La Salle takes down St. Joe’s Prep to win Catholic League 6A crown: ‘This is only the beginning’

This was personal to Owen Johnson. Last November, the 5-foot-10, 180-pound La Salle College High School receiver stood there helpless as a freshman on the sidelines as St. Joseph’s Prep ended the Explorers’ season in the Catholic League Class 6A championship.

It is why Owen was so determined to send his older brother, Lucas, one of La Salle’s starting defensive backs, and his senior teammates into a realm no other Explorers team has reached in a decade — the state playoffs.

Johnson had a game-high nine catches for 96 yards and scored two of La Salle’s three touchdowns in the Explorers’ 24-14 victory over St. Joseph’s Prep at Villanova Stadium.

The Explorers will have a bye week before facing the Philadelphia Public League champion in the District 12 Class 6A championship in two weeks.

The last time La Salle (9-1) was in the state playoffs was in 2015, when this year’s seniors were in second grade. The Explorers lost in the state quarterfinals to eventual Class 4A finalist Parkland that year. La Salle last won a PIAA state championship in 2009, in Class 4A, becoming the first Philadelphia Catholic League team to win a state title.

By winning, the Explorers snapped St. Joe’s Prep’s nine-year streak of reaching the state finals. The Hawks were the only eastern representative in the PIAA Class 6A state championship since the PIAA instituted six classifications in 2016, winning seven state titles in nine years — including the last three.

“I remember standing there last year feeling like I had my heart ripped out when I was on the sideline losing to Prep,” Owen said. “It was emotional. I love my brother. I would do anything for him. I couldn’t do anything about it last year. That’s why I said this was personal with me today against [the Prep]. I wasn’t going to see [Lucas] or any of the seniors go out like that again.”

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Gavin Sidwar, La Salle’s Missouri-bound quarterback, completed 23 of 31 passes for 257 yards and two touchdowns. He scored the clinching touchdown himself on a 7-yard scramble with 9 minutes, 47 seconds to play, which put the Explorers up, 24-14.

The Hawks bracketed La Salle’s Joey O’Brien the entire game, holding the Notre Dame-bound two-way star to four catches for 43 yards. That created open space for Owen, who had six catches for 62 yards and the two first-half touchdowns.

“We knew Prep would double me,” said O’Brien, who capped the game with an interception in the closing seconds. “This is a great feeling, knowing all the hard work we have put in the last four years that got us here. We have had guys like Owen step up for us all year.

“Owen was going to be a part of our game plan. We knew they would be one-on-one on Owen, and my coaches kept encouraging me to be patient. It’s a great feeling knowing the work Owen puts in because I am there putting the work in with him. Seeing him have a game like this is great.”

La Salle coach Brett Gordon put great stock into Owen early. He led the Explorers’ receivers in their season-opening 23-6 victory over Pittsburgh Central Catholic and has played an integral role in their historic season.

“Owen was one of our kids standing there with us last year, and I did that on purpose last year for moments like this, because he saw what happened last year, and a lot of our guys had that on their minds today,” Gordon said. “This is only the beginning. We’ll celebrate this one and then get ready for a big playoff push. But this was a big obstacle we had to overcome. Prep is a great program, and Tim [Roken, the Prep’s coach] does a great job over there. We had to take this step before we took any steps toward a state title.”

Converting third downs was the key. La Salle was clinging to a 17-14 lead early in the fourth quarter and looking to answer after St. Joe’s Prep’s second touchdown.

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On a third-and-11 from his own 19, Sidwar rolled left and found seldom-used fullback Ryan Fandozzi open in the flat for a 13-yard gain. Later that series, faced with a third-and-10 at La Salle 32, Sidwar hit Trey Hopkins cutting across the middle for a 23-yard gain.

Every time La Salle lined up four receivers to one side of the field, going with an empty backfield, the Hawks had a tough time matching up.

“They were only rushing three, and they had a good plan, but we stayed on schedule and hit our guys,” Sidwar said. “This has been a goal since we started this season, winning states. But we have to get better. We have a bye week to improve, and this is only the beginning.”

It was an unusual end for the Prep (5-5). It marked the earliest the state powerhouse’s season has ended since a 28-27 loss to La Salle on Nov. 10, 2012, and the first time the Hawks have been knocked out of the playoffs since their 29-28 loss to La Salle on Nov. 21, 2015.

It also is the first time the Hawks finished with five losses or more in a season since 2010 when they went 4-6 in Gabe Infante’s first year.

Defensively, La Salle took away the Prep’s standout sophomore receiver, Jett Harrison, who caught 14 passes for 190 yards and three touchdowns in the regular-season game between the teams, by putting O’Brien on him.

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Harrison did not catch his first pass until there was 4:07 left in the third quarter. Harrison did manage to beat O’Brien once, on a 20-yard touchdown reception with 1:41 left in the third and finished with three catches for 39 yards.

“This is tough, especially for the seniors,” Roken said. “La Salle is a phenomenal program, and Brett does a great job there. It’s hard seeing the seniors go out like this. We’ll meet on Monday and revisit this. The third downs killed us. We couldn’t get off the field. But I am proud of my seniors. They’ll grow from this.”

For the first time in a decade, La Salle has cast aside the looming St. Joe’s Prep shadow and will continue to the state playoffs.

“It’s something we all aimed for, and now that it’s over, we finally beat Prep, we have more work to do,” O’Brien said.