Archbishop Wood defeats Central Valley to reclaim AAA title

Written by: EasternPAFootball.com Staff on Saturday, December 13th, 2014. Follow EasternPAFootball.com Staff on Twitter.

To say Jarrett McClenton likes to play at Hersheypark Stadium may be an understatement. The Villanova-bound running back helped the Vikings, well, LED them to a 33-14 title defense against a Central Valley team that fought hard and wouldn’t go away. McClenton rushed for 235 yards on 25 carries and reached the end zone 4 times. Last year he had 2 scores on a 238 yard, two score effort. “Man, he makes blocking easy and I’m going to miss that,” said Penn State-bound lineman Ryan Bates. “We don’t have to hold our blocks long for him, he just squirts by so fast”.

The Vikings and McClenton got off to a super fast start. McClenton carried three times and 75 yards on the 4 play scoring drive to start the game. The point after wasn’t good so the lead was 6-0 just that quick, 1:30 into the game. “They do a great job every game, just opening up holes for me,” McClenton said. “I have a hole every time. I love every single one of (the seniors).”

Both teams exchanged punts and, with 3 minutes left in the first quarter the Wood offense got another quick score. This drive saw another weapon emerge in RB Alex Arcangeli. First a burst to the 21 for 29 yards and then he finished he drive with a 12 yard run. Again the point after failed but Wood led 12-0 going into the second quarter.

During the 29-yard run Central Valley star Jordan Whitehead was injured and eventually went to the locker room for attention. “Yeah, I went down hard on my arm and hurt something in my chest. It made it hard to breath most of the game.”

Apparently they had some excellent aspirin in the locker room because Whitehead did return with about 6 minutes remaining in the first half. An excellent punt pinned the Warriors deep at their 4 but the seemingly healed Whitehead bailed his team out on a 58 yard swing pass. B.J. Powell got them within striking distance with a key third down conversion reception but Whitehead would drop a sure td pass on 4th down. “I don’t know if it was the injury, but he led us all year so we give him that one,” said head coach Mark Lyons. “We just weren’t able to stop that running game of theirs.”

Central Valley got their only first half points on a 55 yard pick six by Brandon Wilson to end the half. “We’re about making plays,” Wood head coach Steve Devling said. “We were being aggressive. I knew our guys would come out in the second half and make plays.”

The play seemed to inspire the Warriors defense as they played tough to start the second half but eventually McClenton broke another run, this time a 51 yard sprint to get his team up 20-7.

QB John George gave a mighty effort escaping and scrambling Fran Tarkenton-like to pull his team back to within 6 points, finding Kurt Reinstadtler on a 55 yard td pass down the sideline.

That td play seemed to awaken the giant that was sleeping in Wood, and they responded immediately with a 15 yard McClenton, followed by another td, this one from Arcangeli, who also had a great night going 132 yards on 18 carries.

“This one was emotional, it’s the worst feeling,” Whitehead said. “Your senior year. Last game playing high school. Win or lose, it’s still sad. We lost, and there’s nothing we can do. I just enjoyed playing with all my friends.”

“This never doesn’t feel good. Every title feels as good as the last because it’s always a different group of kids you’re celebrating with,” said Devlin of his team’s 3rd title of 4 trips in a row to Hershey.