Williams Valley's Brady Shomper waits for a snap during Friday's District 11 Class AA championship game against Schuylkill Haven at Blue Mountain (Photo by Eli Doyle).

There was a point in Friday’s District 11 Class AA championship game where I turned to T-102 Sports Now comrade Eli Doyle and said, “If Haven scores here, this game is over.”

That was a common thought midway through the second quarter as the Hurricanes scored on four straight possessions to build a 17-point lead.

Williams Valley coach Ben Ancheff could sense it.

His players, however, never wavered.

The Vikings have battled adversity all season and did it again Friday, rallying twice from deficits to capture a 34-31 victory at Blue Mountain’s Eagles’ Nest for their third straight district crown.

Brady Shomper’s 42-yard touchdown pass to Colin Crisswell with 56.5 seconds left gave the Vikings the lead and Shomper’s interception moments later iced it. The victory advances Williams Valley (12-1) to a meeting with District 12 champion Lansdale Catholic, a 43-7 winner over Lakeland on Saturday, either Friday or Saturday at a District 11 site, most likely Blue Mountain.

How did the Vikings do it?

What were the key moments?

Let’s break down Williams Valley’s comeback and the elements that went into making it all happen:

Staying strong mentally

Williams Valley entered Friday’s game as the underdog, despite an 11-1 record and an offense that averaged 434 total yards and 44.8 points per game. The Vikings’ only loss was a 43-29 setback to Schuylkill Haven on Sept. 26 in Williamstown, a game Williams Valley led 22-21 at halftime.

It was a popular opinion that the Hurricanes, who scored 60 points in both of their previous two district playoff games, would be too much for the Vikings.

Williams Valley has played with a next-play mentality all season and maintained that attitude Friday. Despite falling behind 24-7, the Vikings didn’t play scared, kept playing, never gave up.

Instead of packing things in and being content with making the district title game for the third straight year, the Vikings rallied.

“We knew we had to come in here strong,” fullback/linebacker Trevon Bair said. “Literally everybody around here doubted us. They had no faith in us … only our team and our community. If you come here wanting to win this game, you’re going to win this game.

“No matter what happens, we always keep a clear mind. We’re always on to the next play, keep a short mind, that’s our mentality. Don’t reflect on the past. If you’re stuck in the past, you’re not going to be able to do good things in the future. It’s always work on the next play, that’s our mentality.”

Bair said that falling behind by three scores in the first half only enhanced that mentality. The Vikings remained loose, while it seemed the pressure got to Schuylkill Haven in the second half.

“Honestly, as crazy as it sounds, it is a lot easier,” Bair said. “You know it can’t get much worse, it can only get better from here. It makes you play with a more clear mind. You know you have to do a huge thing to win the game.”

Crisswell agreed.

A strip-sack and a blocked punt helped Schuylkill Haven score a pair of quick touchdowns to go up 21-7. The Hurricanes scored another touchdown on their next possession, but it was called back by a facemask penalty. A touchdown there might have been a stake in the heart for the Vikings.

Instead, Williams Valley’s defense held and Haven then settled for a field goal to go up 24-7.

“He let us know that the way we were playing was not us,” Crisswell said of Ancheff’s message on the sideline. “We just had to lock in and do our thing. Play how we usually do. That wasn’t how we usually play.”

The fake punt

Williams Valley capitalized on a 46-yard run by Fletcher Thompson on its next possession to go 61 yards in five plays. Thompson’s 9-yard run made it 24-14 with 3:11 left in the first half.

The Vikings then got a stop defensively — their first of the game — taking over on downs at their own 31 when Schuylkill Haven failed to convert a fourth-and-13 from the 34.

Still, three plays only netted 8 yards and Williams Valley faced fourth-and-2 from its own 39 with just over a minute left in the half.

Ancheff decided to call for a fake punt. He admitted after the game that he felt he needed to.

With Schuylkill Haven getting the ball to start the second half, another Haven score before intermission could have buried his Vikings.

“Essentially at that point in the game, I think if we gave them the ball back it might have been over,” Ancheff said. “Not to ever count our kids out, but I thought we had to come up with something there.

“Although we’ve only punted a couple of times this year, we’ve practiced that like two times a week. That’s part of our punt package. We pulled it out at a good time.”

With Evan Achenbach lined up to punt, Shomper positioned himself about 6-7 yards behind the line of scrimmage, roughly the same distance as if he was in the shotgun formation.

