WRIGHT TWP. — A week after shutting down Scranton Prep, Valley View made a statement on Friday night: this defense is no joke.
The Cougars turned over Crestwood three times — two interceptions and a fumble return — and Valley View improved to 2-0 with a 24-13 win over the Comets at Crestwood High School.
It was a slow start that really tripped up Crestwood: the Comets trailed 10-0 at the half and 17-0 early in the third quarter before they were finally able to start to make a dent in the Cougars defense.
“Our kids fought their tails off, but it wasn’t enough,” Crestwood coach Ryan Arcangeli said. “But we’ve had it with being close, our mission now is we’re done with being close.”
Two of those turnovers led to Valley View points: a Jaden Shedlock pass was picked off by Brady Bachman late in the second quarter, leading to a Cougar field goal; and a fumble recovered by Valley View on the opening drive of the second half turned into a Tyler Muchal touchdown a few plays later.
After the two teams played pretty even football for about a quarter-and-a-half, the complexion of the game flipped fast. The Cougars took a 17-0 lead on the Muchal score that, though they made it interesting, Crestwood ultimately couldn’t catch up to.
Jeff Wasilchak would add a rushing touchdown in the final two minutes, his second of the night, to put the game on ice for Valley View.
Muchal was the team’s leading rusher with 80 yards on a night where the Cougars offense was held largely in check by Crestwood, with no plays longer than 18 yards from scrimmage for Valley View.
“We’re super young, we graduated 29 seniors last year,” Valley View coach Scot Wasilchak said. “We played like a young team tonight, we had a big win last week and I think we regressed a little this week.”
Crestwood’s defense kept the game from getting out of control until the offense was finally able to break through, with the senior Shedlock leading the way.
Shedlock called his own number and ran in an 8-yard touchdown midway through the third quarter, then found Jack Rodgers for a highlight reel 30-yard touchdown on the next Comets drive to make it a 17-13 game.
After a goal-line stand in the fourth, Crestwood got the ball back in a one-score game, but Valley View’s defense bottled them inside their own 5-yard line.
The Cougars chewed about six minutes of clock on the ensuing drive, which ended with Wasilchak punching one in from three yards out to seal the win for Valley View.
One last attempt to try and stay alive for Crestwood was ended with an interception, Valley View linebacker Jeffrey Ashby making the pick.
Shedlock threw for 130 yards and ran for 35 more at the helm of Crestwood’s offense. Jacob Jeckell ran for 62 yards on just eight carries for the Comets.
Crestwood (0-2) will look to break into the win column next week at home against Tunkhannock. Valley View (2-0) will have another tough test next week at home against Wilkes-Barre Area.
Valley View 24, Crestwood 13
Valley View`0`10`7`7 — 24
Crestwood`0`0`13`0 — 13
Second quarter
VV —Jeff Wasilchak 2 run (Braden Loff kick) 7:20
VV — Loff 41 field goal 1:11
Third quarter
VV — Tyler Muchal 2 run (Loff kick) 10:23
CRE — Jaden Shedlock 8 run (Cooper Laubach kick) 6:13
CRE — Jack Rodgers 30 pass from Shedlock (kick blocked) 2:00
Fourth quarter
VV — Wasilchak 3 run (Loff kick) 1:57
Team statistics`VV`CRE
First downs`18`11
Rushes-yards`48-175`26-110
Passing yards`67`130
Total yards`242`240
Passing`7-16-0`10-23-2
Sacked-yards lost`0-0`0-0
Punts-avg.`3-30.6`5-33.6
Fumbles-lost`1-1`1-1
Penalties-yards`8-63`7-55
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING — VV, Tristan Smith 5-1, Muchal 16-80, Seamus Sprague 1-1, Caleb Brown 3-4, Wasilchak 13-30, Brady Bachman 5-26, Brady Cunningham 3-16, Marco Ruby 2-18. CRE, Gio Barna 3-2, Nate Walsh 407, Shedlock 10-35, Jacob Jeckell 8-62, Logan Lawson 1-4.
PASSING — VV, Brown 7-16-0-67. CRE, Shedlock 10-23-2-130.
RECEIVING — VV, Mike Shemonski 2-15, Gabe Davis 1-10, Jason Munley 1-1, Smith 1-16, Ben Evans 2-25. CRE, Rodgers 3-55, Walsh 5-51, Lawson 1-5, Barna 1-19.
INTERCEPTIONS — VV, Bachman 1-20, Ashby 1-2. CRE, none.
MISSED FGs — none.
