Roundup: North Catholic football beats Deer Lakes in WPIAL playoff opener; Trojanettes duo falls in PIAA tennis tourney
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North Catholic's Roman Sylvester (55) tackles Deer Lakes quarterback in a WPIAL Class 3A first-round football game Friday, Nov. 1, 2024, at Deer Lakes High School. Chris Leisie/Special to the Eagle
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North Catholic celebrates a late fumble in a WPIAL Class 3A first-round football game Friday, Nov. 1, 2024, at Deer Lakes High School. Chris Leisie/Special to the Eagle
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North Catholic celebrates a victory in a WPIAL Class 3A first-round football game Friday, Nov. 1, 2024, at Deer Lakes High School. Chris Leisie/Special to the Eagle
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North Catholic celebrates a 21-14 victory in a WPIAL Class 3A first-round football game Friday, Nov. 1, 2024, at Deer Lakes High School. Chris Leisie/Special to the Eagle
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North Catholic's Jack White (7) scores a touchdown against Deer Lakes in a WPIAL Class 3A first-round football game Friday, Nov. 1, 2024, at Deer Lakes High School. Chris Leisie/Special to the Eagle
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North Catholic's Logan Schade (26) scores the first touchdown against Deer Lakes in a WPIAL Class 3A first-round football game Friday, Nov. 1, 2024, at Deer Lakes High School. Chris Leisie/Special to the Eagle
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North Catholic's Logan Schade (26) breaks up a Deer Lakes pass in a WPIAL Class 3A first-round football game Friday, Nov. 1, 2024, at Deer Lakes High School. Chris Leisie/Special to the Eagle
For North Catholic, the seeding didn’t matter.
Coming up with big plays did.
The 11th-seeded Trojans overcame a 14-6 halftime deficit by making a number of positive plays in the second half Friday night at Deer Lakes, scoring a 21-14 upset of the sixth-seeded Lancers in the WPIAL Class 3A football playoffs.
Now 5-6 on the year, North Catholic travels to No. 3-seed Elizabeth Forward for a quarterfinal game Nov. 8. Deer Lakes ended its season 8-3.
The Trojan defense came up with three takeaways in the final two quarters and scored 15 points in the fourth period to take the lead. Logan Schade scored on touchdown runs of 4 and 27 yards in the final eight minutes. One of North Catholic’s conversions was a two-pointer.
Still, the outcome was in question until the waning seconds. Deer Lakes drove to the North Catholic 12 before Will Waskiewicz intercepted a pass in the end zone to preserve the victory.
Deer Lakes scored its touchdowns within 10 seconds of each other in the first half. The second score came on a fumbled kickoff the Lancers were able to recover and run into the end zone.
The North Catholic doubles pair of Brea Kelley and Katie Hardy were knocked out of the PIAA Class 2A Girls Tennis Doubles Championship in the first round Friday morning.
The WPIAL runners-up lost to District 2 champions Lily Lengyel and Alyssa Wigley, of Scranton Prep, 6-1, 6-0. That pair later lost in the quarterfinals to District 1 champions Hannah Kideckel and Rebecca Kideckel, of Lower Moreland, 6-3, 6-4.
Kelley and Hardy made a surprise run to the state doubles championship match last season and helped the Trojanettes to the state team semifinals last week. Hardy is a senior, Kelley a sophomore.
