“It’s a blessing” to play Power 4 football. “Crazy how fast things can happen,” he said. With the Gophers being in the Big Ten, that strongly influenced his commitment decision, along with being offered a full scholarship. “I loved the coaches, it’s really a family here,” Castillo added.

Schuylkill County is known for supporting local athletes when they accomplish big things, and “they have been with me through it all, great to have support throughout the recruiting process,” Castillo also said. This is the community he is happy to contribute back to as he is always happy to make the future Hurricanes better either at camps or one-on-one sessions.

During his senior year, he had 865 yards on 73 carries with 13 rushing scores. In terms of receiving, he caught the ball 17 times for 423 yards and 9 touchdowns. The Hurricanes had an undefeated 10-0 record in the regular season and were widely considered the top AA team in the state. After easily handling Catasauqua and Northern Lehigh in the first two rounds of district playoffs, they lost 31-28 against Williams Valley in the district title game.

From a coaching perspective, he’s a competitor according to Schuylkill Haven’s former Cornerback and Wide Receiver coach, Joey Cannavacciuolo. Minnesota is getting a player that is “hungry for success.” Being overlooked by a lot of major programs will make him ready to compete and give it his all, Cannavacciuolo added.

Castillo is not the first Schuylkill County senior to announce a commitment to a Power 4 school. He joins Dante Carr of Minersville, who committed to UCF in early June to be a quarterback. “This recruiting cycle from Carr and Castillo will move mountains for our players because it shows even though we aren’t powerhouses, or play them, it doesn’t mean we don’t have players that can produce at that level,” Cannavacciuolo also said. Between Carr, Castillo, and juniors Chase Guers of Blue Mountain with two Power 4 offers and Colton Reber of Schuylkill Haven who finished ninth in the nation in rushing yards, the Division One talent is there.

Castillo was the 29th player in the class of 2026 to become a Gopher. In this senior class, the head coach of Minnesota, PJ Fleck, held the 28th best recruiting class in the nation at the time of Castillo’s commitment.

ORIGINALLY WRITTEN ON NOVEMBER 28th

SCHUYLKILL HAVEN – The letter “v” stands for two things, Vikings and victory. Williams Valley (12-1) rolled into the Eagles’ Nest and defeated the best 2A team in the state, Schuylkill Haven (12-1), by a score of 34-31 on Friday night.

Each team scored on their opening drive. Williams Valley was first when Brady Shomper ran two yards after a 26-yard pass put them inside the five yard line. The Hurricanes got on the board when Max Heim connected with Blake Rossi for a 31-yard score to even the game up at seven. When the Vikes took the ball back following the touchdown, Ethan Kline recovered a fumble with 3:11 left in the first quarter. Five seconds later, Colton Reber rushed 16 yards to give the Canes a 14-7 lead. Logan Goad blocked a Williams Valley punt with ten seconds left in the quarter. With less than a second left on the scoreboard, Reber struck again, this time for a 36-yard run to take the 14 point lead going into the next quarter.

The Vikings took the ball back after that score, but Schuylkill Haven’s defense created a turnover on downs to take possession back. To conclude the drive, Greyson Fessler booted a 28-yard field goal right through the uprights to increase their lead to 24-7. Williams Valley responded right back with a 10-yard rushing touchdown by Fletcher Thompson. The Vikings got their first turnover on downs with 1:50 left in the half. On fourth down, they (Williams Valley) pulled off a fake punt that turned into a 61-yard touchdown where Shomper connected with Thompson. Head coach Ben Ancheff did not want to give the ball away at a crucial point in the game. “It gave us a little bit of momentum to build off of,” Ancheff added. The PAT was blocked to put the score at 24-20.

To kick off the second half, Shomper threw a 39-yard touchdown to Blazer Lords. The Vikings took the lead back, 27-24. Shifting to the fourth quarter, Schuylkill Haven could have had an interception, but a flag took that away and let Williams Valley keep the ball. Goad ran 15 yards to help the Hurricanes reclaim the lead, now 31-27. With less than a minute left in the game, Shomper threw a 42-yard touchdown strike to Colin Crisswell. The Canes had one last chance to score as they were driving downfield quickly. An illegal forward pass by them created a fourth and three situation for Haven, where Shomper sealed the game with an interception. For him (Shomper), that interception meant a lot to him and the senior class he is part of.

