D-11 Football: Williams Valley rolls past Executive Education in AA quarters
Williams Valley coach Ben Ancheff talks to his squad after the Vikings beat Executive Education 42-13 in a District 11 Class AA quarterfinal Saturday night in Williamstown (Photo by Mike Carnahan).
WILLIAMSTOWN – Sophomore running back Fletcher Thompson scored on Williams Valley’s first offensive play of the game.
It was the beginning of another explosive offensive night for the Vikings.
Thompson ran for 163 yards and two touchdowns, senior quarterback Brady Shomper threw for 175 yards and two scores in a record-breaking night and Williams Valley cruised to a 42-13 romp of Executive Education Charter in a District 11 Class AA quarterfinal Saturday evening at Gerry Stauffenberg Field at Viking Stadium.
Thompson had 17 carries on the night and added a four-yard touchdown run early in the second quarter. He also turned a swing pass from Shomper into a 38-yard touchdown with 52 seconds left in the first half.
Shomper was 7-of-11 passing, with scores of 23 yards to Evan Achenbach and his 38-yarder to Thompson. The score to Thompson gave Shomper 67 career touchdown passes, breaking the school record previously held by Bryce Herb.
If that wasn’t enough, Shomper also ran for 80 yards and scored on runs of 1 and 13 yards.
“It was a great combo,” Shomper said of Thompson and him. “That’s how we keep teams on their toes. If you can run it down their throats, you can air it out all game. It makes things easy and that’s what’s great about our offense.”
In all, the No. 2-seeded Vikings (10-1) rolled up 469 yards of total offense and scored on all six of their first-half possessions. It was the eighth time this season Williams Valley scored 40 or more points in a game.
Williams Valley hosts No. 3 Minersville in the semifinals Saturday, Nov. 8, at 6 p.m. The Miners beat No. 6 Pen Argyl 35-27 in a quarterfinal-round game Saturday.
“Brady spread it around a little bit and Fletcher ran really hard,” Vikings’ coach Ben Ancheff said. “We had a good push up front and jumped on them really quick today.”
Yaseen Mirza had 133 yards rushing and two scores for the No. 7-seeded Raptors (6-4), who came into the playoffs on a five-game winning streak after a 1-3 start. Executive Education Charter used the hurry-up offense for most of the game and finished with 290 yards of offense but had no answers for the Vikings’ first-half offensive onslaught.
Key mistakes hurt Executive Education Charter, too.
The Vikings started their first possession at their own 32-yard line. The drive lasted 12 seconds as Thompson went around right end and then outran the defense into the end zone from 68 yards out.
Quin Smeltz added the point after kick. Smeltz was 6-for-6 on PATs in the game.
The Raptors started their first offensive possession at their 9 after a block-in-back penalty on the kickoff return. Facing third-and-13 at its own 17, Executive Education Charter quarterback Shawntez Whitsitt hooked up with a wide-open Elijah Martinez over the middle, putting the ball at midfield.
The Raptors then went no-huddle and drove down right the field. Mirza finished the march with a 9-yard touchdown run.
But the Vikings wasted little time in taking the lead for good.
A 45-yard hook-up from Shomper to a wide-open Blazer Lords behind the defense put the ball at the Raptors’ 3. Two plays later, Shomper went over from the 1.
Executive Education Charter was on the march again following Williams Valley’s touchdown as a run by Mirza from the Williams Valley 41 would have put the ball inside the 20. But the gain was nullified by a holding penalty and Executive Education Charter eventually punted.
“I thought they were going to spread us out more and throw, but they ran the ball and we adjusted to that,” Ancheff said. “We came up with some key stops and put them behind the sticks.
“They’re tough. They have some really good athletes, their quarterback and running back. It’s just weathering the storm and trying to make some plays.”
Thompson scored from 4 yards out to finish off a 10-play, 80-yard drive following the punt.
The Raptors reached the Vikings’ 33 on their next possession, but the drive ended when Williams Valley’s Trevon Bair sacked Whitsitt on a fourth-and-13 play.
A 38-yard hook-up from Shomper to Colin Crisswell, who made a tough, over-the-shoulder catch, on the first play of the drive put the ball at the 21. Shomper later found Achenbach open in the back of end zone from 23 yards out for another score.
After the Raptors punted on their next possession, Williams Valley drove from its own 24 to Executive Education Charter’s 38 in five plays. Facing second-and-2, Shomper passed to Thompson in the left flat. Thompson broke a tackle in the backfield, spun away from another tackler five yards into the run, and ended up scoring to make it 35-7 after Smeltz’s PAT.
The Vikings weren’t done.
Williams Valley’s Christian Davis booted his kickoff short and to the sideline. The Raptors fumbled the ball and Lords recovered for the Vikings at the 38.
“We do work on some directional kicking,” Ancheff said. “It is something we put in this week. We didn’t want to kick it deep to some of their guys, some of their athletes, and keeping it to that second and third row. It ended up working out for us.”
It took Williams Valley only three plays to score as Shomper dropped back to pass, decided to run up the middle and dove into the end zone with 25 seconds left in the first half.
Shomper nearly had career touchdown pass No. 68 on the first play of the fourth quarter, but his pass to Bair from 12 yards out was too high and went off Bair’s fingertips.
The semifinal contest is a rematch of a Sept. 12 meeting in Minersville that Williams Valley won 43-40.
