Archbishop Wood routs Roman Catholic

UPPER MORELAND >> As the calendar turns to October, high school football teams really start to evaluate where they stand in the scheme of this season and beyond. Archbishop Wood, the defending class 5A state champs, are starting to believe they yet have another team to go deep into the Pennsylvania playoffs.

The Vikings put together a crisp clobbering of Roman Catholic on Saturday night at Upper Moreland Stadium. The Cahillites could not contain the likes of quarterback Jake Ross and crew in a 42-0 defeat. All aspects of the Vikings (3-2 overall, 1-0 PCL Red) game are starting to heat up at the appropriate time.

“We had a rough beginning, but now we are starting to gel,” Ross said. “We know who is where and what is going on. We are coming together and are really playing well now.”

The junior signal caller had a hand in all five first-half scores. He threw four touchdown passes and ran one in from four yards out. Ross completed 10 of his 12 passes for 259 yards in the Catholic League win. He found a wide open Joe Wade twice in the first quarter to put the Cahillites (0-5, 0-1) on their hills.

“The biggest challenge has been reads and knowing all of the stuff,” Ross, a wide receiver rushed into quarterback duties midseason, said. “I played quarterback when I was younger.

Ross took over under center for injured Jack Colyar midseason season and the Vikings have not missed a beat. Ross was playing wide receiver with Colyar, a baseball standout, being named the starter out of camp. But Ross continued to study the playbook and he is now making all the right reads.

“I played wide receiver last year, but when Jack went down they asked me to play quarterback,” Ross said. “I would do anything to help this team out and so far it has been working. I am getting the hang of it.”

On the first touchdown of the game, Wade did not have a defender within 20 yards of him. The Vikings saw something they could exploit and continually took advantage of the opening in the Cahillites defense. Wade immediately followed up his 68-yard score with a 42-yard similar touchdown. The breakdowns in pass coverage allowed Bill Cook and Brad Otto to reach the end zone. It was a running clock for the entire second half.

“We practice that play to Wade a lot this week,” Ross said. “We saw their coverage and luckily the play worked out and we won. We have been working on different package with different people. Throughout practice we have been trying to spread the ball around and we did that tonight.”

When the first-year coach Kyle Adkins looks at the tape tonight he will see a lot that he likes. But in order to achieve the highest prizes and play deep into November and December the coaching staff will nitpick and continue to work on every aspect of their game. Champions such as the Vikings are never satisfied, always looking ways to improve.

“I think we can go all the way to December again,” Ross said. “Our conditioning, our work ethic, everything. I think it is there. We don’t lack anything.”

Archbishop Wood 42, Roman Catholic 0
Roman Catholic 0 0 0 0 – 0
Archbishop Wood 13 22 7 0 – 42
First Quarter
AW – Jake Ross 68 yard pass to Joe Wade (kick failed)
AW – Ross 42 yard pass to Wade (Bob Hennessey kick)
Second Quarter
AW – Ross four yard run (Hennessey kick)
AW – Ross five yard pass to Bill Cook (Hennessey kick)
AW – Ross 60 yard pass to Brad Otto (Walp conversion)
Third Quarter
AW – Ryan DiVergillis six yard run (Hennessey kick)
Fourth Quarter
RC AW
First downs 4 13
Rushing yards 28 192
Passing yards 40 259
Total yards 68 451
Punts-avg. 6-37 3-27
Fumbles-lost 0-0 1-0
Penalties-yards 1-15 4-20
RUSHING
Roman Catholic – Burton 10-33; Mole 1-4; Harris 2-(-1); Grosso 3-(-8)
Archbishop Wood – Santiago 7-23; DiVergillis 3-53, TD; Costello 6-17; Pendleton 1-2; Ross 6-46, TD; Ashantee 1-3; Keller 1-33; Coylar 1-15
PASSING
Roman Catholic – Grosso 5-18-1 – 40
Archbishop Wood – Ross – 10-12-0 – 259, 4 TDs
RECEIVING
Roman Catholic – Reeder 2-34; Thorpe 1-2; Burton 1-2; Harris 1-2;
Archbishop Wood – Wade 2-110, 2 TDs; Otto 2-92, TD; Santiago 2-5; Cook 2-28, TD; DiVergillis 1-22; Walp 1-2
SACKS
Roman Catholic – Auffant
Archbishop Wood – Cook, Armstrong
INTERCEPTIONS
Archbishop Wood – D’Ambra