Leesport, PA — Schuylkill Valley 55, Littlestown 13 By Sean McBryan — MikeDragoSports.com correspondent The wind was gusting Friday night in Leesport as the No. 1 passing offense in the Lancaster-Lebanon League prepared to host a District 3 Class 3A quarterfinal. That didn’t stop Schuylkill Valley from deploying its aerial assault on visiting Littlestown. Once the wind was at the Panthers’ backs it was bombs away. The third-seeded Panthers defeated the sixth-seeded Thunderbolts 55-13 and will travel to face No. 2 Trinity in the semifinals next Friday. “We had the ball going against the wind on the first drive,” Harbach said. “We did a couple passes, but tried to run the ball. Once we got the wind behind us, I was thinking we’re going to air it out here.” Logan Nawrocki passed for 282 yards and four touchdowns to set the program record for most passing yards in a season. “Warming up was a little difficult with the wind,” said Nawrocki, who has thrown for 2,436 yards and 34 touchdowns. “But once we went the other way, it helped a lot.” Nawrocki broke the record of 2,372 yards, set by Kyle Beissel, on a 42-yard pass to Kowen Gerner, who had — unbeknownst to him — snapped the Schuylkill Valley career receiving yards record earlier in the game. “Honestly, I didn’t have (that) as a goal,” said Gerner, who didn’t know he had broken the record until it was announced on the public address system. “I just wanted to turn the tables around for the Schuylkill Valley program. I wanted our team to be successful and my friends and I to be successful here. And I think that’s exactly what happened.” The record-breaking duo is part of a senior class that Harbach inherited four years ago when he took over following a legendary tenure at Lancaster Catholic, where he won four district and two state titles. The class was tight-knit and, although there were some bumps initially, Harbach could see the talent and potential. “These seniors have played together for eight years,” he said. “They know each other’s mechanics, strengths, weaknesses, and speed. What a great bunch of kids. As a head coach, you can’t ask for anything more.” The Panthers went 2-9 in Harbach’s first year, 6-5 the second year with their first district playoff appearance in eight years, and 9-3 last season with their first district playoff victory (and second overall) since 2012. “Coming in as freshmen at 2-9, now all of a sudden they’re 9-2 these past two years, with hopefully many more weeks to go this season,” Harbach said. “These kids can go as far as they want. They work their tails off and deserve all of the credit in the world. They’re becoming students of the game.” The Panthers (9-2) matched program records — each set last season — in wins and consecutive wins (eight). They’re experiencing some of the greatest success in program history — it’s the Panthers’ third district victory and second in the past two years. The other came in 2012. “Growing up, we weren’t known as a football school,” Nawrocki said. “Coach Harbach came in and we turned everything around, starting with our class freshman year. He told us we were going to be good and we believed him. We trusted the process, listened to our coaches, and succeeded.” Harbach’s vision for these Panthers has culminated in a second straight trip to the district semifinals. The next step is to win a district semifinal for the first time in program history, which can happen next week. “We’ll celebrate this win tonight and tomorrow,” Harbach said. “Then we’ll get to work on Trinity. I used to play them a lot when I was at Catholic, so I know they’re going to be a physical football team and tough to handle.” Logan Cammauf scored first on a 31-yard touchdown run with 9:14 left in the first quarter as the Panthers were going against the wind. John Kowalski took a shovel pass from Nawrocki 85 yards for a score with 2:29 left before the fields flipped and the wind was behind them. Nawrocki hit Cooper Hohenadel for a 26-yard score, Luke Spotts for a 14-yarder, and Dillon Lackner for a 2-yarder in less than a five-minute span of the second quarter. Before the Thunderbolts could react to the bombardment they were down 35-0. Hohenadel tacked on a 7-yard touchdown run 31.7 seconds before halftime. Kowalski returned a kickoff 72 yards for a touchdown with 6:20 left in the third to answer Littlestown’s first score on Lucas Bacher’s 5-yard run. 1 2 3 4 Final Littlestown 0 0 6 7 13 Schuylkill Valley 14 28 7 6 55 Scoring summary 1 Schuylkill Valley Cammauf, 31 run (Wamsher kick) 9:14 1 Schuylkill Valley Kowalski, 85 pass from Nawrocki (Wamsher kick) 2:29 2 Schuylkill Valley Hohenadel, 26 pass from Nawrocki (Wamsher kick) 10:06 2 Schuylkill Valley Spotts, 14 pass from Nawrocki (Wamsher kick) 6:56 2 Schuylkill Valley Lackner, 2 pass from Nawrocki (Wamsher kick) 5:40 2 Schuylkill Valley Hohenadel, 7 run (Wamsher kick) 0:32 3 Littlestown Bacher, 5 run (Bittle kick missed) 6:36 3 Schuylkill Valley Kowalski, 72 kickoff return (Wamsher kick) 6:20 4 Schuylkill Valley Aletras, 22 run (Wamsher kick blocked) 2:44 4 Littlestown Dillon, 9 run (Bittle kick) 2:11 Team statistics Littlestown Schuylkill Valley First downs 12 17 Rushes-yards 38-245 23-147 Passing yards 39 282 Total yards 284 429 Passes 8-15-1 14-16-0 Fumbles-lost 2-1 0-0 Punts-average 3-17.3 0-0 Penalties-yards 3-25 10-81 Individual statistics RUSHING Littlestown: Dillon 9-162, Bacher 15-58, Conaway 8-18, Kabrick 5-10, Clabaugh 1-(-3). Schuylkill Valley: Hohenadel 6-42, Cammauf 3-33, Pyle 4-23, Aletras 1-22, Ortiz 5-10, Nawrocki 2-9, Sarr 2-8. PASSING Littlestown: Kabrick 6-10-1—28, Clabaugh 2-5-0—11. Schuylkill Valley: Nawrocki 14-26-0—282. RECEIVING Littlestown: Clabaugh 3-8, Albert 1-10, Kabrick 1-7, Diehl 1-5, Miller 1-5, Conaway 1-4. Schuylkill Valley: Sports 6-87, Gerner 3-67, Lackner 2-12, Kowalski 1-85, Hohenadel 1-26, Pyle 1-5. INTERCEPTIONS Schuylkill Valley: Spotts. ShareFacebookTwitterEmailFacebook MessengerLinkedin You might also like