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Veterans lead York Catholic past York Suburban


In the third quarter it was apparent where the veteran leadership came from on the York Catholic football team.

With Jakkar Kinard, the Fighting Irish’s biggest offensive weapon, momentarily sidelined and the Irish tied with York Suburban, Dan Yokemick took charge of the game. Controlling the ball at midfield, the York Catholic quarterback commanded his way down the gridiron, running the ball twice and going to the air three times in a six-play drive to the end zone.

Yokemick capped off the impressive stretch with a 17-yard pass to Riley Brennan to break the tie, and eventually win the game, 20-14.

“It was just adversity, and we know how to push through that,” Yokemick said about having to step up. “We did a lot of training for that. It’s only the game of football, and somebody is going to get out and get hurt. We knew what to do.”

The loss of Kinard could have been a game changer for the Fighting Irish. The senior running back had been having a monster game on the ground, scoring in the opening quarter to even the game up at seven.

play
Watch: Kinard & Yokemick discuss big night on the ground for Irish
York Catholic's Jakkar Kinard and Dan Yokemick rushed for a combined 221 yards in their win over York Suburban. The two talk about what helped them be so successful on the ground.
Christian Arnold

Kinard also was instrumental when Yokemick was dealing with injury issues of his own during the game.

“We realized we had to step up and lead, and we couldn’t let each other down. When one went down, we had to step up,” Kinard said.

Both players said they were fine after the game.

The two rushed for a combined 221 yards — Kinard recording 135 of them and Yokemick with 86 — as the Irish opened the season with a big win, battling back twice after falling behind in the first and second quarter.

However, it was the running ability of Kinard and the arm of Yokemick that helped the Irish come back each time.

After Jadon Haynes punched the ball into the end zone for the Trojans less than a minute into the second quarter, Yokemick found an open Ryan Sewell for a 40-yard touchdown pass to tie the score.

Once the Irish took the lead, the defense took over and kept the Trojans off the board.

“The coaches did a nice job of making some adjustments,” Irish head coach Eric Depew said “It was more about being more physical and things like that.”

York Catholic_7_7_6_0_—_20    
York Suburban_7_7_0_0_—_14  
First Quarter 
YS -- Teague Hoffman 2 yard run (Zach Weinstein kick), 6:39.
YC -- Jakkar Kinard  3 yard run (Dan Yokemick kick), 3:19.
Second Quarter
YS -- Jadon Haynes 1 yard run (Weinstein kick), 11:02.   
YC -- Ryan Sewell 40 yard pass from Dan Yokemick (Yokemick kick), 9:10.   
Third Quarter
YC -- Riley Brennan 17 yard pass from Yokemick (Yokemick kick blocked), 5:02.
Team Statistics
 _._YC_ YS
First downs_13_16  
Rushes-Yards_41-221_37-189  
Passing_4-11-1_12-26-1  
Passing Yards_79_116  
Total Yards_300_305  
Fumbles-Lost_0_1-1 
Penalties-Yards_2-30_3-25  
Individual Statistics
Rushing — YC, Jakkar Kinard 25-135, Dan Yokemick 16-86. YS, Teague Hoffman 13-41, Jadon Haynes 15-96, Peter Gronki 2-8, Ben Igo 3-32, Janner Torres 3-9, Savion Harrison 1-3.  
Passing — YC, Dan Yokemick 4-9-79-1, Wesley Burns 0-2-0-0. YS, Ben Igo 12-26-1.  
Receiving — YC, Ryan Sewell 1-40, Brendan Kennedy 2-22, Riley Brennan 1-17. YS, Zach Weinstein 1-4, Willie Batty 1-10, Teague Hoffman 3-19, TJ Hoover 1-3, Jadon Haynes 3-28, Colin Deardorff 2-14, Tallon Peffley 1-38.