District 11 Football: Haven, Vikes set to clash for Class AA championship

Schuylkill Haven's Niko Carestia plows in for a touchdown during the Hurricanes' 38-30 win over Williams Valley on Sept. 27. The team meet again tonight for the District 11 Class AA championship at Blue Mountain (Photo by Ashley Farr Donatti).

ORWIGSBURG — There are no secrets. Surprises will be few, if any.

When Schuylkill Haven and Williams Valley meet in tonight’s District 11 Class AA championship game, it will be the latest chapter to a budding rivalry between two of Schuylkill County’s most successful small-school programs.

The Hurricanes (11-1) and Vikings (11-1) clash at 7 p.m. tonight at Blue Mountain High School’s Eagles’ Nest. Tickets for the game cost $7 (plus applicable fees) and must be purchased online at www.districtxi.hometownticketing.com. Spectators age 65 and over are admitted free with valid ID.

The game will be broadcast live on T-102 (101.9 FM), with a pre-game tailgate party featuring T102 Sports Now writers and Pottsville Broadcasting Company personalities slated for 5-6:30 p.m. to the right of the main entrance to the stadium.

It’s the second straight season the teams have played for the District 11 Class AA crown and the fourth time they’ll square off in the past two years.

The previous three have been intense nailbiters. Expect the same tonight.

“I have a lot of respect for their program,” Schuylkill Haven coach Mike Farr said of the Vikings. “(Head coach Stephen) Sedesse does a great job and their kids play hard.

“What they do they do very well, what we do we do very well. It will be a great matchup again.”

With Williams Valley competing for years in the Twin Valley and Tri-Valley conferences and Schuylkill Haven in the Anthracite 8 and Anthracite Football League, tonight’s game will be just the 18th matchup all-time between the schools but the seventh time they’ve played in the postseason. Schuylkill Haven holds an 11-6 lead in the all-time series.

The schools played six straight years in the 1980s, with Schuylkill Haven winning five of six. They met five times in Eastern Conference and District 11 playoff games from 1999-2013, including the 2008 and 2013 District 11 Class A championship games.

Williams Valley joined the Schuylkill League in 2020 and the schools have played every year since. The Vikings hold a 4-2 edge in those contests, scoring three straight wins in 2020, 2021 and 2022 before the teams split last year.

Schuylkill Haven won 24-21 in the regular season before Williams Valley flipped the script with a 49-35 victory in the District 11 Class AA championship game at North Schuylkill.

This season, Schuylkill Haven scored a 38-30 victory in a Schuylkill/Colonial Blue Division game Sept. 27 at Rotary Field. The Hurricanes rushed for 383 yards and built a 32-14 lead in the second quarter, only to have the Vikings storm back with a pair of TD passes and two-point conversion runs by Brady Shomper to make it 32-30 late in the third.

Haven wrapped up the game with a 19-play, 86-yard drive that took 10:32 off the clock and was capped by a 3-yard TD pass from Brayden Fasnacht to Niko Castillo on a fourth-and-goal play with 1:50 left. Castillo then picked off a Shomper pass to ice it.

The Vikings haven’t lost since, outscoring six opponents 320-43. Haven has won 11 straight games, averaging 57.5 points per game in that streak.

A complete statistical breakdown accompanies this story.

“They’re a disciplined, tough football team,” Sedesse said. “They’re real physical. They do what they do and they’re very good at it.”

Each team has plenty of stars.

Juniors Niko Carestia and Castillo and sophomore Colton Reber form a three-headed monster to pace Schuylkill Haven’s wing-T running attack. Carestia leads the area in rushing yards (2,637), rushing touchdowns (37) and scoring (274 points).

Shomper is the area’s leading passer with 2,145 yards and 33 touchdowns, while rushing for 930 yards and 16 more scores. Senior Kian Krzyzanowski (60-1,161, 16 TDs) is the area’s leading receiver, with running back Fletcher Thompson having a breakout freshman campaign, gaining 1,341 yards and scoring 16 TDs.

“Brady has been very impressive. He gets better each week. He learns on film then he makes the correct read the following week,” Sedesse said.

“Fletch has been everything we hoped for. He’s a physical football player. He loves to run the ball. He’s got a good dad at home teaching him stuff on film.

“Kian, he can do anything on the field. We have to work on different ways of how we can get him the ball. He didn’t run him too much this year, but he’s been able to catch bubble (screens) and take them to the house. That’s very impressive for a high school kid.”

Both coaches agree that tonight’s game depends on which team controls the line of scrimmage.

Schuylkill Haven’s unit of Chase Williams, Wyatt Keefer, Ethan Kline, Brian Moran, Brody Brand, Nate Chamberlain and tight end Adam Malinoski have paved the way for an offense that averages 418.8 yards rushing per game.

Williams Valley’s line of Bryce Zilinski, Jesse Koons, Robbie Hoffman, Tyler Koppenhaver, Camron Green and tight end Brayden Crisswell have been equally impressive, as the Vikings average 237.2 yards rushing and 415.9 total yards per game.

“We have to stay disciplined and execute and play very good at the line of scrimmage,” Sedesse sad. “We can’t allow them to beat us at the line of scrimmage. We have to be physical with them up front, try to match their physicality. Obviously, we have to stop their run game.”

Farr agreed.

“For them, it’s how well can they control the line of scrimmage,” he said. “All summer they threw the football. I’m not sure they want to be a throw-first team. I truly believe they want to be a run team that throws the football and has some balance. That’s what truly opens things up, their play-action.

“Shomper is a really good quarterback. He’s got great fundamentals. He has guys that can get open and don’t drop balls. They make plays.

“They are going to want to establish the line of scrimmage so they can keep that balance. If not, we’re going to make them one-dimensional which is not to their advantage.”

Schuylkill Haven has won 10 District 11 championships, the last coming in 2018. Williams Valley, which is in the District 11 playoffs for the 17th straight season, has won eight district crowns, including six in the past eight years.

Schuylkill Haven’s District 11 titles (10): 1994, 1998, 2002, 2005, 2008, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2017, 2018

Williams Valley’s District 11 titles (8): 1990, 2012, 2016, 2017, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2023

Tonight’s winner advances to the PIAA Class AA Tournament and faces either District 2 champion Riverside or District 12 champ Lansdale Catholic.

For an in-depth look at tonight’s game, follow our coverage on www.t102sportsnow.com.

“It’s a game you wish was more of an Eastern final, Eastern semifinal game, but it’s a district final,” Farr said. “Whichever team comes out on top is going to do well in the state tournament.”