Defense, ground attack lift Highlands past Derry in WPIAL Class 3A 1st round
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Friday, October 31, 2025 | 10:32 PM
Highlands’ Tevin Owen-Cratsenberg moves the ball up field against Derry during their WPIAL playoff game Friday.
Derry’s Aiden Frank is stopped by the Highlands defense during their WPIAL playoff game Friday.
Derry’s Kaden Weiers looks for running room against Highlands during their WPIAL playoff game Friday.
Derry’s Max Doherty breaks free against Highlands during their WPIAL playoff game Friday.
Derry’s Anthony Sacco is brought down by the Highlands defense during their WPIAL playoff game Friday.
Derry’s Anthony Sacco is stopped by Highlands’ Thomas Naviglia during their WPIAL playoff game Friday.
Highlands’ Tevin Owen-Cratsenberg is brought down by Derry’s Anthony Frank during their WPIAL playoff game Friday.
Derry coach Mike Arone watches his team’s game against Highlands during the WPIAL playoffs Friday.
Highlands’ Jamarkus Prager moves the ball up field against Derry during their WPIAL playoff game against Derry on Friday.
Highlands coach Matt Bonislawski watches his team during its WPIAL playoff game against Derry on Friday.
Not a lot of tricks, but plenty of treats to go around on Halloween night as both Highlands and Derry had their share of mistakes.
Led by an opportunistic defense, the Golden Rams came away with a 14-0 win over the Trojans (6-5) in a WPIAL Class 3A first round game Friday at Golden Rams Stadium in Natrona Heights.
“Great job by our defensive unit,” Rams coach Matt Bonislawski said. “We shut them down all night and forced a lot of turnovers.”
Highlands’ defense was the first unit to score points, as Derry came out struggling to open the game.
With first and 10 at their own 20, the Trojans began the drive with two false starts, followed by a high snap that went over quarterback Anthony Sacco’s head.
Facing a second-and-25 from their own 5, Sacco rolled out, and threw a pass intended for Noah Stough. The ball bounced off Stough and was picked off by the Rams’ Marqis Johnson who returned it 10 yards for a touchdown.
“I was mainly reading the offensive alignment,” Johnson said. “We watched a lot of film during the week, seeing how they would attack us. I simply saw the play and reacted to it.”
The early score gave the Rams an early lead and got the crowd and the Highlands bench pumped up.
Added Johnson: “It was crucial to score that early. We wanted to come out and make a statement.”
From that point on, Highlands (8-3) played a somewhat conservative game, leaning on sophomore tailback Tevin Owen-Cratsenberg en route to the victory.
“The last couple of weeks we did a few other things, offensively, but we wanted to give Tevin the ball tonight,” Bonislawski said. “Everybody knows he’s our workhorse. He did a phenomenal job.”
Owen-Cratsenberg ran the ball 24 times for 172 yards and scored the only offensive touchdown of the game.
On their third drive of the first half, the Rams had first-and-10 from the Trojans’ 20 after an interception by corner Jahmar Wright.
Owen-Cratsenberg ran up the gut for 12 yards, carrying multiple Derry defenders. Then on the next play, he took a sweep to the right and found his way into the end zone for the score.
“Derry made me work for my yards, and I give them credit,” Owen-Cratsenberg said. “It felt good to get in the end zone to add to the lead.”
Mistakes continued to pile up for the Trojans as they were flagged seven times for 45 yards and turned the ball over four times.
“It wasn’t the best start,” Derry coach Mike Arone said. “The last three weeks we were playing our best football. Tonight, we just made too many mistakes. You can’t start a playoff football game the way we did.”
After their second drive of the game ended in a punt, the Trojans’ third drive saw positive yardage as they started at their own 10-yard line and drove 63 yards before another false start and an incomplete pass.
On the next play, Sacco was looking for Rickey Daniels deep down the field, but his ball was held up by the wind and picked of by Wright.
“They’ve shown on film they want to be balanced,” Bonislawski said. “We did a good job up front; we were outsized, but our kids were aggressive and got after it.”
Sacco threw his third interception on the Trojans’ fourth drive of the first half. Once again rolling to his right, Sacco let it go in the flat in the direction of Aiden Frank, but Bryce Tavarez dove to take the ball away for the Rams.
Sacco’s fourth interception came late in the fourth quarter when the Trojans were trying to put points on the board.
Noah Stough was running a post pattern and Sacco’s pass was taken by the wind, sailing over Stough’s head; Rams safety Christian Pearson tracked it down in the end zone.
The only silver lining for the Trojans was their defense which held strong outside of allowing Owen-Cratsenberg his yardage total.
“Our defense gave us a chance, only giving up seven points to a really good offense,” Arone said. “We just couldn’t get in the end zone.”
Wright had three catches for 51 yards for the Golden Rams.
Highlands wasn’t immune to turnovers either.
On their second drive of the game, which started at their own 18-yard line, the Rams got runs from quarterback Jamarkus Prager (18 and 10 yards) and Owen-Cratsenberg (13, 40 yards) and were within striking distance, when Prager was picked off by Derry linebacker Max Dougherty.
Two drives later, Prager fumbled the ball on a second-and-4 at the Derry 33, and it was recovered by Trojans linebacker Kaden Weiers.
Highlands also missed a 30-yard field goal in the third quarter.
“We left a lot of points on the field, not happy about that,” Bonislawski said. “In the playoffs, it doesn’t matter how much you win by, doesn’t have to be pretty. We need to sharpen up for next week and we know that.”
The Rams travel to No. 3 Central Valley (6-4) and take on a Warriors team that finished second in the Western Hills Conference.
“We’re going to talk about execution and being prepared,” Bonislawski said. “The work is done during the week and we’re going to prepare as best we can, knowing our assignments and give a full effort.”
Tags: Derry Area, Highlands
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