“For me, it’s incredible and hard to believe,” Bishop Guilfoyle coach Justin Wheeler said. “On the way home, I saw a tweet about us being fifth all-time in state championships, and it’s such an unbelievable feeling, because I know what a great feeling it was for each and every kid that won it. There are some special memories, and we brought some kids back this year for our Bellwood game, and they are still talking about it. Knowing these kids will be able to do that same kind of stuff 10 years from now is pretty cool.”

Junior Taurean Consiglio carried the ball 15 times and rushed for 160 yards and four touchdowns for the Marauders, who were forced to run the ball more often than usual due to high winds at Chapman Field.

Bishop Guilfoyle finished with 302 rushing yards behind a vastly improved offensive line led by senior Joe Eckenrode, who also started in BG’s last PIAA championship in 2021.

“I thought our offensive line really improved,” Wheeler said. “I knew we had skill, but it was our line that we needed to progress. I thought throughout the season, they got better week to week. Today, in the biggest game of the year, our offensive line had their best game. It’s a real testament to those offensive line kids.”

Bishop Guilfoyle’s Chase Kissell (15) and Joseph Eckenrode (76) take the PIAA Class 1A State Championship trophy to their fans. Mirror photo by Patrick Waksmunski

Senior Hamilton Gates scored the go-ahead touchdown on a 65-yard run off a pitch from senior quarterback Chase Kissell with 3:29 to play in the third quarter to put the Marauders ahead, 21-14, and they never trailed again.

“It felt great,” Gates said. “We knew we were a lot better on the inside than this team, so we were hitting them with a lot of inside runs. We thought we might be able to get them on an outside run after that, and Taurean Consiglio had a great lead block for me and Braden Reilly was blocking all the way down the field. It was easy going down the sideline.”