Williams Valley rolls past Mahanoy Area in Blue Division
NFL great Gary Collins, center, is joined by his sons, Kris, left, and Gary Jr., right. A Williamstown High School graduate who had a long, successful career with the Cleveland Browns, Collins had his high school number retired during a ceremony prior to the start of Williams Valley's game Friday night against Mahanoy Area. (Photo by Charlie Roth).
WILLIAMSTOWN — Williams Valley has weapons.
Man, do the Vikings have weapons.
And, they’re strong on both sides of the ball.
Friday night, in a 48-6 romp over Mahanoy Area in a Schuylkill/Colonial Blue Division matchup, everything was on display.
The Vikings (2-0, 1-0 Blue) piled up 475 total yards, with 267 coming on the ground and 208 through the air.
They scored seven touchdowns, with two coming from longer than 50 yards, and none shorter than 11. Of their 475 offensive yards, 214 came on touchdown plays.
Then, there was the defense that allowed just 112 total yards and one touchdown.
They sacked Golden Bears quarterback Levi Terry four times and made four more tackles behind the line of scrimmage for negative yards on the night as Mahanoy Area dropped to 0-2, 0-1.
Second-year Williams Valley head coach Stephen Sedesse was pleased with what his team did on both sides of the ball in the victory, but particularly liked the strong defensive effort.
“Obviously, defense is what will win you games down the stretch,” Sedesse said. “I was very impressed with what they did tonight.
“That gives us a lot of hope going forward,” he added. “If our defense can play like that, and we’re able to spread the ball out offensively like we did, we don’t have to drain so much clock. It’s a lot better when you’re calling plays and you have a defense that’s going to make stops.”
And the offense?
Heading into the season there were questions as to what would be the emphasis after the loss to graduation of All-State running back Alex Achenbach, who accounted for more than 3,000 yards as a senior.
Those questions were answered, and then some.
Junior quarterback Brady Shomper, a second-year starter, was nothing short of outstanding, connecting on 10-of-13 passes, including touchdown tosses of 58 and 23 yards to senior wideout Kian Krzyzanowski and 16 yards to junior Evan Achenbach.
Krzyzanowski also scored on a 55-yard run after taking a pitch from Shomper early in the first quarter. Senior Peyton Adams scored on an 11-yard run in the fourth quarter.
“What you saw here tonight with the passing game, we’ve been working on since all last year,” Sedesse said. “We just weren’t ready to install it in a game.
“He (Shomper) made leaps and bounds from last year to this year. With Alex’s (Achenbach) departure, we were looking for a guy to step up, and he really filled that role for us. He shows up on game day and he’s ready to go. He’s a good leader. He doesn’t get down on his teammates. They’re all on the same page.”
Shomper, in the true form of a team leader, spread the wealth when talking about his and the team’s performance.
“First off, we have the line, and the line is blocking amazing,” Shomper said. “We got Fletcher (Thompson) back there and he did his thing tonight. Then we have Kian (Krzyzanowski) catching those balls, we have Evan (Achenbach) and (Brayden) Crisswell and they’re doing the exact same thing.
“We keep defenses on their toes. They don’t know if it’s going to be a pass, or Fletcher running the ball. It’s wonderful to have that.”
Thompson was the leader on the ground for the Vikings, rushing for 135 yards on 10 carries, including touchdowns of 19 an 32 yards. Crisswell and Evan Achenbach each hauled in two passes for 45 and 37 yards, respectively, to round out the outside offensive threats.
For Mahanoy Area, it was a struggle on both sides of the ball. Junior running back Kyler Quick turned in a strong performance, rushing for 85 yards on 16 carries, including the Bears’ only touchdown on a 1-yard blast. That score was set up when the Bears recovered a Williams Valley fumble at the Vikings’ 28-yard line late in the first quarter.
