BERWICK — Crestwood scored on its first four possessions Friday night. The other phases of football helped made it possible.
Two big defensive plays by the Bibla brothers and a special teams gem by sophomore Colin Lazo set up two of the scores as Crestwood routed Berwick 56-21 to clinch the Wyoming Valley Conference Division 1 football title.
Crestwood (5-1 Div. 1, 8-1) also needed help from Wilkes-Barre Area and the Comets received it in the form of a 35-7 victory over Dallas. Dallas would have won the division with a victory.
Crestwood led 14-7 entering the second quarter thanks to a 25-yard TD run by running back Noah Schultz, who finished with 263 rushing yards, and a 2-yard touchdown plunge by quarterback Jaden Shedlock, who finished with 104 yards on the ground.
The Bibla brothers then made momentum-swinging plays on Berwick’s next possession. Berwick tried a screen pass to running back Bo Sheptock, who had plenty of open turf in front of him until linebacker Lincoln Bibla came flying in to stop him for a 6-yard loss.
On the next play, Berwick quarterback Matt Lonczynski was about to escape the pocket when Magnus Bibla sacked him, one of four times the Comets recorded a sack.
“We take a lot of pride (playing defense),” said Magnus Bibla, who came into the game with a team-high eight sacks. “We put in a lot of effort and time. We formulate a plan and execute it well.”
After a punt, Shedlock completed a couple passes to Schultz and the duo carried the ball on the other plays until Shedlock scored from three yards out.
The ensuing kickoff featured a huge special teams play by Lazo. Kicker Logan Rolles chipped yet another kickoff, trying to land the ball between the 20- and 30-yard lines. Lazo beat all the Dawgs to the ball at the 25.
Shedlock rolled right four plays later and hit tight end Zach Sheloski for a 12-yard TD and a 28-7 halftime lead.
Crestwood’s final drive of the first half died at the Berwick 30-yard line as time expired.
“Our guys do a great job,” Crestwood coach Ryan Arcangeli said. “We’re not fancy in what we do, but what we do we think we do it pretty well. We have guys that buy in like Schultzy, Shedlock and (Robert) Knight. They don’t care who gets the ball, they’re going to block for him.”
Berwick made some inroads in the third quarter because of its passing game and a bundle of penalties by Crestwood. The Comets were flagged eight times for 80 yards in the quarter.
But whenever the Dawgs struck, Crestwood struck back with Schultz. He answered Berwick scores with touchdown runs of 61 and 42 yards.
Crestwood piled up 406 rushing yards, the most Berwick has allowed this season and more than the Dawgs had surrendered in their last three games combined. The Comets were equally impressive on the other side of the ball, holding Berwick to a season-low 26 rushing yards.
Crestwood 56, Berwick 21
Crestwood`14`14`14`14 — 56
Berwick`7`0`14`0 — 21
First quarter
CRE — Noah Schultz 25 run (Logan Rolles kick), 9:03
BER — Matt Lonczynski 1 run (Luke Peters kick), 7:43
CRE — Jaden Shedlock 2 run (Rolles kick), 0:28
Second quarter
CRE — Shedlock 3 run (Rolles kick), 4:16
CRE — Zach Sheloski 12 pass from Shedlock (Rolles kick), 1:40
Third quarter
BER — Lonczynski 4 run (Peters kick), 8:40
CRE — Schultz 61 run (Rolles kick), 7:15
BER — Drey Wilk 24 pass from Lonczynski (Peters kick), 3:15
CRE — Schultz 42 run (Rolles kick), 1:32
Fourth quarter
CRE — Shedlock 12 run (Rolles kick), 10:14
CRE — Colin Lazo 13 run (Rolles kick), 1:42
Team statistics`CRE`BER
First downs`23`12
Rushes-yards`51-406`27-26
Passing yards`78`182
Total yards`484`208
Passing`7-10-0`12-25-2
Sacked-yards lost`0-0`4-21
Punts-avg.`1-38`1-28
Fumbles-lost`0-0`4-1
Penalties-yards`14-96`7-49
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING — Crestwood, Schutlz 22-263, Shedlock 15-104, Robert Knight 7-12, Rolles 4-10, Nick Miscavage 2-4, Lazo 1-13. Berwick, Bo Sheptock 9-11, Lonczynski 11-13, Wilk 2-(minus-4), Spencer Kishbaugh 1-8, Ethan Lear 1-1, Tyler Winter 3-(minus-3).
PASSING — Crestwood, Shedlock 7-9-0-78. Miscavage 0-1-0-0. Berwick, Lonczynski 12-24-1-182, Wilk 0-1-1-0.
RECEIVING — Crestwood, Knight 2-22, Matt Sklarosku 1-8, Schultz 2-24, Sheloski 1-12, Magnus Bibla 1-12. Berwick, Kishbaugh 7-88, Sheptock 1-(minus-6), Rowan Slabinski 1-72, Wilk 2-28, Lear 1-0.
INTERCEPTIONS — Crestwood, Cole Kakalecik 1-0, Miscavage 1-0.
MISSED FGs — none.
