HANOVER TWP. — While the focus has been on three unbeaten teams atop the District 2 Class 4A standings, defending champion Crestwood doesn’t want to be forgotten.
Performances like in Friday night’s 50-7 rout of Hanover Area in a Wyoming Valley Conference interdivisional game will make sure of that.
“The Comets aren’t dead yet,” said Crestwood coach Ryan Arcangeli, whose team improved to 4-4. “There’s no doubt about it. We have life, we’re back to .500, we’re going to do whatever it takes to go 1-0 next week against a really good Berwick team. I don’t care what records are for anybody. Anybody can win.”
Crestwood will continue on without the services of starting quarterback Jaden Shedlock, who suffered a season-ending injury last Friday against Hazleton Area. Shedlock leads WVC Division 1 in rushing.
Freshman Jack Rodgers made his first career start Friday. He threw just two passes, but they went for touchdowns of 30 and 22 yards to receiver Matt Sklarosky.
“We’re really proud of Jack to continue to carry our team forward and on the road,” Arcangeli said. “We’re really proud of Jack’s effort.”
Hanover Area (3-5) also had a new starting quarterback in Al-Quron Michel. Starter Rahmel Currie suffered a season-ending injury against Holy Redeemer two weeks ago. The Hawkeyes received a forfeit win against Montrose last weekend.
Michel, who entered the season third on the depth chart, hit on 7-of-17 passes for 90 yards. He threw a 22-yard TD pass to Deacon Eisenbach at 4:19 of the first quarter to cut the deficit to 14-7. But he was also under a heavy rush throughout.
“I thought he played really well,” Hanover Area coach Jason Majiros said. “He showed toughness. He got hit a lot. They were bringing a lot of pressure all night long. We expected it because he’s a third-string quarterback getting his first start, but I thought he played really well.”
After Hanover Area got on the board, Sklarosky hauled in his two touchdown receptions. James Barrett followed with a 50-yard touchdown run to increase the lead to 34-7 midway through the second quarter.
Colin Lazo’s 17-yard TD run moved the Comets within two points of the 35-point mercy rule with 1:01 left until halftime. They elected to go for a two-point conversion and Jason Swank’s run made it 42-7.
The second half zipped by as the coaches agreed to play eight-minute quarters under the mercy rule. Crestwood’s offense didn’t run a play in the third quarter, but scored on its second play of the fourth on a 27-yard run by Matthew Bealla.
Hanover Area (3-5) hosts Lake-Lehman (1-7) next Friday in a game which could determine the third or fourth playoff spot in Class 3A.
“We definitely want to be the third seed and we feel like we’re on the same level as Lehman,” Majiros said. “They’re a lot like us. They are young, rebuilding a little bit.”
Crestwood 50, Hanover Area 7
Crestwood`20`22`0`8 — 50
Hanover Area`7`0`0`0 — 7
First quarter
CRE — Logan Rolles 2 run (Ethan Zabroski kick), 8:55
CRE — Rolles 1 run (Zabroski kick), 5:54
HAN — Deacon Eisenbach 22 pass from Al-Quron Michel (Conor Engelman kick), 4:19
CRE — Matt Sklarosky 30 pass from Jack Rodgers (kick failed), 0:05
Second quarter
CRE — Sklarosky 22 pass from Rodgers (Zabroski kick), 8:52
CRE — James Barrett 50 run (Zabroski kick), 6:05
CRE — Colin Lazo 17 run (Jason Swank run), 1:01
Fourth quarter
CRE — Matthew Bealla 27 run (Giovanni Barna run), 6:53
Team statistics`CRE`HAN
First downs`19`10
Rushes-yards`34-306`21-26
Passing yards`52`90
Total yards`358`116
Passing`2-2-0`7-17-0
Sacked-yards lost`0-0`2-23
Punts-avg.`0-0`4-27.5
Fumbles-lost`3-1`6-2
Penalties-yards`5-75`10-54
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING — Crestwood, Barrett 10-98, Lazo 3-40, Rolles 4-23, Swank 4-47, Osten Grigas 1-4, Allen Angon 3-11, Eli Meadows 2-26, Barna 1-8, Jacob Jeckell 2-7, Dylan Bellas 1-8, Dylan Gensil 1-11, team 1-(minus-4). Hanover Area. Jaydon Skipalis 10-45, Jayden Shortz 5-36, Michel 7-(minus-34), team 1-(minus-21).
PASSING — Crestwood, Rodgers 2-2-0-52. Hanover Area, Michel 7-17-0-90.
RECEIVING — Crestwood, Sklarosky 2-52. Hanover Area, Skipalis 1-4, Derek Warman 2-37, Eisenbach 2-32, Aiden Safriwe 1-9, Shortz 1-7
INTERCEPTIONS — none.
MISSED FGs — none.
