Royals start fast but can't hang on

FROM THE MORNING CALL

record-setting wide receiver, senior Matt Camilletti stood quietly on the sideline as the final minutes of the Pius X football season and his high school career ticked off the clock.

"The momentum was all on their side at that point," he said with tears in his eyes. "I felt helpless."

Helpless was the word Camilletti used to describe his feelings in the fourth quarter; euphoria was the word of choice for the first 15 minutes.

Pius X opened a 12-point advantage early in the second quarter of Friday night's PIAA Class A quarterfinal, but by the time the fourth quarter rolled around powerful Southern Columbia had seized complete control. The District 2 champion Tigers outscored the District 11 champion Royals 26-0 in the second half and earned a 55-25 victory at Nazareth's Andrew Leh Stadium.


Coach Jim Roth called the win his program's biggest since 2006 as 13-1 Southern Columbia advances to next Friday night's state semifinals. Pius X, meanwhile, finishes off one of the most successful seasons in school history with a 12-2 record.

"As difficult as it is to lose," Camilletti said, "I love my teammates and this group of guys. I'm very proud of what we've accomplished."

For a while Friday night, it looked like the Royals' season would roll on.

Sophomore quarterback AJ Long came out on fire, completing touchdown passes of 35 and 84 yards to Drake Freeman and Boise Ross, respectively, and Pius X took a 19-7 lead with 10:52 remaining in the second quarter. Nick DeRea's 1-yard TD plunge came between the two long pass plays.

Momentum shifted from the team wearing black and blue to the squad in black and gold during the second period.

The Tigers simply pounded Pius X — which wins with finesse, speed and athleticism — into submission. In the end, three Southern Columbia backs — Brad Fegley, Matt Moore and Tyler Levan — had all amassed 100-plus rushing yards and Roth's squad totaled 441 overall.

"Our running game took over," Roth said. "We kept coming at them and I think our schedule helped us. We were probably in a few more of these wars throughout the season and that was to our advantage in the second half."

"We talk about our weapons but they have just as many weapons," Pius X coach Phil Stambaugh said. "When we stopped one guy, another one hurt us. They made more big plays than we did."

Perhaps the game's single biggest play, Stambaugh indicated, was the catch Southern Columbia wideout Keith Day made in traffic. Day leaped over two Royals defenders and snatched the jump ball for a 30-yard gain on first-and-20 from the Tigers' 40 midway through the second quarter. It set up the go-ahead score.

The player Pius X struggled the most to defend was Fegley, Southern Columbia's quarterback. Fegley completed an efficient 5 of 7 passes for 124 yards and rushed 11 times for 118 yards. He scored three rushing touchdowns, of 2, 1 and 17 yards, and threw a 14-yard TD pass to Day.

Moore and Levan each added two rushing touchdowns.

"We started off kind of slow," Fegley said. "Coach told us we weren't running hard. It's tough to tell why that happened. But we kept our belief and really got it going. We put up 55 points — that's pretty good."

"Brad Fegley played a tremendous game," Roth said. "I think he ran faster tonight than he's capable of. He also played very well on defense."

The other quarterback was pretty outstanding, too.

Long, who finished his season with more than 3,500 passing yards, accounted for much of the Royals' offense. He hit on 19 of 37 passes for 325 yards with three touchdowns and one interception. Ross caught six of those passes for 156 yards while Camilletti added five receptions for 71 yards.

Pius X's chances were hurt by three turnovers.

"We were really making plays and in our comfort zone early on," Stambaugh said. "But they got the power running game going and that's their comfort zone. The momentum swings, the turnovers and the penalties, you can't afford those in big games like this."

The state playoff result was the fourth that's gone against Pius X. Southern Columbia also knocked the Royals out of PIAA contention in 1995 (Stambaugh's senior year), 2001 and 2004. Despite the setback, Pius X can remember its season as a success.

"I'm extremely proud," Stambaugh said. "These games don't just happen. I'm very proud of the work we've put into this."

"I'll look back on it as an awesome experience," Camilletti said. "Maybe not tonight, but sometime soon."

http://www.mcall.com/sports/varsity/mc-piusx-piaa-playoff1202-20111202,0,2361568.story