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Achenbach and Williams Valley stampede over Catasaqua

Tagged under: District 11, Gameday Hub, News, pfn, Playoffs

| November 5, 2023

Photos by Dawn Daub

Williamstown-  In what turned out to be a very special Saturday night for Williams Valley’s Alex Achenbach (36 rushes, 295 yds, 3TD), the Roughriders seemed to have no answer for the prolific ball carrier from Tower City.  Not only did Alex help propel his team to a playoff victory and berth into the District 11 2A finals vs Schuylkill Haven, but he also broke the career record for rushing yards and touchdowns at Williams Valley during this playoff matchup.

To start off the evening, Catasauqua received the opening kickoff and did not waste any time testing the Vikings defense.  On their first play from scrimmage Roughrider QB Aiden Hess (12-28, 152 yds, 1 TD, 2 INT) uncorked a deep shot down the middle of the field which was hauled in by Jordan Bradshaw (2 rec, 63 yds) who was finally brought down at the Vikings’ 14 yardline.

Two plays later Hess would find Ian Juica (6 rec, 66 yds, 1 TD) for the first touchdown of the game putting Catty up 7-0 with 11:02 left in the 1st quarter.

The following drive for Williams Valley would end in disaster as the Vikings would fumble on their first offensive play from scrimmage and give the ball right back to Catty in their own territory.  The Viking defense would stand tall this time however and force a turnover on downs and get the ball back to their offense.  This drive would only fair marginally better as the 2nd snap of this drive was fumbled and then recovered by the Roughrider defense.  The Williams Valley defense would once again come up huge and force a 3 and out for the Catty offense.  On the ensuing Vikings’ possession their offense finally began to click.  The drive started with an Achenbach run, but then a deep shot through the air by Achenbach to Kian Krzyzanowski really put the Vikings’ offense in business at the Roughrider 14.  Four plays later Vikings’ QB Brady Shomper would sneak the ball across the goal-line for the Vikings’ first score of the game.  The extra point was no good and with 4:48 left in the opening quarter, Williams Valley trailed Catasauqua 6-7.

The following offensive possession would see the Williams Valley defense force the Roughrider offense go 3 and out.  Williams Valley would start their next possession at their own 16 and proceed to go on a methodical, 9 play, 84 yard drive which was capped off by a 15 yard touchdown pass from Shomper (1-1, 15 yds, 1 TD) to Kian Krzyzanowski (3 rec, 67 yds, 1 TD) with just under 11 minutes left in the first half.  The 2 point try would be successful and would give the Vikings the lead 14-7.

In response, Catasauqua would go on their own long drive of 13 plays, but end up coming away empty handed after being forced to punt.  The punt would pin the Vikings just inside their own 5 yardline to being their next offensive series.  The Vikings would be able to get the ball out of the shadow of their own endzone but not much more than that.  The Roughriders would force a Viking punt and then with just under a minute to go before half start a drive of their own.  Hess moved the Catty offense down the field through the air, but with time running out on the first half,  he would be intercepted by Achenbach who would almost turn the interception into a pick-6.  After zig-zagging his way down the field after intercepting the Hess pass, Achenbach attempted a lateral deep in Roughrider territory that fell to the ground and was eventually recovered by Catasauqua.  The teams would head to the locker-room after this final frenzy of action to end the half with Williams Valley leading Catasauqua 14-7.

Williams Valley would receive the 2nd half opening kick and Achenbach would go straight to work.  His first carry of the half would be stuffed by the Catasauqua defense, however his 2nd rushing attempt of the half a few plays later would see him take it to the house after throwing a vicious stiff arm on a 57 yard touchdown run which would break the all-time rushing record at Williams Valley and put the Vikings up 20-7.

The ensuing Roughrider offensive drive would see running back Hunter Reitz (12 rush, 89 yds) break off a huge 40 yard run which set up the Roughies at the Williams Valley 15.  Three plays later Catasauqua would appear to fumble the handoff  to Chad Beller (1 TD) which seemed to be recovered by Achenbach in the endzone, however the play was deemed to be a touchdown for Catasauqua and would bring the score to 20-14 in favor of the Vikings with just over 7 minutes left in the 3rd quarter.

The ensuing kickoff would be returned by Williams Valley’s Kian Krzyzanowski all the way to the Catasauqua 47.  Achenbach would take it from there and 6 rushes later he would find paydirt  on an 8 yard rush around the left side of the Roughrider defense to stretch Vikings’ the lead to 12 with 3:38 left in the 3rd quarter. The scamper in to the endzone would make Achenbach the all-time touchdown leader at Williams Valley.

After forcing the Catty offense to go 3 and out on their next possession, the Viking offense would quickly find the endzone again via the ground game.  Marcus Shoop would start off the drive with a 12 yard run off left tackle and then Achenbach would rip off consecutive big runs and cap the drive off with a 9 yard touchdown run right up the gut to give Williams Valley a 34 – 14 lead after a successful 2 point conversion attempt with just under a minute remaining in the 3rd quarter.

The following Catasauqua drive would span over in to the 4th quarter where Hess would be picked off on 3rd down and long by Viking defensive back Blazer Lords at the Viking 33 yardline.  The ensuing Viking possession would see Achenbach, Shoop, and Shomper all run the ball and chew up valuable clock as Williams Valley tried to put away Catasauqua.  The Roughriders would finally get a stop 4th down and cause a turnover on downs after a prolonged 13 play drive by the Viking offense.  Hess and the Roughrider offense took to the air and completed 7 of 9 passes on their next drive which was capped off by a 10 yard touchdown run by Hess to bring the score to 34-20 in favor of the Vikings with 1:24 left in the game after an unsuccessful 2 point try.

The Roughies would attempt an onside kick to try to salvage their season, but the Vikings were ready and pounced on the ball, sealing their berth in to the District 11 2A Championship game after taking a few knees in the victory formation.

After this evening’s match-up I was able to speak with Alex Achenbach who when asked about the victory and the records he now holds said, “It honestly means a lot, to start off ya know Kain gave up that big play, but he buckled down, kept his head up and didn’t get down on himself and I really respect that.   The defense really stepped up, we gave up 14 points all around, we schemed for 50, the o-line and fullbacks were getting on him they were doing really well.” “I’m really thankful for the line, coaching staff, everybody helping and supporting me especially Dylan Rabuck, the previous holder.  He’s been pushing me all season, he’s a big part of this record I’m very thankful for him.”

After speaking with Alex I was able to get a few words with Williams Valley’s head football coach Stephen Sedesse who when asked about the win and records being broken tonight said, “Ya know, when we came in to the game we knew we had a little bit of a size disadvantage ya know up front. We preached that they had a real good line backer number 50, we preached that we had to get a body on him. We aren’t going to be able to always block him, but we had to slow him down to give Alex some room.” As for the records, “It’s impressive and it’s all deserved, hard work, dedication ya know. The guy he beat out helped him get to this point.  That’s what’s awesome about Williams Valley, the pride, ya know it seems that every time a record is broken it was previously held by a coach on our staff. It’s awesome to see that community and hopefully that will continue.  Hopefully after Alex has a great college career he can come back and help us out too.

The loss for Catasauqua brings their record to 6-5 on the year and leaves them waiting for their annual Thanksgiving Day matchup vs The Konkrete Kids of Northampton who themselves are still alive in the District 11 6A playoffs and will face off against Nazareth on Friday Nov. 10th.  The victory for Williams Valley sets them up for a rematch on Saturday Nov. 11th with Schuylkill Haven who the Vikings lost to earlier in the year by a score of 24-21 away at Schuylkill Haven.

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