Father Judge 38, Abraham Lincoln 0
Father Judge 7 7 17 7 — 38
Abraham Lincoln 0 0 0 0 — 0
FJ: VanHorn 21 run (Westfield kick)
FJ: VanHorn 1 run (Westfield kick)
FJ: Marquis 13 run (Westfield kick)
FJ: Westfield 27 FG
FJ: Murphy 22 pass from VanHorn (Westfield kick)
FJ: Smith 8 run (Westfield kick)
FJ AL
First downs 20 13
Rush yards 271 94
Pass yards 114 80
Total yards 385 174
Punts (average) 0 (0) 1 (15)
Lost fumbles 0 1
Penalties-yards 4-25 6-50
Sacks 0 2
Father Judge
Rushing: VanHorn 13-132, 2 TDs; Smith 15-104, TD; Marquis 2-25, TD; McLaughlin 3-5; Nikolopolous 1-3; Rhinehart 2-2.
Passing: VanHorn 9-12-0, 114 yards, 1 TD.
Receiving: Rhinehart 3-45; Smith 2-30; Murphy 2-29, TD; Newhouse 2-10.
Interceptions: Appling, Marquis 2, Conway, LeBold.
Abraham Lincoln
Rushing: Simmons-Greene 11-43; Knight 5-28; Gardee 7-23.
Passing: Knight 7-14-5, 0 TDs, 80 yards.
Receiving: R. Davis 2-37; Irizarry 2-20; Hill 1-16; Simmons-Greene 1-9; Roberts 1-(-2).
Interceptions: None.
The Father Judge Crusaders didn’t have any problem getting past a loss in the District 12 Class 5A title game.
That’s because Thanksgiving rival Abraham Lincoln was up next on the schedule.
“We practiced three days, and they were probably our best practices all year,” said junior Jake Marquis. “I knew we could dominate all game. We couldn’t break the streak.”
The streak — Judge beating Lincoln on Thanksgiving — is up to 31 in a row after the Crusaders clobbered the Railsplitters, 38-0, last Thursday. Judge leads the all-time series, 43-3-1.
Marquis had a big game, intercepting two passes and running for a 13-yard touchdown.
In fact, a lot of Crusaders had big games.
Quarterback Mike VanHorn ran for 132 yards and two touchdowns and passed for 114 yards and a score, and was named his team’s Most Valuable Player. Joe Murphy, who caught a touchdown pass, won Judge’s Sportsmanship Award. Eric Smith ran for 104 yards and a TD. John Westfield made a field goal and all his extra points.
The Crusaders piled up 385 total yards behind the blocking of tight end Mike Conway and linemen Zach Bayer, Chris Coulter, Braedon Hart, Jake Mulgrave, Sean Broderick and Tom Gonglik.
Defensively, Judge forced six turnovers — a fumble recovery by Mulgrave, the two interceptions by Marquis and picks by Nymeir Appling, Conway and Jason LeBold.
“Our defense was there, and we ended up getting a lot of picks today,” Marquis said. “Our offensive line dominated. They probably had their best game.”
Judge finished 7-5, while Lincoln ended 7-3. The teams did not shake hands afterward and did not gather at midfield, as usual, to congratulate each other and hand out awards. Lincoln, which moved the ball well at times before falling victim to penalties and turnovers, gave its MVP trophy to the team as a whole, and Tamaj Jenkins earned the Sportsmanship Award.
Judge will lose 12 players to graduation.
“We have good seniors to replace, but we bring back a lot of players,” said coach Frank McArdle.
Marquis, 16, who grew up playing for the Bustleton Bengals, is one of those underclassmen. The 5-7, 160-pounder from Modena Park attended Franklin Towne Charter Elementary School before coming to Judge. He’ll join the wrestling team and use his speed on the track and field team before coming back for his senior season of football and all the challenging Catholic League games.
“We’re pretty young and played some very tough games this year, so we should be pretty good next year,” he said. ••
