MECHANICSBURG — Khyan Billups isn’t the St. Joseph’s Prep running back bound for Ohio State, but the junior might’ve fooled anyone watching him Saturday night.
With help from a talented offensive line, Billups took the first snap 80 yards to the end zone for one of his three touchdowns, and the Philadelphia powerhouse won its ninth state title with a 35-6 victory over Central Catholic in the PIAA Class 6A final at Cumberland Valley.
Billups needed just 14 seconds to score.
“It was a gut punch,” Central Catholic coach Ryan Lehmeier said. “Once it’s over, you say, ‘At least you got it out of the way in (14) seconds.’ But then it just kind of kept coming. They really did a nice job early in the game, and we didn’t settle in well enough.”
Billups rushed for 228 yards on 29 carries and scored on runs of 80, 45 and 1 yard. He only became the Hawks’ top rusher midseason after his Big Ten-bound teammate was injured, showing the team’s unique depth.
The 5-foot-8, 170-pound Billups scored three times in the first half as St. Joseph’s Prep built a 28-6 halftime lead. The first one straight up the middle was the most surprising.
“That set the tone,” Billups said. “It just showed that we’re a powerful team and we can run the ball.”
The state title was the third in a row for St. Joseph’s Prep (11-2) and the sixth in seven years. The Philadelphia Catholic League team was making its 11th appearance in the state finals, all since 2013.
Central Catholic (12-3) was seeking its fifth title overall and first since 2015. Instead, the Vikings lost in the finals to St. Joseph’s Prep for the third time, joining losses from 2013 and ‘16. But Lehmeier saw this as a loss that moved the Vikings closer to competing with their Philadelphia counterparts.
“We closed (the gap) a little bit by showing up here tonight,” said Lehmeier, a second-year coach. “Like I told the team, ‘This is where Central Catholic belongs.’”
The Vikings hadn’t reached the finals in eight years.
“I’m really disappointed, upset that we lost, but it was a good journey,” said Central Catholic senior Bradley Gompers, a Duke recruit. “We had a great year, and I’m happy that we made it here.”
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No WPIAL team won a state title this year, marking only the second time that’s happened since the PIAA playoffs started in 1988. The other was 1992.
Central Catholic played the second half without senior Xxavier Thomas, a Penn State-bound defensive back. Lehmeier said Thomas sustained an injury around the collarbone area.
“You lose Xxavier Thomas, you’re not just losing a kick returner or corner,” Lehmeier said. “That kid is a cornerstone of this program. … It was a big hit that we lost him.”
St. Joseph’s Prep sophomore quarterback Charlie Foulke passed for 148 yards and connected on an 18-yard touchdown with freshman Jett Harrison in the first quarter. Harrison’s father, Marvin, is enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, and his brother, Marvin Jr., is an NFL rookie star.
Foulke lists college offers from Pitt and Georgia, among others. He completed 13 of 22 passes.
“Any time you play these guys, you know what you’re getting in for,” Lehmeier said. “It’s a matchup thing. They don’t have a lot of weak links, and you’ve got to expose them. When you get your opportunities, you’ve got to make the most of them. We didn’t do that tonight and they did.”
Meanwhile, Central Catholic’s offense labored to get going.
Jy’Aire Walls broke the shutout with a 1-yard touchdown run early in the second quarter, but the Vikings quarterback found little time or room to throw. He completed only three of his first 14 passes.
Walls finished 12 of 32 for 129 yards.
Senior running back Elijah Faulkner rushed for 79 yards on 15 carries.
“It’s a momentum game,” Lehmeier said. “They got some early and it was hard for us to come back.”
Notre Dame-bound linebacker Anthony Sacca caused Central Catholic trouble, but he wasn’t the only one. The senior had seven total tackles, two tackles for a loss and one of the team’s seven sacks.
The Vikings totaled only 217 yards on 65 offensive snaps, an average of 3.4 yards per play.
“It’s the speed, the length. Schematically they do a lot of good stuff,” Lehmeier said of the St. Joseph’s Prep defense. “They do a really good job of presenting different pictures and making a point to stop the run. They’re tough.”
The second half was closer.
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A 44-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter by St. Joseph’s Prep’s Will Vokolos accounted for the only points for either team after halftime.
Billups averaged almost eight yards per carry and topped 1,000 yards for the season. He was sharing carries with senior Isaiah West before the Ohio State recruit was injured five weeks into the schedule.
“He was able to learn from Isaiah, and when he got the opportunity, he hasn’t looked back,” St. Joseph’s Prep coach Tim Roken said. “In the last five or six games, he’s consistently been over 100 yards. He’s going to thank his offensive line. He doesn’t get there without those guys.”
Three of the five linemen stood 6-3 or taller. The group all weighed between 270 and 310 pounds. Lehmeier said their size and skill combination posed the biggest challenge Central Catholic faced up front this season.
“Without a doubt,” Lehmeier said. “We saw a big guy last week, but he went two ways. These guys didn’t.”