PIAA Class 2A State Playoff Quarter-Final Preview: Executive Education Academy Charter Raptors vs Trinity Shamrocks 11.25.2022 7pm

Tagged under: District 11, District 3, News, Playoffs

Daniel Reed | November 25, 2022

PIAA CLASS 2A STATE QUARTER-FINAL
Executive Education Academy Charter Raptors(8-3) vs Trinity Shamrocks(9-4)

This may be one of the most interesting games on the slate this weekend. These two teams are mirror images of each other. EEAC is in their second year of playing football and loaded up with any team they could find to put on their schedule. They’ve played some tough teams like Jersey Shore, Upper Moreland and Tri-Valley, all three teams handed the Raptors their losses. Trinity too lined up a beating early on. They played Wyomissing, Roman Catholic and they also had Steelton Highspire on their schedule for their three losses. Both coaches have said those games helped their teams learn what “real competition” looks like.

Coming into this week’s matchup between the Raptors and the Shamrocks, both teams have been impressive posting win streaks of 4, and 5 games to keep their season alive. For the Raptors of EEAC, they come in winners of their last five games, including two surprise victories. They took down the District XI Class 2A #1 seed in Williams Valley in the opening round of districts 22-20, then just last week, the Raptors surprised even more when they took down a very good Lakeland team who was 12-0 and ranked #2 in the state at the time. EEAC defeated the Chiefs 42-15 to upset the District 2 #1 seed in the first round of the state tournament. All this in just their second year of playing football.

Trinity enters the contest winners of their last four games, averaging 48 points a game during the streak. In their opening round state playoff game, the Rocks took down a West Catholic team that has had a somewhat disappointing season to say the least 24 to 0. This is my first time covering Trinity, so I don’t have much information on them other than what the coach has told me as shown below. What I do know is that they can compete with anyone with Coach Hill leading the kids to believe in what wins games. Coach Jordan Hill, a high school football Class 1A state champion with Steelton-Highspire (who is also in the playoffs again this season in Class 1A), also a former Penn State player, and played 5 seasons in the NFL, evening winning a Super Bowl Championship with the Seattle Seahawks, eventually playing for 3 other teams during his time in the NFL. But this isn’t about the coach right…. It’s all about the kids that are playing and the kids on the team look to his leadership and insight to what wins games.

Coaches Talk:

EEAC(Larry Ford) – Getting the kids bought in is definitely what has us primed for success. Last year was a struggle with so many things, just making them believe that we can do great things is what has them striving for success. They believe and know we can win, without that mentality we will lose. A few players such as Darmel Lopez, Jyhmiek Roman, Matthew Martinez and Anthony Roman has fueled our success. The guys are bought in.

Trinity(Jordan Hill) – The two major keys for our success is the rushing game and the kids playing for each other. Toward the end of the year, we started playing for each other and not for stats. That made us better on every level. E.E.A.C. is very good, they have a talented QB who will extend plays far more then a defense would like. They are very athletic and play with an edge.

The Raptors are led by quarterback Darmel Lopez. As he goes, so go the Raptors. Darmel is a strong, athletic player and has thrown for nearly 2,000 yards, completing half of his 225 tosses. EEAC has run for 939 yards and it’s by committee. Lopez, Zamiel Perkins and Anthony Roman have each run for 200 yards. The receiving corps are strong. Jyhmiek Roman leads the way with 32 catches for over 500 yards and 6 scores. Yound, Emery Plummer are also among Lopez’s targets. The Raptors defense is opportunistic yet they’re a bend but don’t break type of team having won 5 games by less than a td.

Trinity will counter with quarterback Caleb Wray. The junior signal caller has thrown for over 1000 yards. This is a team that’s hitting it’s stride on offense, scoring over 50 points in it’s last 3 of 4 games. Last week they struggled a bit with a West Catholic defense that shut down the Shamrock run game. Trinity too is a run by committee team. Freshman Messiah Mickens and Max Schlager have combined for over 1400 yards on the ground. The line for the Shamrocks is solid and can make a path for the run game when needed. Defensively look out for Schlager. The 6-1, 200 pound linebacker is a force all over the field. Jacob Ness and Tucker Paynter make for a great linebacking corp that is tough to penetrate.

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