MOUNTAIN TOP-Despite all of the injuries suffered at key positions on a roster that isn’t very deep, Berwick still has plenty to play for entering the final week of the regular season. The Bulldogs are starting to get healthy up front, and that paid immediate dividends in a 24-8 win over Crestwood. With the starting offensive line intact for the first time in over a month, Gavin Galutia proved to be the main beneficiary. Galutia rushed for 104 yards and three touchdowns, as Berwick took advantage of numerous short fields throughout the game.
“Good to have my boys back,” Galutia said of his offensive line. “Definitely my boys up front, we came together tonight. We definitely showed what we can do next week. I just give all the credit to my boys up front.”
The “next week” Galutia referred to will be a showdown against undefeated Dallas with the Wyoming Valley Conference Division 2 championship on the line. As for Friday night’s win, Galutia certainly got things off to a fast start. The senior capped off an efficient three-play, 52-yard drive on Berwick’ second possession. Gabe Decker started it with a 37-yard run, and Galutia finished it by crossing the goal line from six yards out with 3:32 left in the first quarter.
“It was the first time we’ve had the offensive line together since Week 3 against Wyoming Area, all five of those guys,” Berwick coach C.J. Curry said. “Obviously, it made a difference tonight. I’m really proud of their effort, all of our guys’ effort. I think we put together a pretty complete football game until the last couple of minutes.”
Berwick (5-4) got another short field following one of two critical defensive stands on the night. Facing a 4th and 2 and its own 38, Crestwood coach Ryan Arcangeli decided to roll the dice and go for it. It didn’t work out. Riley Wojciehowski was stopped for no gain, and it wouldn’t take long for the Bulldogs to capitalize. Jake Lisnock broke loose and a 26-yard run, then Galutia once again found the end zone, this time on a 12-yard sprint to paydirt, giving his team a 14-0 lead late in the opening quarter.
Crestwood (1-8) put together two promising second-quarter drives. One drive was stopped by a Shiloh Escobar interception in the end zone, and the other was thwarted literally on the final play of the first half. The Berwick sideline voiced its displeasure with the officiating on multiple occasions throughout the game. After a facemask, dead-ball personal foul, and second sideline warning resulted in three penalties on the same play, the Comets had a fourth-and-goal at the Berwick 2-yard line. Quarterback Teddy Taylor called his own number, but was stuffed well short of the goal line as the first-half clock expired.
“Great mentality from these guys,” Curry said. “They say shark mentality. Our linebackers coach, Coach (Colton) Sidler, he works like crazy with those guys. Our linebackers and and our defensive line are buying into it, they’ve gotten better as the year’s gone on. Our secondary is coming up, finally filling, making plays, getting more confidence. I think just playing together, gelling together. Those guys are just tough son-of-a-guns.”
Arcangeli once again took a chance that didn’t pay off to start the second half. The Comets narrowly missed recovering a surprise onsides kick, but they didn’t, and Berwick yet again was set up with great field position. On this drive, it would be all Galutia, almost running exclusively behind the right side of the offensive line. He would touch the ball on each of the six plays that totaled 50 yards, and he would complete his touchdown hat trick by scoring on a 2-yard run with 8:47 left in the third quarter.
“The message at halftime was to pound the rock, shut them out in the second half,” Galutia said. “The past couple of games, we weren’t such a good second-half team. We just brought our game in the second half tonight.”
Early in the fourth quarter, Berwick’s longest possession of the night was capped off when Caleb Yost kicked a 35-yard field goal, his longest of the season, extending the margin to 24-0 on the scoreboard. The key play on the drive was a 30-yard connection from Escobar to Decker on a well-executed play-action pass. Crestwood finally put points on the board with just under four minutes remaining. Taylor found Braylon Murray on a 27-yard scoring strike to break up the shutout. The ensuing onsides kick failed, Berwick effectively ran out the clock, and immediately began looking towards the matchup with Dallas next week.
“For the all the adversity that we’ve gone through, everything’s right in front of us,” Curry said. “It’s a big deal to win your conference, I believe that. You have to play Dallas, and you might have to play them back-to-back, however it goes in the playoffs. We won our first conference championship last year since 2017, and our guys liked that feeling. We fell short in districts, and they’ve let that drive them all season long, even though it hasn’t gone our way a lot of the time.”