Lancaster Catholic's fans waited until the closing minutes of the fourth quarter before they showered the sideline with Hershey's Kisses.

This has become their way to celebrate the Crusaders' annual trip to Hersheypark Stadium.

Truth be told, the fans could have chucked that chocolate about 90 minutes earlier because the Purple & Gold left little doubt about where it was headed.

Top-seeded Catholic steamrolled past Middletown, 48-14, in the District Three Class AA semifinals at Rossmere Stadium Friday night.

Next stop: Hershey. The Crusaders will try to defend their district championship against No. 2 Delone Catholic, which defeated Littlestown, 27-24, in the other semifinal.

"We'll try to add to that banner up there," Catholic coach Bruce Harbach said, glancing at the press box sign that commemorates Catholic's four district crowns. "That'd be nice."

The semifinal victory seemed effortless.

Catholic was already ahead 21-0 with 2:34 remaining in the first quarter. The Crusaders ran just two offensive plays up to that point, both of which resulted in touchdowns.

Quarterback Kyle Smith hit Kevin Cotchen for a 39-yard scoring strike on the QB's first attempt. Smith connected with Rhys McCall on a 45-yard TD on the second pass.

"In some of the film we were watching, we saw some areas that we could exploit early on in the game," Smith said. "We wanted to go deep the first couple of plays and put all the momentum on our side."

This is how Catholic operates.

When you have an all-everything quarterback surrounded by a ton of weapons, why not try for a quick knockout punch?

"It was the seniors' last game on their home field," Harbach said. "We decided to put the pedal to the metal and see what we've got."

Sandwiched between Smith's first two touchdown passes was a game-changing defensive play by Catholic.

Middletown was trailing 7-0, but had moved the ball to Catholic's 17-yard line. Linebacker Bobby DePietro intercepted a pass from Aaron Lupia and returned it 90 yards for a score.

If the Blue Raiders were harboring thoughts of an upset, that play erased them.

Middletown had plenty of motivation for this matchup. Catholic crushed the Blue Raiders, 41-0, in last year's district final, leaving lots of room for coach Roy O'Neill to promote the revenge angle.

Unfortunately for Middletown, it takes more than motivation to dethrone the champs. The Blue Raiders were simply overmatched.

"We got beat by a better football team," O'Neill said. "Their Xs were bigger than our Os.

"You can see they practice and they've been doing it a long time together. They throw the ball very well. They've got the ability to run. They do a lot of very good things. They're a tough team to defend."

Smith connected on 16 of 18 passes for 232 yards and four touchdowns. He hit Cotchen and McCall twice each on scoring strikes.

More importantly, the senior helped the Crusaders return to every District Three football team's favorite destination.

"We just wanted to get back to Hershey," Smith said. "It was such a great feeling last year walking off that field with the district championship."

Next week Catholic hopes to have that feeling again.