PLAINS TWP. — Behind a monster night from Noah Schultz, Crestwood ran the ball all night and eventually ran Wilkes-Barre Area off the field, improving to 5-1 with a 45-14 rout over the Wolfpack on Friday night at Wilkes-Barre Area Stadium.
The Comets stuck to a ground-and-pound game from whistle to whistle, and the results tell the story: 526 yards rushing as a team and six rushing touchdowns, four coming from the senior captain Schultz.
“We have a fantastic group of seniors buying into running the football,” Crestwood coach Ryan Arcangeli said. “And a young man buying into the position that he’s made for, and that’s running back Noah Schultz.”
Schultz finished his night with 353 yards rushing on 21 carries, all done in the first three quarters of the game. The Comets offensive line gave a huge assist to Schultz and the rest of the Crestwood ball-carriers, opening up holes and giving rushers plenty of daylight.
“For at least the first six yards every play, the guys were blocking for me,” Schultz said. “After that, I’ve got to make just one or two guys miss, and it’s off to the races.”
That’s precisely what happened on Crestwood’s first offensive drive of the game, after forcing a quick punt from Wilkes-Barre Area.
It took just four plays for the Comets to score, with the exclamation point being a 48-yard touchdown run from Schultz in which, as he said, started with plenty of room and ended with a cut up the sideline, leaving Wolfpack defenders in his wake.
That was the story for much of the evening for Wilkes-Barre Area, who hung with the Comets through one quarter before a 26-0 second quarter in favor of Crestwood put this one out of reach early.
The Wolfpack had their chances early and were able to move the ball pretty well, with a mix of Mekhi Nelson carrying the ball and some short, quick passes from freshman quarterback Jake Howe.
What proved to be the killer: two long Wilkes-Barre drives into the Crestwood red zone, both ending in turnovers on downs.
“A little bend, don’t break there. I’m really proud of our effort,” Arcangeli said of his defense, which forced two turnovers on top of the two fourth-down stops.
While Schultz popped the big numbers for Crestwood, quarterback Jaden Shedlock also had a big night with two rushing touchdowns of his own. The Comets only threw the ball twice, but one of them — a 20-yard strike to the back corner of the end zone by Nick Miscavage to Josh Hilpp — added another touchdown for the Comets.
For the Wolfpack, Nelson finished with 146 yards rushing and the team’s only two touchdowns. Nelson also stepped in to play quarterback after Howe was knocked out of the game with an injury.
Crestwood will stay on the road next week, traveling down to face Hazleton Area. Wilkes-Barre Area (3-3) will hit the road as well, taking on Delaware Valley.
Crestwood 45, Wilkes-Barre Area 14
Crestwood`12`26`7`0 — 45
Wilkes-Barre Area`7`0`0`7 — 14
First quarter
CRE — Noah Schultz 48 run (kick failed) 10:18
CRE — Jaden Shedlock 2 run (kick failed), 7:40
WBA — Mekhi Nelson 1 run (Evan Corcoran kick), 3:20
Second quarter
CRE — Shedlock 20 run (Logan Rolles kick), 10:11
CRE — Schultz 87 run (Rolles kick), 5:54
CRE — Schultz 9 run (kick failed), 2:33
CRE — Josh Hilpp 20 pass from Nick Miscavage (pass failed), 0:00
Third quarter
CRE — Schultz 2 run (Rolles kick), 0:38
Fourth quarter
WBA — Nelson 74 run (Corcoran kick), 10:06
Team statistics`CRE`WBA
First downs`18`13
Rushes-yards`42-526`38-204
Passing yards`30`53
Total yards`556`257
Passing`2-4-0`5-13-1
Sacked-yards lost`0-0`1-6
Punts-avg.`2-33`3-28.3
Fumbles-lost`1-0`2-1
Penalties-yards`9-75`3-20
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING — CRE, Schultz 21-353, Brendan Dennis 6-42, Shedlock 8-63, Rolles 4-48, Colin Lazo 2-15, Jason Swank 1-5. WBA, Nelson 21-146, Davon Underwood 1-(minus-2), Howie Shiner 14-65, Jake Howe 1-1, Sincere Carter 1-(minus-6).
PASSING — CRE, Shedlock 1-3-10-0, Miscavage 1-1-20-0. WBA, Howe 5-11-53-0, Nelson 0-2-0-1.
RECEIVING — CRE, Dennis 1-10, Hilpp 1-20. WBA, Gabe Saracino 1-4, Naquan Johnson 2-34, Hassan Howard 1-5, Logan Sincavage 1-10.
INTERCEPTIONS — CRE, Dennis 1-0. WBA, none.
MISSED FGs — none.