H.S. FOOTBALL REVIEW: Williams Valley defense stands tall in final minutes at Minersville

Before Williams Valley went up against Minersville Friday the defense hadn’t allowed a point through the opening three games.

The Vikings have now outscored their opponents 188-40 in four games and surrendered their first points in a 43-40 nailbiter win at Minersville Friday.

“To be able to regroup at the end there and get a sack or two and win the game on defense was awesome after giving up consecutive scores in a row,” said Williams Valley head coach Stephen Seddesse. “For them (Minersville) to get the ball and then to get a pick on the second or third play of the game we kind of gained a possession there and that’s what we needed to win the game.”

A turning point for Williams Valley in last Friday’s win was a Trevon Bair pass breakup and a sack by Viking Gavin Trawitz on Minersville’s Dante Carr on their final drive of the game for a turnover on downs.

“I thought our defense played great and we weren’t able to stop Dante (Carr) as much as we could,” said Bair. “The-winning tackle by Fletcher (Thompson) was huge.”

Bair finished the game with 11 total tackles and three tackles for loss while Fletcher Thompson had another four tackles and a tackle for a loss. Bryce Zilinski had four total tackles and a tackle for a loss.

The game started with Colin Crisswell picking off Minersville’s Dante Carr at Williams Valley’s own 45-yard line to put the Vikings in good field position on their first drive.

The second quarter started with Bair sacking Carr for a loss of 15 yards to pin the Battlin’ Miners back to the 48-yard line. Bair came up with another big sack on Carr for a loss of five yards near the end of the third quarter.

Williams Valley’s defense has totaled 216 tackles and 23 tackles for loss while the Vikings had 46 total tackles and five tackles for loss against Minersville. The Vikings had a season-high four sacks against Minersville.

“It was a huge game for us to grow and play some good talent, they (Minersville) have one of the best quarterbacks we’ll see in 2A football,” said Seddesse.

To put it in perspective, the Vikings shut down Upper Dauphin, Mahanoy Area and Nativity to no score through three games. Bair had a team-high 11 total tackles against Nativity, Green and Bair each had 10 total tackles against Mahanoy Area and Bair had another 10 tackles in the season-opening win over Upper Dauphin Area.

Bair is currently averaging 10.5 tackles per game and has gone for another three sacks to lead the Vikings offense. Kandybowski is averaging six tackles per game and Thompson has gone for another 4.8 tackles per game. Koen Zilinski has two sacks and Trawitz had one on Carr Friday.

“He’s (Seddesse) been our leader at linebacker since he took over two years ago and his coverage skills are good, he runs to the football and he puts a lick on you when he hits you,” Seddesse said. “You don’t want to take many hits from Trevon.”

B. Zilinski leads the Vikings with four quarterback hurries while Kandybowski and Weiss have each forced fumbles.

The Vikings have turned the football over five times, four on fumble recoveries and one interception. Cole Hubler, Bryce and Koen Zilinski and Thompson have each scooped up one fumble recovery. Collin Crisswell brought in a 20-yard interception in the first quarter at Minersville.

The Battlin’ Miners stood up for their toughest test against one of the highest-scoring offenses in the Schuylkill League when they slowed down a Minersville’s offense to 420 total yards and 40 points. The key was the Vikings final stop in the fourth quarter when they forced a turnover on downs on a sack of Carr.

Minersville kicks off at Schuylkill Haven Thursday at 7 p.m. and Williams Valley travels to Tri-Valley Friday at 7 p.m.