PIAA FOOTBALL Only the refs could stop Lagomarsino

The Lansdale Catholic running back ran for 353 yards against Grove City.
HERSHEY, Pa. (AP) -- Too bad for Grove City that RC Lagomarsino didn't begin celebrating a little earlier in the game. Perhaps the Eagles might have had a chance for a title.
Lagomarsino had perhaps the best championship game by a running back at any PIAA level, rushing for a record 353 yards and four touchdowns before he was ejected in the fourth quarter of Lansdale Catholic's 40-17 win over Grove City in the Class AA title game Saturday.
"I was just caught up in the moment," Lagomarsino said. "I didn't know how big of a game I was having. It's an amazing feeling right now."
Lagomarsino, though, watched the final minutes from the sideline after he was ejected for unsportsmanlike conduct.
After his second touchdown, Lagomarsino was flagged for flexing at a camera.
After his fourth, he pointed toward the sky and that was enough to kick him out.
Record setter
Lagomarsino smashed the championship rushing record held by Parkland's Austin Scott, who ran for 251 yards two years ago in the PIAA Class AAAA title game.
"We haven't seen a back like that," said Grove City coach Jeff Bell. "We haven't faced one with that kind of quickness, agility or change of direction."
The win gave Lansdale coach Jim Algeo his first state championship in 37 years at the school.
Algeo (252-147-15) has won eight league titles and three District One titles.
The 68-year-old coach even had heart bypass surgery in February, making this title so much more special.
"It's just so hard to believe," said Algeo, clutching the trophy. "It just feels amazing. We've had so much support from the community. Everyone's been tremendous."
Lagomarsino gave Lansdale (12-2) a 12-7 lead at halftime with a pair of dazzling touchdown runs.
He scored his first touchdown late in the first quarter, breaking loose down the left sideline for 78 yards. In the second, Lagomarsino broke left, cut through a gaping hole into midfield, shook off a couple of would-be tacklers and finished off the impressive 37-yard run in the end zone.
What taunting?
Then came the flex and the flag.
"I didn't think what I did was taunting," Lagomarsino said.
The Crusaders blew the game open in the second half, with Lagomarsino scoring on runs of 72 and 27 yards.
Quarterback Mike Adams scored on a 44-yard scramble and Sal Nocchi added a 6-yard run in the fourth quarter.
Lagomarsino finished with 353 of Lansdale's 494 yards of total offense.
Lagomarsino, whose 2,501 yards rushing this year broke his own school record of 2,040 yards set last season, questioned if the extension of his pointer finger was worthy of an ejection.
"I didn't really regard that as taunting," he said. "Whatever. We won the game."
The refs were the only ones who could stop Lagomarsino. It certainly wasn't Grove City.
Grove City (11-3), also playing in its first state championship game, caught a break late in the third quarter when Lansdale fumbled in its own end zone and the ball rolled out of bounds for a safety. The Eagles opened the fourth quarter with another touchdown, this time on Jesse Alfreno's 9-yard run on a reverse to make it 25-17.
"I thought we were going to come out and respond and take control of things," Bell said. "Their kid was just too difficult to tackle."
No one could really take down Lagomarsino.
He carried 31 times and averaged nearly 12 yards a rush.
In one fourth-quarter drive that ended with Nocchi's score, Lagomarsino carried eight times for 59 yards.
"We've never had anybody that can run as fast as he can," Algeo said.
Copyright 2004 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.