Redemption, tradition, and history: Area football teams compete for much more in PIAA playoffs

Roman Catholic coach Rick Prete said it best: Every team in the state playoffs is good, and this is what each program has prepared all year for. What they’re playing for is different.

For the Cahillites, it’s getting back to the state final after making their first appearance in school history last season, when Roman Catholic fell in overtime to Harrisburg’s Bishop McDevitt for the PIAA Class 5A crown at Cumberland Valley High School.

The heartbreaker has been Roman Catholic’s fuel all season, and this time Prete believes his team is “in a good place” to reach the final.

The Cahillites (8-3) handed La Salle College High its first loss of the season, nearly beat St. Joseph’s Prep (in a 40-39 double overtime loss), and are riding a four-game winning streak entering a matchup against Whitehall of District 11 in the first round of the PIAA playoffs on Friday night.

“We’re the only team that can get in our own way,” said Prete, who has been at the helm since 2019. “We have to stay focused and get better every day. ... From the beginning of the year to now, it’s been about staying out of our way and understanding that if we play our best, we’re the best team in Pennsylvania.”

Roman Catholic is led by Akron-bound quarterback Semaj Beals, who has passed for 2,456 yards this season. His main targets have been Ashdan Roberts (12 touchdowns) and Eyan Stead Jr. (eight), who both recently committed to Temple.

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Prete also credited center/guard Dom Ramos and defensive end Julian Enoch as the team’s vocal leaders. The two seniors “lead by example and try to hold guys accountable,” Prete said.

“We tell them to be where their feet are,” he said. “We’re not focused on coming off of four wins. We’re coming off of a loss in the state title game. We’re coming off a loss in essentially the PCL championship game. ... Roman has been coming back from a loss. That’s been our mindset.”

Pennridge High has never won a district or state championship. The Rams (11-1) are having their best season under third-year coach Kyle Beller after going 3-7 in 2023 and 4-7 in 2024. They opened the season on a seven-game winning streak, with victories against conference foes North Penn and Neshaminy.

District 1 Class 6A includes top competition. Pennridge, which earned a Suburban One League title outright and was seeded No. 1 in districts, barely got past No. 16 Plymouth-Whitemarsh to open the district playoffs, 22-21.

“Plymouth-Whitemarsh is a very good program,” Beller said. “We’re talking about the 16th seed and their record is 7-3 — that’s a pretty darn good football team. When you’re looking at that top to bottom there, we knew we had our work cut out for us.

“We have three of the four teams left in District 1 right now, playing for the district championship. That’s how good the conference is [Suburban One National]. It’s the best conference in this side of the state and one of the best in the state.”

Pennridge has found ways to win — against schools it hasn’t beaten in some time. Beller has been building the program for this moment. Pennridge is one win away from a district final appearance, but first must take down Coatesville in the District 1 semifinal on Friday night.

“It’s about consistency,” Beller said. “We’ve had that for three years.”

Cardinal O’Hara coach Michael Ewing reminded his team to stay level-headed entering its matchup with Bonner Prendergast in the Class 4A Catholic League final last Saturday.

“They’re our school’s biggest rival,” said Ewing, in his fourth season at the helm. “Any time we play them in any sport, both schools’ student sections, the alumni, everybody shows out. It’s a great atmosphere.”

The Lions (8-4) silenced the defending 4A state champions, 24-3, marking the first time that O’Hara has beaten Bonner in nine years. O’Hara will face West Philadelphia at the Northeast Supersite on Saturday in the District 12 championship with the chance — at least to Ewing’s knowledge — to win the program’s first district title.

There’s also a unique opportunity for Ewing, who is the grandson of Bob Ewing, the winningest coach at O’Hara and a hall of famer. Michael recalled when his late grandfather won a city title at Veterans Stadium in 1979.

Saturday is his chance to earn the team a city title, following in his grandfather’s footsteps, and he hopes “to do something that he was never able to do” in the state playoffs — win the school’s first PIAA crown.

“My dad coached on his staff as well,” Michael Ewing said. “I grew up at O’Hara — for the first nine years of my life I was on the sidelines, in the locker room, and the coaches’ rooms. They didn’t do the daycare thing back then. ...

“The school has a special place in my heart. That’s why I came back to it. That’s why I wanted to try and bring them back to where they once were.”

Here’s a look at the full schedule of the local teams competing in the first round of the PIAA playoffs:

PIAA Class 1A

PIAA Class 2A

PIAA Class 3A

PIAA Class 4A

PIAA Class 5A

PIAA Class 6A