Philadelphia, Pa., Archbishop Wood completely turned the tables on Allentown Central Catholic’s fortunes with a resounding 70-14 win in the eastern final and a berth in the AAA championship game next week. ACC dominated this game last year 49-27 at Bethlehem while on their way to a state championship.
If there was any doubt about the outcome of this game it was decided almost immediately when Wood took the opening kickoff and scored in four plays highlighted by Desmon Peoples (Rutgers) 45 yard run to the ACC 7 yard line. His cousin Brandon Peoples (Temple) scored on the next play and the drive took only a little over a minute to execute.
Last year’s star in this game and the AAA state player of the year Brendan Nosovitch (South Carolina) came into this game with assorted injuries and suffered a slight ankle sprain in their win last week against Shamokin. His mobility was not the same as in last year’s game where he ran for 196 yards. However Wood’s defense was much improved and defensive coordinator Mike Carey dialed up plays designed to flush Nosovitch out of the pocket and rush many of his throws. From the outset, the plan was to execute the quick no huddle offense to keep Wood off balance but it appeared that Wood was able to adjust to anything Central’s high flying offense would generate. At the same time they were punting enough times and not able to give their defense any rest versus Wood’s running attack.
By the start of the second quarter Brandon Peoples took a Joe Monaghan screen pass and went 53 yards down to the ACC 1 before Monaghan snuck in for the TD making it a 35-0 Wood lead with still over 11 minutes left in the first half. By this time both Peoples combined for four touchdowns and in addition to the horses up front blocking, Wood’s speed around the edge and off tackle was virtually no match for what ACC was doing on the defensive end.
Up 41-14 to start the half Wood picked up where they left off when Nate Smith returned a punt 73 yards on a highlight reel run for a touchdown absolutely putting an end to ACC’s great run.
Brandon Peoples ended his night with 136 yards on 10 carries and 3 touchdowns. His cousin, Desmon had 12 carries for 182 yards and 2 touchdowns. All this work was generated in the first half while both sat out the second stanza.
Allentown Central ends their season at 9-6 with some great offensive games and a suspect defense. Gulyas had 9 receptions for 75 yards and a TD while Jalen Snyder-Scipio had 7 for 119 and a touchdown.
Notes: Desmon Peoples came up limping after his 77 yard touchdown in the second quarter. He did not return. The offensive line led by Frank Taylor (Boston College), Brandon Arcidiacono (Rutgers), Brandon’s brother Nick, Colin Thompson (Florida), Fran Walsh and George Griffin were outstanding in opening holes for the Peoples cousins.
Scoring By Quarters
1st Quarter
AW: Brandon Peoples: 7 yard run: PAT: Nick Visco: 10:35
AW: Brandon Peoples: 8 yard run: PAT: Nick Visco: 6:47
AW: Desmon Peoples: 2 yard run: PAT: Nick Visco: 4:20
AW: Brandon Peoples: 70 yard run: PAT: Nick Visco: 2:28
2nd Quarter
AW: Joe Monaghan: 1 yard run: PAT: Nick Visco: 11:55
ACC: Kevin Gulyas: 8 yard pass from Brendan Nosovitch: PAT: Tim DiGiacomo: 10:33
AW: Desmon Peoples: 77 yard run: PAT: Blocked: 4:19
ACC: Jalen Snyder-Scipio: 18 yard pass from Nosovitch: PAT: Tim DiGiacomo: : 50
3rd Quarter
AW: Nate Smith: 62 yard punt return: PAT: Nick Visco: 10:54
AW: Ryan McMullin: 34 yard run: PAT: Nick Visco: 8:36
AW: Ryan McMullin: 11 yard run: PAT: Nick Visco: 3:14
4th Quarter
AW: Josh Messina: 81 yard run: PAT: Nick Visco: 2:14
4 Responses
Congratulations to Wood. Definitely the better team. Our whole defensive coaching staff should be totally embarrassed. You would have thought that they would have seen this coming but as was the case all year they didn’t play any defense and why should last night be any different. Good luck against McDevitt. Enjoy the game dog.
as an acc alum its unfortunate nosovitch and gulyas go out on such an embarassing note but nothing can take away their careers, i was honored to watch them the last 3 years it was incredible. as for wood, that line is ridiculous with a strength and speed combo i havent seen before they were amazing, best of luck next week, they will represent the east very well
First, Congrats to ACC on a great year. They had a great run over the few years and well deserved. PA football will surely miss watching Nosovitch and Guylus next year- both great players to watch. It was obvious Nosovitch was not his normal self, but injuries are part of the game, just like last year when Wood’s best player was hurt. Nosovitch will be a force at SC for sure.
But the bottom line in this game was complete domination in every facet of the game. Realistically, Wood could have put 100 points on the board if they wanted.This Wood team is a special team, with almost no holes on offense or defense. ACC had 9 in the box and dared Wood to run, and well, they did. For those that criticized Mike Carey on the board the other day you are clueless. His offensive blocking scheme was brilliant. His defensive scheme was absolutely incredible. He went to a 3-5 defense, and was constantly dropping lineman into coverage, blitzing LB’s or CB’s and never allowed ACC offense to get on track. To hold ACC offense to 14 points is pretty amazing. Nosovitch looked uncomfortable for most of the game in the pocket, and took a lot of hard hits. I watched a replay of the game this morning and the size and athleticism of Wood’s offensive line is scary, almost college-like. Their lineman were blocking 10-12 yards down field on a consistent basis. I know many had said Wood has not played an offense like ACC all year, and that very well may be the case. But honestly, ACC has not seen a defense like Wood’s with playmakers and athletes all over the field. There was never a threat of a big deep ball all game. Wood had way too much speed.
For Wood, though, anything less than a victory over Mcdevitt, would be a failed season.
Lest anyone be confused, Nosovitch’s assorted minor bumps and bruises had nothing to do with this games outcome. Wood is easily the best AAA team in the east bracket (BY FAR) and they displayed that by literally destroying their side of the bracket. It’ll be interesting to see how Noah Spence and McDevitt attempt to deal with the monster. But hey, no one will talk about the match ups. This week the whiners will be talking of 2 catholic schools in the finals and how its soooooo unfair. Well, the PIAA can fix some of it by bagging its non-sensical transfer rules. If a kid’s family buys a home or pays rent in a school district, the kid should have access to ALL extracurriculars…no matter what those WPIAL control freaks say.