Crestwood celebrates after defeating Bonner-Prendie 21-14 last Saturday in the PIAA Class 4A state semifinals. The Comets face District 3 power Bishop McDevitt in the semifinals at 7 p.m. Friday at Exeter Township High School in Reading.
Fred Adams | For Times Leader
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It doesn’t matter who the Crestwood Comets play.
Whether it’s either team in the other semifinal — Allentown Central Catholic and Aliquippa — or tonight’s opponent Bishop McDevitt, the opposition is going to be an extremely talented football team.
McDevitt, though, might be the best of the four teams still left in the PIAA Class 4A state playoffs as District 2 champion Crestwood (13-1) plays the District 3 champion Crusaders (11-1) at 7 p.m. at Exeter Township High School in Reading.
The two semifinals winners play at 7 p.m. Thursday at Cumberland Valley High School for the state championship.
“At this point in the game, they’re all good,” Crestwood coach Ryan Arcangeli said. “If we were on the other side of the bracket dealing with ACC or Aliquippa, that would be a tough task either way.”
It doesn’t matter where you start when analyzing District 3 champion McDevitt, be it the tip of the iceberg or the entire iceberg. The Crusaders are loaded with Division I college football talent on both sides of the ball.
The biggest piece is sophomore quarterback Stone Saunders, whose father is the strength and conditioning coach for the Baltimore Ravens. Saunders already has 16 Division I offers according to 247sports.com, including two from the nation’s top-ranked teams in Georgia and Michigan.
Saunders is a complete package. He sets up quickly, has a lightning-quick release and delivers accurate lasers to his receivers. He has 46 TD passes this season. He throws to a pair of 1,000-yard receivers in Rico Smith and Tyshawn Russell. Smith has 15 offers, including Auburn, Michigan and Penn State. Russell has drawn interest from South Carolina and Virginia Tech.
The duo is so talented that McDevitt will occasionally go max protection and let Smith and Russell carve up the secondary by themselves.
McDevitt can also run the ball with Marquese Williams, who has decided to play at Minnesota after receiving 27 Division I offers. Gabriel Arena, a Virginia Tech recruit, anchors a huge offensive line.
There is plenty of Division I talent on the other side of the ball as well. McDevitt will use a 4-4 defense and won’t do anything particularly exotic out of it because there is little need to do so.
James Madison commit Riley Robell and sophomore Tay’Qujuan Hughes are a pair of defensive tackles who reside in the 300-pound neighborhood. Arcangeli has been impressed by the duo’s ability to more than just create stalemates to allow teammates to make tackles. Both are agile, strong and quick enough to get into the backfield. Robell has a team-leading 22.5 tackles for loss.
Linebackers Maurice Barnes and Kade Werner also have a few Division I programs expressing interest.
McDevitt dominated Manheim Central so greatly 40-0 last week that Manheim Central coach Dave Hahn said to LancasterOnline.com after the loss, “Bottom line, we got beat by a very good 6A team. I mean 4A. Did I slip there? You can print that.”
Crestwood will enter the game an underdog for the first time since a Week 2 loss to Dallas. The Comets run a unique offense with the single wing. It’s a throwback, run-oriented scheme where either 2,000-yard running back Noah Schultz or 1,000-yard quarterback Jaden Shedlock takes the snap.
“Even the last game of our season against North Pocono and going into Nanticoke and Berwick the second time, everybody has had a little different way to approach us,” Arcangeli said. “Certainly Valley View in our district game and then Bonner last week, the defenses get better and better against us. And our defense has done the same getting better and better against different teams.”
Crestwood’s offense was fine in the first half of last week’s 21-14 victory over Bonner-Prendie. The Comets scored three times and Schultz had 136 yards on 13 carries. The second half … not so much.
Schultz netted 2 more yards on 11 second-half rushes. The Comets had just one first down and totalled 14 yards. Their biggest play was a 4-yard run and six of their 16 plays went for negative yardage or no gain.