PIAA AA Football sidebar: Rough finish to 1st half dooms Williams Valley

Williams Valley's Kian Krzyzanowski loses control of the football as he's hit by J.J. Rogers during the second quarter of Saturday's PIAA Class AA quarterfinal at Berwick High School. Riverside recovered the fumble (Photo by Eli Doyle).

BERWICK — Williams Valley had to feel pretty good about its situation.

Despite making a bevy of mistakes in the first half, the Vikings trailed Riverside by just seven points and had the football at midfield with 1:30 remaining in the second quarter, in great position to tie the score before halftime.

The final 1:30 of the first half, however, was something Williams Valley would like to have back.

Riverside forced a pair of fumbles and scored a pair of touchdowns in that span, building a three-score lead that eventually led to a 28-21 victory over Williams Valley in a PIAA Class AA quarterfinal at Berwick’s Crispin Field.

In the end, those 90 seconds proved to be the difference between Williams Valley’s season coming to an end at 12-2 and Riverside advancing to next weekend’s Class AA state semifinals against District 4 champion Troy.

“Our finish to the first half was an incredible outburst of making plays,” Riverside coach Harry Armstrong said. “It started with our defense forcing turnovers. Then Chase and our skilled players and our offensive line made those plays to get those couple of touchdowns at the end of the second quarter.

“That was a huge turning point in the game. Outside of that, it was a lot of back and forth in this game.”

GAME STORY: For a detailed look at Saturday’s PIAA Class AA quarterfinal and the boxscore, visit https://www.t102sportsnow.com/2024/11/23/piaa-class-aa-football-williams-valley-falls-to-riverside-in-state-quarterfinal/

Let’s set the scene.

Riverside capitalized on a Williams Valley fumble to take a 14-0 lead late in the first quarter. The District 11 champs answered with a nine-play, 80-yard march that was capped by a 10-yard pass from Brady Shomper to Evan Achenbach to make it 14-7.

Riverside (13-1) followed with a 14-yard drive that reached the Williams Valley 29. On third-and-10, Shomper got great inside leverage on Jared Jackson and picked off a Chase Taddonio pass in the end zone to end the threat.

Taking over at the 20, Shomper completed a 3-yard pass to Kian Krzyzanowski on first down. After an incompletion, Shomper and Krzyzanowski hooked up again on a 25-yard pass play that put the ball the Vikes’ 48. Two plays later, Shomper scrambled 8 yards to the Riverside 44.

Things went sour for Williams Valley after that.

On the next play, Shomper dropped back, was pressured from his left side and stepped up in the pocket trying to give himself enough time to set his feet and throw the ball to a wide-open receiver down the middle of the field.

Instead, the ball was knocked loose and Riverside’s Madden Sandly pounced on it at the Williams Valley 48.

“That was a backbreaker because we thought we could get a drive,’’ Williams Valley coach Stephen Sedesse said.

Riverside capitalized. After an incomplete pass, Taddonio connected with J.J. Rogers on a 24-yard pass. A Williams Valley facemask penalty put the ball at the Vikes’ 12, and Taddonio found Carmello Barnett for a 12-yard TD and a 21-7 lead with 34 seconds left in the half.

It got worse.

On Williams Valley’s next play from its own 38, Shomper completed a swing pass to Krzyzanowski in the flat for a short gain. Rogers poked the ball loose as he made the tackle, Sonique Connell-Murray scooped it up and rumbled down to the Vikes’ 9-yard line.

Two plays later, Taddonio rolled right to escape pressure and slinged the ball to Rogers at the goal line for a touchdown and a 28-7 lead with 7 seconds left in the frame.

“That was huge,” Sedesse said. “If we come into the locker room down 14-7 and we come out … we beat them pretty bad in the second half. You look back at that 1:30 and we just didn’t make plays. We turned the ball over when we couldn’t afford to.”

To Williams Valley’s credit, the Vikings didn’t roll over and die. A spirited defensive effort that held Riverside to one first down and 31 total yards in the second half, a lengthy third-quarter scoring drive and a 64-yard TD run by freshman Fletcher Thompson put Williams Valley in position to tie or potentially win the game in the final minutes.

The final 1:30 of the first half, however, ultimately put Williams Valley in too big of a hole to dig out of.

“You can’t fumble the ball five times and expect to win. It’s just that plain and simple,” Sedesse said. “Our playmakers just didn’t make plays. That’s why we lost the game.

“Looking back on it, we still feel like we were the better team. Five turnovers in the first half, you’re not going to be in many games and we were in that game until the very end.”