Overall, Williams Valley moves to 12-1 on the season and will move on to the state playoffs. They will play either District 12 champion Lansdale Catholic or District 2 Lakeland. The Schuylkill Haven Hurricanes end their season at 12-1.

When I talked to Shomper after the game, he told me why the senior class is special to him. “The connection I have with these Seniors since I was five has grown stronger and stronger. We’re really having a lot of fun, and I love these guys. It feels great winning our third one in a row.”

Williams Valley 34, Schuylkill Haven 31

WILLIAMSTOWN – There is a saying that people often use in sports, defense wins championships. The Williams Valley defense played at a championship level as the Vikings defeated Minersville 56-35 on Saturday night.

On the opening play of the game, Brady Shomper found Fletcher Thompson for a 74 yard touchdown less than 20 seconds into the game to make the score 7-0. “Definitely helped us get going on the right foot in the first half,” said Williams Valley interim head coach Ben Ancheff. When the Battlin’ Miners took possession of the ball on their opening drive, it ended with a turnover on downs. The Viking’ offense went back to work as Shomper connected with Colin Crisswell for a 28-yard touchdown to increase their lead to 14. With exactly one minute left in the opening quarter, Shomper got another touchdown by finding Evan Achenbach for a 25-yard score. At this point, Williams Valley led 21-0. On the kickoff after that touchdown, Minersville nearly gave the ball back to the Vikings twice with fumbling and bobbling the ball, but they (Minersville) recovered the ball.

The offense for Minersville had another turnover on downs, but less than a minute later, they recovered a fumble. To conclude that drive, Dante Carr ran three yards to put the Miners on the board. On the first play with the ball back, Thompson rushed 80 yards to increase the Williams Valley lead to 28-7. The Vikings took the ball back once again when Christian Davis recovered an onside kick. Trevon Bair scored with six seconds left with a two yard run to give Williams Valley a 35-7 lead at halftime. Coach Ancheff was proud of the way his defense played that half.

Derek Derenzo opened the second half with a three yard run for the Battlin’ Miners to make the score 35-14. Thompson gave Williams Valley another seven points when he rushed two yards into the end zone. On the next drive for Minersville, Carr found LaPoint for a five yard touchdown to make the score 42-21 in favor of the Vikings. Thompson’s name was said over the speakers again as he had another touchdown run, this one for 16 yards as he increased their lead to 49-21. LaPoint was given an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty with less than a minute left in the third quarter when the Miners offense tried to get something going.

Exactly one minute into the final quarter, the Minersville defense forced a turnover on downs to take possession back. Carr found Ty Atkinson for a one-yard score to end that drive, which made the score 49-28. Shomper threw to Blazer Lords for a five-yard score. Lords went down with an injury to his chest due to a big hit. The last score of the game was for the Battlin’ Miners as Carr had a 65-yard passing touchdown to Derenzo.

Second seeded Williams Valley will face the best AA team in the state, the Schuylkill Haven Hurricanes, for the district championship on Friday, November 14th at Blue Mountain. Ancheff said that the Canes have the best rushing attack in Pennsylvania and the guys up front are strong, so they have to play a whole game to stick with Mike Farr’s team.

Williams Valley 56, Minersville 35

At the start of the game, Carr ran 63 yards for a Battlin’ Miner touchdown to take the early 7-0 lead. When the Green Knights took possession of the ball, Paiten LaPoint intercepted Mason Soos’ pass to set up the Miners’ offense. They were stopped however, on a fourth down on the Minersville 47 yard line by the aggressive Green Knight defense. Pen Argyl put their first set of points up when Rocco DeCesare tied the game up at 7.

Shifting into the second quarter, Derek Derenzo ran 45 yards to glory to increase the Miners lead making the score 14-7. Both teams exchanged turnovers as Minersville recovered a fumble and Pen Argyl did the same thing the next play. With four minutes remaining in the half, Soos connected with Caiden Faust to once again tie the game up.

