WRIGHT TWP. — Rushing the field might have seen a little excessive after a Week 1 matchup. But you can’t blame the Crestwood student section for being a bit too enthusiastic.
For anyone that might have seen Valley View wallop Crestwood (or, really, anyone in the Wyoming Valley Conference) last season, there might be reason to understand why the Comets’ fans were so riled up on Friday night.
Crestwood came back to score three unanswered touchdowns to defeat Valley View 20-7 to open the season.
“It’s one of the biggest wins in Crestwood history, in my opinion,” Comets coach Ryan Arcangeli said. “You can’t beat teams like that unless you’re darn good. The seniors are the difference.”
This was less than a year removed from the Cougars outscoring the Comets 76-14 in two games in Jessup last season.
It did not come easy for the Comets. From the opening drive, Crestwood’s defense stifled the Cougars, holding the defending District 2 Class 4A champions to a mere 18 yards in the first quarter. But Crestwood repeatedly shot itself in the foot with penalties, racking up 75 yards on nine whistles in the opening half.
Those penalties allowed the Cougars to move down the field freely for their only score of the game. James Liparulo sent Valley View into the break with a 7-0 lead on a 7-yard sweep touchdown.
On the Comets’ first drive of the second half, they put together a 12-play drive entirely full of rushing plays. In the red zone, running back Logan Rolles’ number was called for the first time. He ran four consecutive plays and evened the score with a 1-yard dive at the 5:09 mark.
In the fourth quarter, Rolles proved his role as the team’s red zone man. He ran three times inside of the 11 to cross the end zone with a 1-yard score and take the lead with 5:44 remaining in the game.
Rolles then took the field to kick the extra point.
“Logan is one tough bugger,” Arcangeli said. “Noah (Schultz) has done a great job of carrying the load. But we’ve got six options. They answered the call for all four quarters because you have to play that way to be that kind of team.”
Schultz finished with a 100-yard rushing performance. He carried the ball 22 times for 106 yards.
Jaden Shedlock scored on a 22-yard quarterback sneak to solidify the win with just over two minutes remaining.
Crestwood 20, Valley View 7
Valley View`0`7`0`0 — 7
Crestwood`0`0`7`13 — 20
Second quarter
V — James Liparulo 7 run (Jacob Nielson kick), 1:26
Third quarter
C — Logan Rolles 1 run (Rolles kick), 5:09
Fourth quarter
C — Rolles 2 run (Rolles kick), 5:44
C — Jaden Shedlock 22 run (kick fail), 2:05
Team statistics`V`C
First downs`9`18
Rushes-yards`27-70`51-282
Passing yards`48`31
Total yards`118`313
Passing`6-15-1`3-11-1
Sacked-yards lost`2-10`1-10
Punts-avg.`6-32.5`4-32.5
Fumbles-lost`2-0`1-1
Penalties-yards`5-25`15-115
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING — VV, Connor Hilling 12-45, Camryn Higgins 3-(minus-2), Dominic Memo 1-(minus-2), Adam Howanitz 7-12, Gino Barone 1-2, Taheed Jawell 1-9, Liparulo 1-7, TEAM 1-(minus-1). CRE, Noah Schultz 22-106, Brendan Dennis 3-39, Shedlock 12-74, Robert Knight 2-22, Nick Miscavage 2-8, Rolles 9-34, TEAM 1-(minus-1).
PASSING — VV, Memo 1-1-0-8, Howanitz 5-14-1-40. CRE, Shedlock 3-11-1-31
RECEIVING — VV, Higgins 2-8, Jewell 2-17, Beyon McLean 1-16, Hilling 1-2. CRE, Knight 1-(minus-1), Schultz 1-14, Josh Hilpp 1-18
INTERCEPTIONS — VV, Jewell 1-0. CRE, Nick Miscavage 1-13.
MISSED FGs — None
