MCCANDLESS TWP — The Cardinal Wuerl North Catholic football team got a nice boost of confidence before the playoffs Friday night.

The Trojans racked up over 340 yards of offense in their 41-14 Midwestern Conference victory over Freedom at J.C. Stone Field in North Park.

“This was about coming out here, having fun and executing,” North Catholic coach Jason Gildon said. “I think we did a pretty good job of that tonight.”

Three of the Trojans' six visits to the end zone were led by sophomore wide receiver Joey Porter Jr. Porter scored late in the first quarter with a 52-yard pass from Ryan Maziarz after getting a step on his defender.

Porter scored again with less than five minutes remaining in the third quarter with a 62-yard long ball from backup signal caller William Gipson after his defender fell down.

“We were supposed to do that (play) as a go route,” Porter Jr. said. “But he (Gipson) threw it as a go-stop, so I had to turn around and catch it. I was glad my defender fell so I could just walk into the end zone.”

His third touchdown came early in the fourth quarter with a 20-yard pass from Gipson.

“He's shown each week that he's getting better,” Gildon said of Porter Jr. The Trojans never gave up the lead after scoring on their first offensive drive. Senior running back Mario Latronica found the end zone less than four minutes into the game with a 12-yard rush.

After Porter Jr.'s first touchdown, North Catholic led the Bulldogs 14-0 after 12 minutes of play. Trojans fans were in for a scare in the middle of the second quarter when Latronica was injured, favoring his shoulder while on the ground.

However, he got up on his own power and returned in the third quarter to score his second touchdown on the night.

“It's nothing major,” Latronica said of his injury. “It (shoulder) pops out mostly every game, so I just kind of live with it.”

Latronica also broke the 1,000-yard rushing mark on the season. He ended the night with 74 yards on the ground.

“It feels awesome,” he said of the win. “We had a lot of people down and that really motivated us to push and get this victory.”

Gildon said the team will monitor the severity of Latronica's condition.

“I'm sure he'll be ready to go by next week,” Gildon said. The Bulldogs bit back in the second quarter, taking advantage of good field position and a facemask penalty by the Trojans.

After starting at the Trojans' 38-yard line, the Bulldogs ran over the defense and finished with a two-yard run by senior Dean Ward to make the score 14-7 with six minutes left in the half.

The Bulldogs looked to have stopped North Catholic's offense after forcing the Trojans to punt on their next drive.

However the punt return was fumbled and recovered by North Catholic at the Freedom 12-yard line.

Three plays later, Trojans running back Jack Cassidy scored with a 15-yard rush to make the score 20-7 going into the locker room.