WRIGHT TWP. — Crestwood’s offense was stopped just once in the first half Saturday afternoon.
Even then, everything worked out for the Comets.
Behind a brutal running attack and equally brutal defense, Crestwood steamrolled Berwick in the first half on the way to a 56-14 victory in a District 2 Class 4A semifinal game.
Crestwood (11-1) will host either Dallas or Valley View in the championship game at 7 p.m. Friday. Those two teams played Saturday night in the other semifinal. Berwick ended its season at 5-7.
As usual, running back Noah Schultz was the crux of Crestwood’s ground assault. He rushed for 251 yards and five touchdown on 15 carries — all in the first half — as Crestwood built at 49-7 lead at halftime. Schultz, who moved from quarterback to running back midway through last season, also went over 2,000 yards rushing for the season.
“I wanted it from the start of the season,” Schultz said. “I had 1,000 rushing yards last year and this year I wanted 2,000 and I did everything I could. The whole offseason, I worked hard.
“I mean, the line, that helps a lot. They are doing really good this year.”
Those interior linemen — tackles Aidan Jardine and Aleks Jaskiewicz, guards John Jones and Chris Smolenak and center Andrew Lenahan — along with tight end Zach Shedlock have helped Crestwood average 368.5 yards per game rushing. The number could have been higher if not for many blowout victories.
The Comets scored on their first six possessions of the game, piling up 309 yards rushing on 23 carries in the first half. Quarterback Jaden Shedlock, a 1,000-yard rusher, connected on his only pass to give Crestwood 319 yards at the break.
Crestwood’s seventh possession ended on a sack/fumble recovery by Berwick defensive lineman Harrison Snyder. But two plays later, Crestwood scored again when defensive back Nick Miscavage undercut a short pass, tipped the ball to himself and returned the interception 79 yards for a touchdown.
“Once I saw that wing tight end I knew they were going to go after him,” Miscavage said. “They had a lot of success with it, so just waited for him to come out. He kind of tipped his cap a little bit and showed me where he was coming. I just happened to pounce on it.”
Miscavage also stopped a 12-play Berwick drive with an interception in the end zone. His two picks increased his season total to seven interceptions. He also blocked a punt and on the next play Schultz scored on an 8-yard run to make it 35-7 at 9:33 of the second quarter.
“All three phases of the game,” Crestwood coach Ryan Arcangeli said. “We preached all week special teams were the difference in the (regular) season game down there. Last time we were down there, we got a big return on a kickoff and got a fumble. We needed one more to spark our typical day and Nick was able to do that with the blocked punt.”
Crestwood also received sacks from linebackers Cole Kakalecik, Logan Rolles and Lincoln Bibla and defensive end Magnus Bibla. The defensive effort limited Berwick to 68 yards of offense at halftime.
Berwick’s only touchdown in the first half came when quarterback Matt Lonczynski found receiver Drey Wilk wide open over the middle for a 12-yard score with nine seconds left in the first quarter. Crestwood got the TD right back when Schultz broke off a 53-yard scoring run four plays later.
District 2 Class 4A Semifinals
Crestwood 56, Berwick 14
Berwick`7`0`7`0 — 14
Crestwood`21`28`0`7 — 56
First quarter
CRE — Jaden Shedlock 49 run (Logan Rolles kick), 8:54
CRE — Noah Schultz 9 run (Rolles kick), 5:36
CRE — Schultz 60 run (Rolles kick), 4:23
BER — Drey Wilk 12 pass from Matt Lonczynski (Luke Peters kick), 0:09
Second quarter
CRE — Schultz 53 run (Rolles kick), 11:21
CRE — Schultz 8 run (Rolles kick), 9:33
CRE — Schultz 16 run (Rolles kick), 0:59
CRE — Nick Miscavage 79 interception return (Rolles kick), 0:08
Third quarter
BER — Spencer Kishbaugh 43 pass from Lonczynski (Peters kick), 1:24
Fourth quarter
CRE — Allen Angon 2 run (Rolles kick), 9:18
Team statistics`BER`CRE
First downs`13`15
Rushes-yards`31-62`39-382
Passing yards`119`10
Total yards`181`392
Passing`10-22-2`1-1-0
Sacked-yards lost`4-37`1-13
Punts-avg.`4-25.3`0-0
Fumbles-lost`0-0`1-1
Penalties-yards`4-35`5-45
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING — Berwick, Bo Sheptock 3-2, Lonczynski 8-(minus-19), Ethan Lear 11-69, Kishbaugh 1-4, Wilk 1-1, Tyler Winter 5-0, Ty’Mere Wilkerson 2-5. Crestwood, Schultz 13-251, Shedlock 5-43, Robert Knight 3-8, Brendan Dennis 3-15, Colin Lazo 6-42, Angon 6-18, Jason Swank 1-13, team 2-(minus-8).
PASSING — Berwick, Lonczynski 9-21-2-104, Lear 1-1-0-15. Crestwood, Shedlock 1-1-0-10.
RECEIVING — Berwick, Wilk 2-15, Kishbaugh 3-52, Lear 2-13, Sheptock 2-24, Kaden Hunter 1-15. Crestwood, Zach Sheloski 1-10.
INTERCEPTIONS — Crestwood, Miscavage 2-79.
MISSED FGs — none.
