COVINGTON TWP. — North Pocono avenged last season’s lopsided loss to Crestwood with a 27-10 victory over the Comets on Friday night.
After giving up nearly 400 yards on the ground a year ago in a 47-0 defeat, the Trojans stifled the Crestwood rushing game throughout the contest with no Comet achieving more than 68 yards in the ground.
Crestwood entered the contest locked into the fourth seed in the upcoming District 2 Class 4A playoffs, where they’ll host Nanticoke Area.
“We earned a home playoff game,” Comets coach Ryan Arcangeli said. “That’s what we really have to be excited about to get us through this gut punch tonight.”
With the win, North Pocono still remained the sixth seed and wait to see who they’ll face in the first round of the playoffs.
“We don’t know who it is right now, but it’s a great football team,” North Pocono coach Greg Dolhon said. “We just have to get better this week and prepare for them.”
Late in the first half in a tied game, Noah West capitalized on a Crestwood mistake by intercepting an errant pass. West would proceed to march his offense down the field, ultimately punching the ball in at the goal line to give the Trojans a 17-10 advantage at the break.
“We knew it was going to be even,” Arcangeli said of how key plays didn’t go Crestwood’s way. “We knew it was going to be who’s going to make the explosive play, who’s going to get the turnover, and they made several explosive plays and one costly turnover.”
North Pocono would strike again to start the second half with Riley Moore returning the kickoff 84 yards for the score.
The Trojan defense would turn up the pressure in the second half as they shutout Crestwood’s offense. North Pocono would force Crestwood into two three-and-out possessions while forcing a turnover on downs and generating another interception.
Dolhon discussed his team’s focus after the game.
“When you play Crestwood you have to stop the run,” he said. “We made that our priority.”
Arcangeli spoke to his team’s offensive woes after the break, saying, “We have to do a better job adjusting.”
The Trojans kept Crestwood’s defense on its toes all night with three different ball carriers getting at least eight touches and an efficient passing game with West completing nine of his 14 attempts.
“We knew what we had to do to come out and win,” West said. “We played with heart. The offensive line played an awesome game.”
West would be at the focal point for many of North Pocono’s big plays as he threw and ran for a touchdown and intercepted two Crestwood passes. The senior quarterback would finish the contest with 189 yards through the air and 34 on the ground.
“I just go out and play football,” West said. “I go out, read my keys and that’s what I do.”
West got the scoring started when he connected with his younger brother, freshman Cole West, on a 58-yard passing touchdown during the Trojan’s first possession. The two would connect two more times, generating 108 yards of offense.
An opportunity for the brothers to score again would present itself, but Cole would drop the pass in the end zone.
“Oh, don’t get me started,” Noah said with a chuckle. “It happens, man.”
Following the Trojans score, the Comets offense started to click as it marched the ball down to the North Pocono 5-yard line where it faced a fourth-and-3 as Arcangeli sent his offense back out onto the field.
Jason Swank sprinted to the edge to find the end zone, only to have the play called back for a holding penalty. Now 13 yards away from moving the chains, Crestwood elected to settle for the field goal.
Crestwood would start its next possession at its own 15-yard line but was still able to go on an eight-play, 85-yard scoring drive that temporarily gave them the lead on an Eli Meadows touchdown run.
The Trojans appeared destined to take the lead on their ensuing possession as they drove into the red zone. Crestwood’s defense would remain stalwart, holding the opponent at the 6-yard line and forcing them to settle for a field goal.
The 10-10 tie would not last long as the Comets would commit their first turnover on their next possession as North Pocono rode the momentum to victory.
North Pocono 27, Crestwood 10
Crestwood`3`7`0`0 — 10
North Pocono`7`10`7`3 — 27
First quarter
NP — Cole West 58 pass from Noah West (Brady Mapes kick), 6:52
CRE — James Barret 32 FG, 3:17
Second quarter
CRE — Eli Meadows 1 run (Barret kick), 9:25
NP — Mapes 23 FG, 5:17
NP — N. West 1 run (Mapes kick), 1:25
Third quarter
NP — Riley Moore 84 kickoff return (Mapes kick), 11:44
Fourth quarter
NP — Mapes 32 FG, 8:18
Team statistics`CRE`NP
First downs`8`14
Rushes-yards`31-158`34-130
Passing yards`51`189
Total yards`209`319
Passing`2-7-2`9-14-0
Sacked-yards lost`0-0`0-0
Punts-avg.`3-34`1-43
Fumbles-lost`0-0`0-0
Penalties-yards`4-35`6-45
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING — CRE, James Barret 16-68, Colin Lazo 3-52, Logan Rolles 8-34, Jason Swank 2-3, Eli Meadows 2-1. NP, Kevin Wickizer 13-52, Noah West 8-34, Riley Moore 1-23, Brady Lavery 8-20, Chase Zimmerman 2-5.
PASSING — CRE, Jack Rodgers 1-5-2-48, Jason Swank 1-2-0-3. NP, Noah West 9-14-0-189.
RECEIVING — CRE, Matthew Sklarosky 1-48, Colin Lazo 1-3. NP, Cole West 3-108, Ryan Marsh 3-61, Riley Moore 1-15, Kevin Wickizer 2-5.
INTERCEPTIONS — NP, Noah West 2-30
MISSED FGs — None.
