Hopewell survived a brutal upset scare from No. 6 North Catholic on Friday, fighting tooth and nail for a 27-21 win in the WPIAL 3A high school football quarterfinals. It was a rollercoaster, pure adrenaline from start to finish, and frankly, No. 3 Hopewell almost coughed it up in a massive way.
The First Half Was a Dream, The Second Half Was a Nightmare
The Vikings looked like they had this game locked up early, heading into halftime with a comfortable 14-point lead. Athlete Brody Rock was absolutely tearing it up, rushing for two four-yard touchdowns in the first half alone. Hopewell even had the ball coming out of the locker room for the second half, a chance to “double-dip” and really put North Catholic away. But football, man, football is wild. Instead of extending that lead, the Hopewell offense coughed up two turnovers, letting North Catholic right back into the game. Quarterback James Armstrong threw a backwards pass that running back Nasir Wade couldn’t corral, and North Catholic’s Teagan Thomas immediately capitalized, finding Jack Croft for a 14-yard touchdown. You could feel the momentum shift in that moment, big time.
When Hopewell Needed a Stop, They Got It
The wheels really started to wobble when, with the game suddenly tied in the fourth quarter, Armstrong fumbled a snap in the red zone. Talk about a gut punch when you’re trying to put the game away! North Catholic had all the momentum again, but the Hopewell defense, bless their hearts, stood tall. After Armstrong’s second turnover, they forced a crucial turnover on downs in their own territory. That was the moment that kept the Vikings alive. Later in the game, defensive back Nasir Wade even snagged an interception, a huge play that showed the team’s resilience when things got tight. Hopewell head coach Matt Mottes nailed it after the game: “We made some mistakes tonight that let them gain some momentum… It’s a culture thing. These kids are conditioned differently than Hopewell teams of the past, have a winner’s mindset and when things don’t go our way, we still fight and pull out games.”
Armstrong’s Redemption: Penn State Commit Delivers
With the game on the line, Armstrong, the Penn State commit, got another shot to make things right, and boy, did he deliver. He took the ball, started moving it swiftly downfield with a series of gutsy quarterback draws, and then capped it off himself with a four-yard touchdown run. That put Hopewell up by six points with just under four minutes left to play. Armstrong himself knew what he had to do: “We needed to stay resilient through it all. I was telling everyone on the sideline that god put us in that position and he wanted to challenge us to see if we could win close games. We got challenged tonight and kudos to North Catholic.” He owned his mistakes, too, saying, “That turnover was my mistake and I wanted to fight for my guys. I needed to take ownership of that mistake and make up for it on the next drive.” And when he got that chance, he wasn’t letting it go: “In my mind, I knew that if I had another opportunity to get the ball in my hand, I was going to take it to the crib.” Hopewell pulled out the win, proving Mottes’ “culture” comments were spot on. Now, they’re heading to the WPIAL semifinals, ready to fight for their season. You gotta love that kind of grit!
This article was created with AI assistance and published under Seattle On Tap’s editorial standards. See our Editorial Policy.
Originally reported by Yahoo Sports.
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