Archbishop Wood has sights set on Unionville

POWERHOUSE WOOD STANDS BETWEEN UNIONVILLE AND HERSHEY

It was a bit of a rarity for Archbishop Wood football coach Steve Devlin.

Addressing the huddle after Wood’s dismantling of Wyoming Valley West in the state quarterfinals, Devlin talked about a game that wasn’t the next one on the schedule. It was just for a moment as he reminded the Vikings what they were playing for, but it was a break from the norm.

Of course, it was only a fleeting moment and Devlin got his guys’ attention right back on the present.

To get to Hershey, Wood still has to deal with a very capable District I champion Unionville in Friday’s PIAA 5A semifinal, set for 7 p.m. at Northeast High School.

“It’s all about execution,” Devlin said. “It comes down to assignment football, being tough, going and finishing blocks, winning the line of scrimmage and having that winning mentality.”

Wood comes into Friday’s game with a 10-2 record. Its only losses were a Week 2 defeat to New Jersey power Paramus Catholic and a Week 4 defeat at St Joe’s Prep. The Vikings’ eary season gauntlet also included a win over Oxbridge Academy in Florida and a Week 3 road win at another Garden State power in Bergen Catholic.

Wood also picked up a signature win in the regular season finale against La Salle.

Wood is first and foremost a rushing-based team. Nasir Peoples, a Virginia Tech recruit as a defensive back, has been tremendous as the lead running back this fall.

Following a standard set by his brother Brandon and cousin Desmon, both running backs at Wood and feature backs in more recent seasons like Jarret McClenton and Shawn Thompson, the senior has churned out 100-plus yard games consistently. Peoples, who also plays safety for Wood, was the PCL Red MVP this season and is coming off a 179yard effort in the state quarterfinals.

Wood also relies on bruising fullback Adrian Lambert, who demolished Wyoming Valley West’s 6-foot-2, 215-pound safety Rob Dwyer on a touchdown run Saturday,

and shifty tailback Chris Blackstone.

“Nasir is a great back, Adrian does a great job and Chris Blackstone is a good young back,” Devlin said. “Nasir is awfully special, but our offensive line is very good as well.”

Vikings starting quarterback Jack Colyar threw just three passes on Saturday, but he has solid targets should Wood need to throw. Tight end Kyle Pitts, who has verbally committed to Florida, is a matchup nightmare at 6-foot-6 with ridiculous athleticism and wideout Ryan Loughlin has plenty of speed.

As far as keeping focus on the next game up, Wood needed only look west. Harrisburg, the team the Vikings beat for the state title last year, was a popular pick to get back to Hershey for a rematch.

However, despite a loaded roster headlined by five-star prospect Micah Parsons, Harrisburg was stunned by Governor Mifflin in the District 3 semifinals. While the Wood players were aware of it, it only emboldened them to avoid a similar fate against Simon Gratz and last weekend with Wyoming Valley West.

“For us, it’s about Wood football,” Peoples said after rushing for two scores against the Spartans. “We have to go out each game and execute. We can’t look ahead.”

Wyoming Valley West had three players of more than 300 pounds on its offensive and defensive lines, and three linemen listed at 6-foot-5 with another 6-foot-6 but it was Wood’s lines that dominated up front.

Wood junior lineman Connor Bishop said the Vikings worked on fundamentals and used their depth to negate the Spartan’s size.

“We noticed they had a lot of guys going both ways and we’re usually able to stay pretty fresh,” Bishop said. “All game, we played physical and by beating them off the ball, it felt like we were able to wear them down as the game went on.”

Defensively, Pitts and Lafayette recruit Billy Schaffer play the end spots, Bishop, Tommy Walsh, Dylan Urbanowski and George Mazzacano play the tackles and seniors Tyler Smith and Delaware recruit Matt Palmer anchor the linebacker unit.

The Vikings respect Unionville, knowing a team doesn’t just win a District I title by luck. However, their focus will be where it always is, on themselves.

“It’s the same as any other week preparation-wise,” Bishop said. “We’ll learn what we can about Unionville and make sure we’re executing in practice then try to take that into the game with us.”

BOB RAINES — DIGITAL FIRST MEDIA Archbishop Wood running back Tahmir Barksdale shows disbelief when his touchdown run is called back for a penalty during Saturday’s game against Wyoming Valley West.