Wood races to state title

HERSHEY » Gateway quarterback Brady Walker was hurried, hit and under pressure.

Right from the start, he and the rest of the Gators appeared to be stuck on dry land.

“We just knew we had to get on them all night — early and often,” Archbishop Wood’s Bill Shaeffer said of a defense that put the squeeze on Gateway in this PIAA Class 5A State Final. “We just had to keep coming after them.

“We knew their quarterback wasn’t too tall — probably like 5-foot-10. We have two big D-ends — Kyle Pitts and I. He’s 6-6 and I’m 6-5. We just tried to get our hands up, knock the balls out and get in the way of the passing lanes.”

Shaeffer played volleyball at the line of scrimmage, knocking down three passes and adding a sack as part of a dominant defensive effort Friday night for the Vikings.

Wood allowed just five first downs in the opening half, allowing the Vikings to run away to a mercy-rule lead at the break and a 49-14 victory in the 5A Final, earning the program its second straight state title and fifth overall.

“Every year is exciting, because when you see a bunch of high school kids act and react like this right now,” said Vikings coach Steve Devlin, as his team danced and celebrated and passed around a giant Hershey bar at midfield, “and the sacrifice and the effort and the hard work that they put in and it means that much to them, it means that much to me.”