Collier Collars The Vikings over Southern Lehigh
Tagged under: District 1, District 12, Gameday Hub, News
Mark Carfagno | November 25, 2019
The Wood defense dominated for the Spartans all night. PIC Kathy Leister Click picture to purchase photos from this game
Southern Lehigh’s Asher Smith entered Friday’s PIAA 5 A quarterfinal against Archbishop Wood with a school record 2,442 yards during the 2019 season. The Spartans also entered the game with a 6 game winning streak while averaging 50.1 points during the streak. The Vikings and their defense led by Shane Collier certainly were ready for the run dominant Spartans. As a team Southern Lehigh ran the ball 46 times for just 156 yards for 3.4 average per carry. Smith did get 76 ground yards on 18 totes but it was nowhere near enough in the Spartans 41-7 loss to the Vikings.
Collier who had 14 tackles with 12 of the solo variety and 2 for losses including sack at linebacker said his success was a result of some great scouting by the Wood staff. “I was told to watch their guards by our coaches . If they told me once they told me a thousand times. The movement of the guards gave me a good idea which direction the play was going”. He obviously listened as did his fellow linebacker Thomas Pomponi who had 13 tackles .
Wood received the opening kickoff and marched 80 yards on 12 plays the last being a 6 yard run by Cardel Pigford which lit the scoreboard for the first time. The longest play of the drive was a 21 yard run by Kaelin Costello . Costello would later add 2 TD bursts and finished the evening with 130 yards on just 11 carries. The Vikings increased their lead to 14-0 in the second quarter on one of Costello’s runs. Collier who plays some running back in short down situations closed out the first half scoring on a one yard run. Collier would later score on another short run in the third quarter after Smith got the Spartans on the board with a 2 yard jaunt to trim the lead 21-0.
Pigford 6 TD run @ArchbishopWood 7 @SolehiSpartans
0 @PaFootballNews pic.twitter.com/iTRrZEYohH— Mark A. Carfagno (@markcarf) November 23, 2019
Leading 28-7 late in the third stanza Wood QB Max Keller connected with Andrew McHugh for a 35 yard TD strike. Costello would close the scoring on his second run to pay turf in the fourth period. Keller would pass 5-8- 99- TD, while the Vikings as a team ran 32 for an impressive 301 yards averaging almost 10 yards per carry, Pigford ran 12-86. McHugh caught three balls for 57 yards. The Spartans passed just 6-11- 46 yards. Cam Fisher was SL’s leader snagging three for 40 yards. Hughes led the Spartans in tackles with 7 , he was followed by Fisher and Riley Craft with 6 while Michael Bonder notched 5. Logan Shorb had an interception for the Spartans.
Archbishop Wood will advance to the Semi-Finals on Friday taking on Gateway at Mansion Park in Altoona PA. at 1 pm
Score by quarters: 1. 2. 3. 4. Total
Southern Lehigh 0 0 7 0 7
Archbishop Wood 7 14 14 6 41
Scoring Plays:
Wood: Cardel Pigford 6 run. Rob Meyer kick
Wood: Kaelin Costello 4 run. Meyer kick
Wood: Shane Collier 1 run. Meyer kick
SL: Asher Smith 2 run. Christian Colasurdo kick
Wood: Collier 1 run. Meyer kick
Wood: Andrew McHugh 35 pass from Max Keller. Meyer kick
Wood: Costello 32 run. Kick fail
Team Stats: Southern Lehigh Archbishop Wood
First Downs: 10 16
Rushes- yards: 46- 152 32-301
Passing Yards: 46 99
Total Offense: 198 400
Comp- Att- Int 6-12-0 5-8-1
Return Yards: 51 61
Punts- Avg. 3- 29.3 1- 34.o
Fumbles Lost: 1 0
Penalties-yards 6 – 65 11-121
Follow PA Football News on Twitter @PaFootballNews
You must be logged in to post a comment.