District 11 Class AA quarterfinal: Williams Valley mauls Mahanoy Area
Williams Valley's Evan Achenbach (11) makes a cut to avoid Mahanoy Area's Austin Green (7) during District 11 Class AA quarterfinal action Saturday night at Viking Stadium. (Photo by Charlie Roth)
WILLIAMSTOWN — Williams Valley was just too much for Mahanoy Area on Saturday night.
The Vikings were too much Fletcher Thompson, too much Brady Shomper, too much Kian Krzyzanowski, and, in a big way, too much on the defensive side.
With a dominating 60-13 victory over the Golden Bears in a District 11 Class AA quarterfinal matchup, Williams Valley moves on to the semifinal round next Saturday night at home when the No. 2 seed Vikes (10-1) will meet No. 6 seed Pen Argyl (5-6), a 32-14 winner over Northern Lehigh in another Saturday night quarterfinal. Kickoff for the semifinal contest is 6 p.m.
Much like their 48-6 regular-season victory over Mahanoy Area (4-7), the Vikings were in control from the start, both with their high-powered offense and the relentless defense.
Even so, head coach Stephen Sedesse said after the game his team still has some areas to work on.
“We played very well tonight, but not up to our expectations,” Sedesse said. “We were a little down in the first half.
“Just make some plays, we had some dropped balls, and you know you have to clean that up in the playoffs. That’s what we’re gonna work on this week. Just clean up some things and execute a little better.”
While the passing game may have had a few glitches to clean up, the ground game was nearly unstoppable, particularly freshman running back Fletcher Thompson.
“He’s a football player,” Sedesse said. “That’s what we tell him all the time.
“He’s one of those kids that comes along every so often. He’s tough, and he’s only a freshman, so we’re looking forward to his future.”
“Early in the year, he was a little too patient on some things, and we had to force him into hammering a little bit, but that was also because he was young,” Sedesse said. “He was used to the other level where he could outrun everyone.
“This year he realized ‘I’m a little physical myself’, so he knows when he can get five and put his head down, or try and make a play and get outside.”
Shomper was also a major player in Williams Valley’s ground game, carrying 12 times for 87 yards, including a pair of 1-yard scoring plunges. And, in addition to his scoring toss to Thompson, Shomper also connected with wideout Kian Krzyzanowski for touchdown passes of 28 and 19 yards.
With all that production on the offensive side, it would be easy to overlook what the defense did. That, however, would be a mistake.
While the offense finished with 385 total yards and piled up 23 first downs, the defense limited Mahanoy Area to just 133 total yards and seven first downs.
The Golden Bears managed to score twice, the first coming late in the first half on a 3-yard run by Brian Gallagher. The second came on the game’s final play when Mike Oblas connected with Aidan Bowman on a 39-yard touchdown pass.
Williams Valley also had five takeaways, recovering a pair of Mahanoy fumbles and getting two interceptions from Krzyzanowski and one from Evan Achenbach.
“Our defense was phenomenal all night,” Sedesse said. “We gave up a little bit of a run game there in the second quarter, but we got back to what we were doing best.
“Our front seven played really well tonight.”
Should the Vikings win in next week’s semifinal, the possibility of a title game matchup with Schuylkill Haven could be on the horizon. The Hurricanes dealt Williams Valley its only regular-season setback and advanced Saturday night with a 64-14 quarterfinal victory over Palisades and will face Executive Education Charter in the semifinals.
Sedesse won’t allow his team to look that far ahead.
“We haven’t looked ahead,” Sedesse said. “If we start focusing on Haven, and Executive Ed ends up winning, it’s a waste of time, so we’ll focus on our game next week, then we’ll take it week by week and move on. “
