When Running Back Desmond Peoples was injured for Archbishop Wood, another Peoples had to step in at the position.
Enter Cousin Brandon Peoples.
After 130 yard effort two weeks ago against Dobbins Tech in the District 12 Championship Game, Peoples torched Strath Haven for 222 yards on 34 carries and two touchdowns in a 24-14 victory over the Panthers in the PIAA AAA Eastern Semi-Final at Coatesville’s Multi-Purpose Stadium Friday Night.
Peoples opened the scoring with 7:25 to play in the first quarter as he scored on a one yard run that capped a 59 yard 10 play drive. Peoples had a run of 33 yards in the drive and Wood converted both a third down and a fourth down play in the drive. Nick Visco added the extra point as Wood took a 7-0 lead. Visco would add a 26 yard field goal with 23 seconds to play in the first quarter as Wood took a 10-0 lead.
Strath Haven’s Brent Collins then returned the kickoff 65 yards to the Viking 23 yard line. Thurman Fortune (21 carries 93 yards) needed just two plays from there as he scampered 21 yards on the first play of the second quarter to cut the Viking lead to 10-7.
Wood then increased the lead 17-7 when quarterback Joe Monaghan sneaked in from the one yard line on Wood’s next possession.
The second story of the night was the Wood defense.
Wood held the vaunted Strath Haven Wing-T running attack to 138 yards rushing and 253 total yards for the game. Every time Thurman tried to get going, there was always a Wood defender there to greet him.
On their first possession of the third quarter, Wood seemed poised to score another touchdown and put the game away. But the Panthers showed a little defense of their own and stopped Peoples on third down and was stopped on fourth down from inside the one yard line as he was met head on by Chaz Fisher.
Strath Haven, the Central League and District One champions took the ball on the half-yard line and drove it 99 yards as Collins went in from the five with 6:15 left in the third quarter. The big play in the drive was an 87 yard shovel pass from James Griffin to Alex Hisey that set the Panthers up first and goal on the Viking five yard line. Collins then needed just one play to once again cut the lead to three points, this time 17-14. Hisey kicked both extra points and also had a nice one-handed interception for the Panthers, who finish their season at 12-2.
Win the win Wood, who remained undefeated at 13-0 now faces District 11 Champion 14-0 Allentown Central Catholic, a 55-20 winner over District Nine champion Clearfield next week in a “Battle of the Vikings” for a berth in the PIAA Class AAA Football Championship game on the 17th of December.
31 Responses
JB, its VERY CLEAR to me you DID NOT READ my post. FOR IF YOU HAD, you would not have said O’Hara or West Catholic as I said AAAA teams. Besides, if I remember correctly, O’Hara got sent home with their tails between their legs a few years ago after playing in Cottingham. That was supposed to be a 2 year contract and O’Hara cancelled after 1 year. I said you could use Wood as the wash for Central but that was all. So once again we have the fact that somebody didn’t read the post correctly.
Ok so the matchup is simple, we got Wood vs ACC. Nothing to be said about both teams except they are both excellent teams. Trust me when I say anything can happen here in this game on friday night. Strath Haven is an excellent team too, but Wood has a dominate team. Coach Devlin has turn this program into a POWERHOUSE, no doubt. I have never seen ACC play. I do know though, you dont come this far to be a soft team. Im thinking it’s going to be like the Seilingsgrove vs Wood game again… it could go to either team.
@P-D, please, stop with the D11 LVC mancrush ….
Here goes ….. in on particular order
LaSalle
Wood
O’Hara
Roman
Judge
West Catholic
then comes Easton … maybe
Stop with “we were winning 7-3” …
From the middle of the second quarter to 1:39 left in the game Easton didn’t have a first down or cross midfield.
Easton had 67 yards of offense in the second half; the fact is, LaSalle could have left the field and Easton would not have scored.
People were impressed with Pacchioli; fact is, the kid was great at running for his life because his O line was a seive. By game’s end, I felt bad for the kid he could hardly walk.
Now, this is the LVC and D11 AAAA champ we’re talking about here.
They’re no better than the 7th best PCL team.
First off, 19-7 is HARDLY a butt whipping, especially when Easton led 7-3 at the half. You can’t turn the football over 3 times and expect to win either. That being said, I still believe with the realignment that the Suburban One had this year, that the LVC is the best AAAA Conference in the East. Tell me 6 teams in the AAAA Division that are better than the LVC. I will let you use Wood because they are AAA, same as Central (who is AA by numbers) but NO OTHER AAA. AA OR A team. Ryan, won 2 games. SJP, heard there was a mass defection there before the season. Judge, ok, beat Pocono Mountain West, who was destroyed in the EC Playoffs by Emmaus, who went 7-3 (lost to Liberty, Whitehall and Central) in the regular season and DID NOT qualify for districts. Roman, I’ll give my boy McCourt props. Did a nice job over there at his Alma Mater. But in the end, I’ll take the MEAT GRINDER of the LVC anyday and twice on Sundays.
We also lost another senior linebacker jacob scipio to kidney failure he’s in a wheel chair now on the side lines but our junior linebackers filled in nicely
D. Peoples will not play; book it.