This is the type of play that deserves its own section in any article. Carr sat in the backfield for five seconds and evaded three Green Knights trying to tackle him, hurdled a player, faked out two more players after, and scored the Miners touchdown to give his team the 21-14 lead. However, Carr was given a penalty for spiking the ball on the ground after the score. One thing to know about Dante is that he is a humble person, and he was not afraid to admit that was a selfish move by him that had a stupid outcome. “Stands went nuts. Players went nuts. I went nuts,” added Minersville head coach Justin Frantz.

With less than a second left in the half, Soos found Anthony Beltran to tie the game at 21 going into the locker room. Two notes going into the half were that three unsportsmanlike conduct penalties were given that quarter alone, and LaPoint was taken out of the game and eventually out of the stadium by an ambulance. Carr said after the game that the team didn’t just lose a fast football player, but more of a leader. “He’d be in everyone’s face telling them to get it up, getting fired up. We wanted to go out and do it for him,” he (Carr) added.

Entering the second half, Carr made another run, this time for 54 yards to take back the lead 28-21. Pen Argyl could have tied the game with around two and a half minutes left in the quarter, but a holding penalty on their offense wiped the score off. On the next play, Justin Cutler intercepted Soos to deny the Green Knights another scoring opportunity on that drive.

In the last quarter of the game, Soos threw a 34-yard touchdown to Zach Metzgar, but the PAT was just wide to the right to let Minersville keep the lead 28-27. With 6:29 left in the game, Carr ran 25 yards for another Miners’ score. Their lead was 35-27. The Battlin’ Miners created another turnover defensively when Matthew Dube forced a fumble, which was recovered by Anthony (TJ) Bowers.

This is the last home game for one of the most successful senior classes in Minersville history. The senior class led the Miners tonight, and to be able to send them out of Veterans Memorial Stadium with a win felt right to Frantz. He (Frantz) will miss the physical competitor that Carr is when he goes off to UCF in the winter and hopes that they have a few more weeks together.

With the victory, the Battlin’ Miners will move onto the District 11 Class 2A semifinals against and at the second seeded Williams Valley on November 8th. The Vikings beat seventh seeded Executive Education Academy Charter School 42-13 on Saturday night.

Scoring summary
1st Quarter
M – Dante Carr 63 yard run (Jordan Bowers kick) 9:43
PA- Rocco DeCesare 3 yard run (Reid Kotulka kick) 2:51

2nd Quarter
M – Derek Direnzo 45 yard run (Jordan Bowers kick) 10:36
PA – Caiden Faust 5 yard pass from Mason Soos (Reid Kotulka kick) 4:00
M – Dante Carr 34 yard run (Jordan Bowers kick) 1:07
PA – Anthony Beltran 5 pass from Mason Soos (Reid Kotulka kick) 0:08

3rd Quarter
M – Carr 54 run (Jordan Bowers kick) 5:49

4th Quarter
PA – Zachary Metzgar 34 yard pass from Mason Soos (kick failed) 10:14
MA – Dante Carr 25 yard run (Jordan Bowers kick) 6:29

On the first play of the game, there was a bad snap by Minersville, but the crisis was averted as they recovered the ball and scored later that drive. Carr found a wide open Ty Atkinson for a 41-yard touchdown to take a  7-0 lead.

On the opening drive for the Bulldogs early in the second quarter, Parker Hatter ran five yards for a touchdown to tie the game up. He (Hatter) made another play as he intercepted Derek Derenzo’s pass. Nate Hilliard made a 37-yard field goal to end the drive and put Tri-Valley on top 10-7.

On the next drive for Minersville, Carr evaded several Bulldog defenders behind the line of scrimmage and made an impressive play, finding Atkinson for a first down. LaPoint got his record breaking touchdown later that drive as Carr found him (LaPoint) for a 37-yard touchdown to take back the lead 14-10.

Minersville freshman John Lutsky pulled down his first varsity pick-six to make the score 21-10 in favor of the Battlin’ Miners. A bad snap by the Bulldogs was recovered by Derenzo. However, the play after that, Ben Klinger intercepted Carr’s deflected pass. Tri-Valley eventually scored as Trey Porter connected with Cooper Carl for a 21-yard touchdown to shrink their deficit to 21-17 going into halftime.

