Archbishop Wood Bullies Central Valley For Second Straight AAA Crown

By: HSSN Staff
Friday, December 12, 2014 | 11:04 PM

For the second year in a row, Archbishop Wood used a bludgeoning rushing attack to run away with the PIAA AAA State Championship.

The Vikings (14-1) rushed for 379 yards, taking down WPIAL Champion Central Valley 33-14 on Friday night at Hersheypark Stadium.

Villanova recruit Jarrett McClenton, who surpassed 2,000 rushing yards on the season on the opening drive, ran for 230 yards and four touchdowns. His lead blocker, fullback Alex Arcangeli, rushed for 132 yards and another score for the Vikings, who have won three AAA titles in four years.

Archbishop Wood wasted little time, as McClenton scored on a 12-yard run on Wood’s fourth play of the game. Two drives later, McClenton went in again from the same distance, pushing the Vikings’ lead to 12-0 after failing on a point after and two-point conversion.

Trying to will themselves back into the contest, Central Valley (15-1) would orchestrate a 95-yard drive that started from their own 4-yard line. But, on 4th down at the Wood 1-yard line, Pitt recruit Jordan Whitehead would drop a sure touchdown pass in the endzone, turning the ball over on downs.

However, on the ensuing drive and with six seconds left in the half, Archbishop Wood coach Steve Devlin would elect to have quarterback Anthony Russo pass. His toss would be intercepted by Central Valley safety Brandon Wilson, who returned the ball 48 yards for a touchdown with no time remaining in the half, cutting the Vikings’ lead to 12-7 at the break.

“We were aggressive. We had the ball and wanted to score,” said Devlin. “Hats off to the kid, he made a great play.”

On Wood’s second drive of the second half, they would extend their lead to 20-7 on a 51-yard touchdown dash and two-point conversion run by McClenton.

But Central Valley would answer. With 11:16 left in the game, Kurt Reinstadtler would pull in a 55-yard bomb from John George, giving the Warriors new life at 20-14.

Unfortunately for the Warriors, that was all they would muster. Wood executed a nearly-six minute drive, capped off by a 15-yard run by McClenton. After forcing a punt, Arcangeli would go in from 13 yards out, capping the scoring at 33-14.

“We knew we would have to win big games in the second half. Our strength and agility training came through for us,” said Devlin, who has coached Wood to the Championship Game in four straight seasons and now has a 98-17 record in eight years as the Vikings’ coach.

Whitehead, who was left the game twice with injuries – once to the locker room – would pick up just 34 rushing yards on 13 carries, while catching two passes for 69 yards. It was just the second time all season that Whitehead failed to reach the end zone. He did, however, led the Warriors with 10 tackles and had an interception on defense.

Whitehead commented to reporters after the game that, despite rumors of Paul Chryst leaving the Pitt program for the Wisconsin head coaching job, he was committed to the Panthers, but would not enroll early, as speculated.

George threw for 210 yards on 9-of-18 passing for the Warriors, but was sacked six times by a tenacious defensive front of Archbishop Wood. 

The 230-yard rushing performance in Hershey is the second in a row for McClenton, who ran for exactly 230 yards and two touchdowns on 40 carries in a 22-10 win over Bishop McDevitt in last year’s title game.

Central Valley honored teammate Andy Treemarchi, who passed away this week, before the game by having the captains hold his jersey during the coin toss.

Scoring Summary
1st Quarter:
10:32 – AW: Jarett McClenton 12-yard run (Dan McDonald kick blocked), AW 6-0
1:33 – AW: McClenton 12-yard run (Anthony Russo pass failed), AW 12-0
2nd Quarter:
0:00 – CV: Brandon Wilson 48-yard interception return (Brendan Jugan kick), AW 12-7
3rd Quarter:
3:10 – AW: McClenton 51-yard run (McClenton rush), AW 20-7
4th Quarter:
11:16 – CV: Kurt Reinstadtlet 55-yard pass from John George (Jugan kick), AW 20-14
5:35 – AW: McClenton 15-yard run (Russo pass failed), AW 26-14
1:33 – AW: Alex Arcangeli 7-yard run (McDonald kick), AW 33-14

Tags: Archbishop Wood, Central Valley