to decide the outcome. And as the old saying goes, football is a game of inches, and anything can happen in between those white lines — so don’t be surprised if the Vikings find a way to slay St. Joe’s on the biggest stage of them all.
“We’re taking a lot of pride in what we’ve done this year, but it’s not over,” Lehmeier said. “We’re not here just to take part. Winning is expected, and expectations are high here.
“It feels really good to be playing in a state championship game and getting Central Catholic back to where it belongs.”
Steve is a sports writer at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, but he's currently on strike. Email him at srotstein@unionprogress.com.