On what may have been the most impressive play I have seen this season, Lucas Schwartz of the Bulldogs caught a pass that was deflected four times and picked up a first down.

For the first play of the fourth quarter, Derenzo ran five yards for a Miners touchdown to increase their lead to 28-17.

Both teams exchanged turnovers as Atkinson recovered Porter’s fumble behind the line of scrimmage with ten minutes left in the game. Almost three minutes later, Porter intercepted Carr’s pass in the end zone.

On that Bulldog drive, Minersville made a key fourth down stop on their (Tri-Valley) side of the field. Another five-yard touchdown by Derenzo increased the Miners lead to 34-17. Jordan Bowers missed the PAT on that score. A fourth down stop in the red zone for the Minersville defense secured their victory on Friday.

Next up for Minersville (7-2), they host Panther Valley (4-5) for Senior Night. The Bulldogs (6-3) travel to Schuylkill Haven (9-0) for week 10. Both games will be on Friday, October 24th.

On the opening drive for Minersville, UCF commit Dante Carr threw an interception to Rory Dixon less than three minutes into the game. However, the Colts do not score on that possession. With the clock showing 58.4 seconds left in the first quarter, the Miners’ defense made a fourth and inches stop as Marian was driving down the field. On the drive after that stop, Carr threw his second interception of the night to Dixon again. Ten seconds later, Tyler Price ran 35 yards for a Marian Catholic touchdown to make the score 7-0. The Battlin’ Miners took an 8-7 lead when Carr found Matthew Dube for a 36-yard passing touchdown. Jordan Bowers passed the ball to Derek Derenzo for a two-point conversion with 7:27 left in the first half. Dixon threw an interception to Gavin Allan with around five minutes left in the second quarter. Carr ran 55 yards for a Minersville touchdown to make the score 15-7 with less than ten seconds remaining before halftime.

In the second half, the Miners’ defense really took over the game. Carr got another 55-yard touchdown, this time in the air as he found Paiten LaPoint to make the score 22-7 less than three minutes into the third quarter. With 8:24 on the clock, a failed backwards pass by the Colts rolled out of bounds in the end zone to increase the Miners lead to 24-7. On that drive, Carr found Derenzo for a five-yard touchdown to increase Minersville’s lead 31-7. To close the game out with 2:14 left in the fourth quarter, Allan ran three  yards into the end zone for a Battlin’ Miner touchdown to make the final score 38-7.

There were two Minersville records broken tonight. LaPoint now has the career receiving touchdown record with 21. That record was held by Logan Hutsko (2021-2024). Bowers clinched the career kick points record with 74 points. He broke the record previously held by Mike Willinsky (1996-1998).

Overall, Minersville improved to 4-2 after tonight’s victory. They host Pine Grove Area (1-5) on homecoming night on Friday. Marian Catholic falls to 5-1 and will travel to Schuylkill Haven (6-0) Friday night.

To start the night, Minersville had possession for almost six minutes as Jordan Bowers kicked an opening drive field goal to make the score 3-0 in favor of the Miners. Colton Reber had no problem responding with a 66-yard rushing touchdown to give the Hurricanes a 7-3 lead with 3:07 remaining in the first quarter.

After that touchdown, Paiten LaPoint of Minersville took the kickoff back for an 81-yard touchdown to give them a 10-7 lead. On the next drive, Reber got another rushing touchdown from four yards out to give the Hurricanes a 14-10 lead with 1:06 left in the quarter.

At the start of the second quarter, Dante Carr of the Battlin’ Miners, fumbled less than two minutes into the quarter. He (Carr) was about to score using his scrambling abilities when Adam Baluis recovered the fumble at the Schuylkill Haven one-yard line. Over four minutes later, Niko Castillo got in the end zone with a 20-yard run to make the score 21-10 in favor of the Hurricanes.

