HS Football: Schuylkill Haven storms past Pine Grove
Schuylkill Haven quarterback Max Heim (Photo by Leroy Boyer)
SCHUYLKILL HAVEN — Schuylkill Haven’s offensive arsenal, whether it was the run or the pass, was on full power again Friday evening.
Senior Niko Castillo scored five touchdowns, while senior quarterback Max Heim threw four TD passes and added another on the ground during the Hurricanes’ 72-0 rout of Pine Grove in a Schuylkill-Colonial League Blue Division contest at Rotary Field.
Castillo and Heim hooked up for scoring plays covering 10, 18 and 35 yards. Castillo scored the Hurricanes’ first touchdown of the game on 15-yard run and added a 98-yard scoring run just before halftime as Schuylkill Haven (8-0, 7-0 Blue) build a 60-0 lead at intermission.
Heim was 4-of-5 passing, with all four of his completions going for touchdowns. In addition to his three scores to Castillo, Heim added a 51-yard touchdown pass to senior running back Colton Reber. Heim also scored from 1 yard out for the Hurricanes’ second touchdown of the game.
Reber continued his impressive season running the ball, rushing for 178 yards on only eight carries, scoring on a 70-yard touchdown run. He now has 1,514 yards on the year.
Schuylkill Haven’s reserves got into the scoring act, too, as sophomore Bradyn Diehl (1 yard) and freshman Brayden Shappell (5 yards) had touchdowns in the second half to set the final.
The Hurricanes finished the night with 549 yards of total offense, including 435 on the ground. Schuylkill Haven also ran two plays out from the wildcat formation, resulting in two touchdowns.
“We made the best of the situation,” Schuylkill Haven coach Mike Farr said. “We did some good things in the passing game. We got into some formations I wanted to get a look at. That was good. I thought our defense played pretty good, other than the little bit of pass coverage. Overall, I thought everything was good.”
Defensively, Aaron Gilbert recovered two fumbles for Schuylkill Haven, both of which were caused by Castillo, while Logan Goad had an interception late in the first half that ended the best scoring opportunity Pine Grove (1-7, 1-6) had in the game.
The Hurricanes held the Cardinals to minus-3 yards rushing. Pine Grove quarterback Wyatt Dixon was 2-of-5 passing for 46 yards, with both completions going to Teagan Schneck-Haines.
Schuylkill Haven ran only 18 offensive plays in the first half. Eight of them went for touchdowns. The Hurricanes also converted four successful two-point attempts – three runs and a pass – after their first four scores of the game.
“I probably should be going for two every time,” Farr said. “When (Niko) Carestia went down, I thought ‘OK, we won’t go for two as much and we will just kick them.’ We just went for two to try and stay aggressive as much as we could. Once it started to get out of hand, that’s when we started to kick.”
Reber’s first run of the game went for 46 yards. Three plays later, Castillo went around left end from 15 yards out.
Schuylkill Haven’s next drive was its longest of the half, play-wise. It went six plays, covered 59 yards, and was finished by Heim’s 1-yard run after a fake to Reber.
A Castillo forced fumble and recovery by Gilbert set up the Hurricanes’ next score at the Pine Grove 16-yard line. The two-play drive ended on Heim shuffle pass to Castillo for 10 yards that made it 24-0 after the two-point conversion.
Schuylkill Haven ran just six offensive plays in the second quarter as the Hurricanes opened up their passing game. Heim hooked up with Reber for 51 yards, and then twice to Castillo for 18 and 35 yards.
Schuylkill Haven then went to the wildcat formation for its final two scores of the half. Reber had the first touchdown out of the formation, covering 70 yards around right end.
Pine Grove followed with its best offensive possession of the night.
Logan Troup had a 25-yard run on the first play of the drive. Four plays later on a 4-and-18 at the Schuylkill Haven 38, Dixon hooked up with Schneck-Haines for 24 yards that put the ball at the 14.
But two plays later, Goad was in front of the intended receiver and picked off the pass at the goal line. He ran out to the 2-yard line with 24.3 seconds left in the half.
But that was more than enough time for the second wildcat formation play. Castillo got the call this time, went around right end, and scored from 98 yards out to finish off the half.
Schuylkill Haven has now outscored its opponents 429-114 this season and entered Friday as the No. 1 ranked team in Class AA in Pennsylvania. But the lofty ranking doesn’t matter much to Farr and isn’t discussed week-to-week.
“We just focus on us,” Farr said. “We still haven’t played a clean game. Our first two drives tonight, we were getting leakage at the point of attack. We are still not clean. We have a lot of work to do.
“I don’t talk to my guys about being No. 1. I talk to my guys about here’s where we are at, critique the film, we know what we need to get better at, we get our practice schedule for the week, and these are the indies, and these are the things we need to better, and then try to take care of their bodies.”
Game Summary
Schuylkill Haven 72, Pine Grove 0
PG (1-6, 1-5) 0 0 0 0 — 0
SH (7-0, 6-0) 24 36 6 6 — 72
SH — Castillo 15 run (Reber run)
SH — Heim 1 run (Goad run)
SH — Castillo 10 pass from Heim (Reber run)
SH — Reber 51 pass from Heim (Reber pass from Heim)
SH — Castillo 18 pass from Heim (Fessler kick)
SH — Castillo 35 pass from Heim (Fessler kick)
SH — Reber 70 run (Fessler kick)
SH — Castillo 98 run (Fessler kick)
SH — Diehl 1 run (No attempt)
SH — Shappell 5 run (No attempt)
Team Statistics
PG-SH
First Downs — 3 20
Rushes-Yards — 28-(-3) 35-435
Passes — 2-5-1 4-5-0
Passing Yards — 43 114
Total Yards — 71 549
Fumbles/Lost — 2-0 0-0
Penalties — 1-5 3-15