The original plan was a bubble screen to Thompson. Instead, with Haven bringing a heavy rush, Shomper checked out of it and changed the route. Thompson slipped behind the defense, ran a go route down the seam, Shomper hit him in stride and the result was a game-changing 61-yard TD.

The touchdown sliced the deficit to 24-20 and gave Williams Valley the momentum going into intermission.

“It was a really good check,” Ancheff said. “It was a really good check for a touchdown.

“The fake punt was called, he changed the route. It was wide open. That’s a credit to Shomper and Fletcher for finishing the play.”

Defensive adjustments

Both teams were successful offensively in the first half if you looked at the numbers.

Thompson rushed for 137 of his 160 yards in the opening 24 minutes as Williams Valley collected 10 first downs and 248 total yards.

Schuylkill Haven, meanwhile, rushed for 164 yards, had nine first downs and 244 total yards. Colton Reber ran for 134 of his 212 yards in the first half.

In a matchup of two potent offenses, it was apparent that the defense that could get one or two stops would win the game.

At halftime, Williams Valley decided to switch things up defensively, going from a heavy package up front to its base 4-4 alignment. It worked.

The Vikings forced a quick three-and-out to open the second half then went 94 yards in just four plays to take the lead on a 39-yard pass from Shomper to Blazer Lords.

“We knew we had to make a crazy statement coming out of halftime. We knew if we stopped them and then scored, we would have the momentum for the rest of the game,” Bair said.

“We put in an extra linebacker to be able to stop the run. We knew if we could stop the run, they would be out of their comfort zone and we would be in our comfort zone to win the game.”

Ancheff and his staff moved Evan Kandybowski, usually an outside linebacker, to inside linebacker next to Bair. The 6-foot, 190-pound senior, who missed a couple of games with a knee injury, made a pair of third-down sacks in the second half to halt Haven drives.

After scoring on its first four possessions to open the game, Schuylkill Haven gained just 90 yards on its next 26 plays and punted three times on five possessions.

Both Ancheff and Bair praised the play of Kandybowski.

“He really stepped up,” Ancheff said. “Those two sacks he had on third downs and got to the quarterback were big. The whole defense in the second half … coverage wise, line play … it was exactly what we needed to win this game.”

Added Bair: “Kando came in tonight and the extra support from him was great. He stepped up. He’s coming off a torn MCL and he played his heart out tonight. I can’t give him more praise.”

Clutch fourth-down conversion

The 42-yard pass from Shomper to Crisswell proved to be the game-winner. It wouldn’t have been possible if not for a 17-yard pass from Shomper to Bair on a fourth-and-13 play with 2:20 remaining.

Williams Valley had called the same play on third down but inside pressure from Schuylkill Haven’s Chase Williams forced Shomper to tuck it and get tackled for a 2-yard gain. Bair was wide open on the third-down play. He urged Ancheff to call the same play.

Ancheff obliged.

“He called his own number there,” Ancheff said of Bair.

Bair said he didn’t see Schuylkill Haven defensive back Adam Balulis, who drilled Bair as he caught the ball. His only focus was to hold onto the ball.

“I had no idea (he was coming),” Bair said. “I saw the ball coming. The only thing that was going through my mind was to get past the first-down marker and catch the ball. I had no idea he was coming to hit me. When he hit me, I could only see the ball. I knew if I held onto it, it was a first down. I held onto it.”

Added Shomper: “He knew he was open. He was a little frustrated I missed him a few times during the game. When we hit him, we knew we had to go down and score.”

The fourth-down play saved Williams Valley’s season.

It also set up the game-winner.

Three plays later, Williams Valley went back to that play. This time, Crisswell was the option and Shomper delivered a perfect pass down the sideline for a touchdown. Crisswell was able to get a step on the Haven defender, who this time was distracted by Bair in the same spot wide open.

With no safety in the middle of the field coming over to help, Crisswell raced down the sideline, hauled in the pass and scored.

“It was actually that same play I hit Trevon,” Shomper explained. “(The Haven defender) didn’t bite on the pass to Trevon on that fourth down so we knew we had to come back to it, see if he would bite on it and see if he would come up on Tre. He gave a little bit of a nudge and I just knew I had a little window and I capitalized on it.”

Shomper finished the game 13-for-19 for 278 yards, giving him 1,990 yards and 30 touchdowns on the season.

“He threw some absolutely dots,” Ancheff said. “He just made some incredible throws. You can’t ask for more from your quarterback.

“He’s a special player. He just keeps proving it every game.”