With 5:39 left in the first half, Carr found his cousin, Ty Atkinson, for a 27-yard touchdown in the air to cut the Hurricane lead to 21-17. Castillo struck again, this time with a 35-yard rushing touchdown. Grayson Fessler missed the PAT to put the score at 27-21 with 3:15 remaining in the second quarter. Only 56 seconds later, Carr ran 45 yards to glory to give the Miners another touchdown, making the score 27-24.

As the clock showed 15.5 seconds, Max Heim gave the Hurricanes their first passing touchdown as he found Castllo for a seven-yard touchdown making the score 34-24. With 0.8 seconds left, Dante Carr threw an interception as both teams headed off to the locker room for halftime.

The second half did not contain a lot of scoring as the defense started to come to life. Logan Goad of Schuylkill Haven ran 27 yards to make the score 41-24 with 10:36 remaining on the clock. Carr once again lowered the Battlin’ Miners deficit as he used his legs for an eight-yard touchdown, which made the score 41-31.

In the final minute of the third quarter, Reber used his legs once again for another touchdown. That made the score 48-31 in favor of Schuylkill Haven going into the last frame of the game. Until 2:07 left in the game, nothing happened in the fourth quarter as Brandon Adams of Minersville recovered a fumble. Matthew Dube got his only touchdown of the night with 42.8 seconds remaining as Carr found him for a 32-yard passing touchdown. That would make the score 48-38, which was the final score.

LaPoint also broke the all-time receiving yards record at Minersville. The previous record was held by Gabe Davis (2017-2020) who had 1613 yards. Carr is spending his weekend at Orlando as the Central Florida commit is going on a visit to the Knights game as they face North Carolina.

Minersville falls to 3-2 after facing two tough teams whereas Schuylkill Haven goes to 5-0. The Battlin’ Miners travel to Marian Catholic on Saturday night. The Hurricanes travel to Williams Valley on Friday.

UCF Football commit Dante Carr and Williams Valley Brady Shomper, two of the best quarterbacks in Schuylkill County, went up against each other on Friday night in Minersville. In a game that consisted of back and forth scoring, the Vikings won 43-40 over the Battlin’ Miners.

To start the game, Carr threw an interception on the opening drive. Williams Valley had no problem scoring on that possession when Shomper found Blazer Lords in the end zone. Two plays later, Carr found Paiten LaPoint to tie the game up at seven with 5:56 left in the first quarter. Near the end of the quarter, Fletcher Thompson ran his way into the end zone to give the Vikings a 14-7 lead. With 7:26 left in the second quarter, Carr scrambled into the end zone to tie the game at 14. Shomper was pushed into the end zone by his team, along with a converted two-point conversion with less than two minutes remaining in the half.

To start the second half, Shomper got six more points to increase the Williams Valley lead to 29-14. In the final parts of the third quarter, Carr found Matthew Dube wide open in the end zone on a fourth and 11 to lessen the Viking lead to 29-20. Jordan Bowers of Minersville kicked an onside kick right after the touchdown and the Battlin’ Miners took the ball back.

That would get the game into the wildest fourth quarter I have seen in a while. Less than fifteen seconds into the quarter, Carr scrambled for a Battlin’ Miner touchdown to make the score 29-26. Another Williams Valley touchdown by Shomper increased their lead to 36-26. On the following drive for Minersville, Carr fired a long ball to Derek Derenzo to once again lower the Vikings lead to 36-33. Less than a minute after that, Thompson ran his way into the end zone to make the score 43-33 in favor of his Vikings. Carr ran into the end zone once again to score his sixth touchdown of the night to shorten Williams Valley’s lead again, but this time to 43-40. Bowers kicked his second successful onside kick and Minersville took the ball back with 3:25 left in the game. On a fourth and 20, Carr had to sit out due to his helmet coming off, so Derenzo was quarterback for the play. He (Derenzo) evaded a Viking but he is stopped eight yards short where the Vikings kneeled the game out and left Minersville with a 43-40 victory.

Minersville falls to 3-1, and has another big test next week on Thursday night at Schuylkill Haven (4-0) where the Hurricanes are known for their backfield. Williams Valley improves to 4-0 and will travel to Hegins on September 19th to take on the Tri-Valley Bulldogs (3-1).