La Salle’s PIAA Class 6A Football Championship game highlights
Owen Johnson caught 3 TDs, and Joey O’Brien came up with 3 INTs late to help the Explorers down Pittsburgh Central Catholic in the PIAA 6A championship
It would be fair to say there was an elephant in the room when it came to the 2025 La Salle football season.
A herd of elephants? Yeah, that’s more like it.
With a team full of studs, a second-year coach quickly turning the Explorers into a powerhouse and great expectations, there were still hurdles.
And the main hurdle was archrival Saint Joseph’s Prep, who had won PIAA Class 6A titles in 2022, 2023 and 2024 and consistently ended La Salle’s seasons in the Philadelphia Catholic League Red Division championship game well short of their goals.
“We beat them last year in the regular season (in four overtimes), but they beat us in the playoffs and then won the (PIAA Class 6A) state title,” said La Salle senior two-way standout Joey O’Brien, a Notre Dame commit.
“We didn’t want that to happen again this year as seniors. This was our last chance to accomplish our goal.”
It didn’t, as the Explorers beat the Hawks during the regular season and in the PCL Red Division championship game on the way to claiming their first PIAA title since 2009.
And, by virtue of their 34-20 win over Pittsburgh Central Catholic in the state championship game, which finished off a 13-1 season, the Explorers are the Courier Times/Intelligencer Team of the Year.
“I couldn’t have asked more from this group of players,” said La Salle head coach Brett Gordon, a 1998 La Salle grad and one of the top players the school ever produced.
“They took everything in stride and never let anything faze them. They adapted to whatever needed to be done and wanted to keep getting better, and they worked hard to do that. It’s just an impressive group of young men led by a great senior class that was able to reach their goal.”
La Salle’s lone loss, 39-36, to fellow PCL Red Division foe Roman Catholic (which won the PIAA Class 5A title) was followed by nine straight wins, the last being the state title victory over PCC. The Vikings’ only two losses, against 13 wins, came against the Explorers on Opening Night and then book-ended by the state championship game.
“Our goal all along was to win the state title,” said La Salle senior tight end/defensive end J.P. Oates, a Virginia Tech commit.
“We’re all brothers on this team and everyone gave everything they had.”
Drew Markol covers local sports for PhillyBurbs.com. Support our journalism with a subscription.