JESSUP — Injuries. Penalties. A district finals rematch. At every corner, the season opener wasn’t exactly ideal for the defending District 2 Class 4A champion.
At any rate, Crestwood once again was mired in a tight low-scoring contest with Valley View for the third time in 365 days.
Valley View changed the script with a late game-winning touchdown pass to defeat Crestwood 21-14 on Friday. The Cougars’ Christopher Savkov caught a 32-yard heave from Casey Malsberger in the end zone with 79 seconds remaining in regulation.
“It’s not easy to play up here,” Crestwood coach Ryan Arcangeli said. “For having one hand tied behind their back, these guys fought their tails off. Congratulations to (Valley View) and their coaching staff. Good job by their quarterback for making one more play than we did.”
Savkov’s grab was the only complete pass of more than 20 yards between both teams. Prior to the game-winning possession, the Cougars mustered just two completions all game. Malsberger found success for the first time all game, completing three passes for 64 yards in a hurry-up offense.
Valley View won the game on a controversial decision at midfield. The Comets completed a pass for 16-yards with just a minute left. As soon as Crestwood’s receiver’s toes touched the ground, he was hit in the back and dropped the ball. Valley View’s Robert Sebastianelli recovered the ball to change possessions. After a lengthy deliberation, the officials claimed Crestwood completed the catch and ruled the ball live during the recovery.
Any momentum that Crestwood had following a go-ahead touchdown at the halftime whistle was deflated by a six-minute Valley View scoring drive to open the third quarter. Zach Cwalinski punched in a 1-yard score to even the game at 14-14 with 6:53 left. With a three-and-out, the Comets had just three offensive plays in the third quarter.
Crestwood benefited from a 78-yard recovered field goal block for a touchdown at the end of the first half. Valley View attempted a 39-yard go-ahead field goal. Crestwood’s Carter Kennedy and Eli Meadows honed in on Valley View kicker Jacob Bekele to block the kick. Matt Sklarosky swooped in from the far side to retrieve the ball and jetted down the sidelines to dash the home crowd’s hopes with a 14-7 lead.
The Comets’ lone offensive scoring drive came 37 seconds into the game. Jaden Shedlock went 62 yards on the second play of the game for an early touchdown. Shedlock finished with seven carries for 96 yards.
Camryn Higgins matched him with 96 rushing yards on 14 carries for the Cougars. Cwalinski had two touchdowns with 15 yards rushing.
“Our team is going to be pretty damn scary when we are at full strength,” Arcangeli said. “I can’t wait to see how we’re going to build. I am excited for the season ahead. And we’re going to get to work.”
Valley View’s Scot Wasilchak earned his first career victory.
Valley View 21, Crestwood 14
Crestwood`7`7`0`0 — 14
Valley View`7`0`7`7 —21
First quarter
CRE — Jaden Shedlock 62 run (James Barret kick), 11:23
VV — Zach Cwalinski 2 run (Jacob Bekele kick), 1:52
Second quarter
CRE — Matt Sklarosky 78 kick block (Barret kick), :00
Third quarter
VV — Cwalinski 1 run (Bekele kick), 6:53
Fourth quarter
VV — Christopher Savkov 32 pass from Casey Malsberger (Bekele kick), 1:19
Team statistics`CRE`VV
First downs`7`15
Rushes-yards`30-156`42-239
Passing yards`31`83
Total yards`187`322
Passing`2-8-0`5-17-0
Sacked-yards lost`0-0`1-11
Punts-avg.`8-38`6-33
Fumbles-lost`3-1`2-0
Penalties-yards`12-59`4-25
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING — CRE, Shedlock 7-96, Spaide 12-36, Colin Lazo 3-11, Allen Agnon 6-10, Giovanni Barna 2-3; VV, Camryn Higgins 14-96, Cwalinski 5-15, Preston Reed 13-62, Nick Kucharski 6-74, Kyle Rupp 1-1 Malsberger 4-(minus-3); TEAM 2-(minus-6)
PASSING — CRE, Shedlock 2-8-0-31; VV, Malsberger 5-17-0-83
RECEIVING — CRE, Lazo 1-15, Sklarosky 1-16; 1- VV, Kyle Rupp 1-4, Beyeon McLean 1-16, Savkov 2-45, Preston Reed 1-19
INTERCEPTIONS — None
MISSED FGs — VV, Bekele 1-39
