Archbishop Wood routs MLK, captures District 12-5A title
PHILADELPHIA >> The little bit of sun that managed to peak through the overcast of a bitter-cold afternoon at the Northeast Supersite reflected pretty nicely off the District 12-5A plaque that Ryan DiVergilis and his teammates posed with afterwards.
As shiny as it was, however, it pales in comparison to what DiVergilis and his crew want to be clutching at season’s end.
“It’s one step towards our goal,” DiVergilis said. “It’s just another step that we want. And we wanna keep going forward.”
The ground game went forward for 250 yards and the defense grounded Martin Luther King’s air attack, as the Vikings sacked and pillaged their way to a 51-14 victory over the Cougars.
The victory sends Wood to a 5A state matchup with Southern Lehigh next week.
“There’s a lot we have to clean up if we wanna move forward in the playoffs,” coach Kyle Adkins said of the win, which included three first-half fumbles by Wood and a couple of blown coverages. “We gotta learn from it and play better next week.”
After a 75-yard run by Tymir Shaw spotted MLK a 7-0 lead, Wood scored 21 straight. Quarterback Max Keller found an open David Armstrong cutting over the middle for a 10-yard score, DiVergilis burst in from four yards out, and then Andrew McHugh broke loose on a 46-yard punt return for a score.
After the Cougars cut it 21-14 on a 41-yard connection from Lamir Kitchens to Nadir McLeod, Wood began to anticipate and react. The secondary came up with three interceptions, including two in the second quarter by DiVergilis.
“It was a good feeling,” DiVergilis said. “I hadn’t had an interception in a while so it was definitely good.”
His second INT set up a 31-yard field goal by Ryan Morgan that closed the half at 31-14.
Cardel Pigford scored his second rushing touchdown (two, eight) to make it 38-14 early in the third, and Kaelin Costello’s six-yard rush widened the gap to 45-14. When Costello pushed in from a yard out, the mercy rule was in effect and Wood was moving on.
For the Vikings, it was just another step.
“I would imagine we ran for a decent amount of yards so it looked like the o-line played okay,” Adkins said.
Archbishop Wood 51, Martin Luther King 14
Martin Luther King 7 7 0 0 – 14
Wood 14 17 14 6 – 51
First Quarter
MLK – Tymir Shaw 75 run (Andre Graham kick), 8:24.
AW – David Armstrong 10 pass from Max Keller (Robert Meyer kick), 4:11.
AW – Ryan DiVergilis 4 run (Meyer kick), :05.
Second Quarter
AW – Andrew McHugh 46 punt return (Meyer kick), 6:48.
MLK – Nadir McLeod 41 pass from Lamir Kitchens (Graham kick), 6:09.
AW – Cardel Pigford 2 run (Meyer kick), 3:40.
AW – Ryan Morgan 31 field goal, :00.
Third Quarter
AW – Pigford 8 run (Meyer kick), 8:38.
AW – Kaelin Costello 6 run (Meyer kick), 6:48.
Fourth Quarter
AW – Costello 1 run (Meyer kick), 4:20.
MLK AW
First Downs 7 19
Rushes-yards 19-54 46-245
Passing 6-26-1 5-7-1
Passing yards 87 34
Total yards 141 279
Punts 5 1
Penalties-yards 13-88 5-50
Fumbles-lost 0-0 4-4
Rushing
MLK: Tymir Shaw 4-73, TD; Lamir Kitchens 13-(-14); Garnette Morris 2-(-5).
AW: Kaelin Costello 12-53, 2 TD; Pigford 21-130, 2 TD; DiVergilis 6-35, TD; Bryan Kelly 5-20; Keller 2-7.
Passing
MLK: Kitchens 6-26-87-1-3.
AW: Keller 5-7-34-1-0.
Receiving
MLK: Shaw 2-7; Ishmael Tiekv 1-3; Jaelen Callahan 1-20; Nadir McLeod 1-41, TD; Tyrell Mims 1-16.
AW: Armstrong 1-10, TD; Andrew McHugh 3-23; Ryan Woertz 1-1.
Interceptions
AW: DiVergilis 2, Shane Collier.
