Archbishop Wood runs past Central Valley in PIAA Class AAA final

The stadium scoreboard credited Archbishop Wood with a 35-point first-quarter lead, maybe the work of someone counting tone rather than touchdowns.

The margin wasn't nearly that large, but it almost felt that way.

Archbishop Wood had scored twice, its oversized offensive line was bashing holes in Central Valley's defense, and Warriors star Jordan Whitehead was headed to the locker room.

Bring on the mercy rule? No.

Central Valley stayed close and Whitehead returned, but the Warriors never solved Archbishop Wood's rushing attack. Villanova-bound senior Jarrett McClenton rushed for 230 yards and four touchdowns to beat Central Valley, 33-14, in the PIAA Class AAA championship at Hersheypark Stadium.

“Our guys battled,” Central Valley coach Mark Lyons said. “We're going to compete to the fullest and that's what our guys did and I'm proud of them.”

The state title was the third in four years for Archbishop Wood (13-1), the defending state champion. McClenton had 40 carries, 242 yards and two touchdowns in last year's state final.

This year, McClenton had 27 carries.

“He's good,” Lyons said. “That's a pretty good line that we faced, I'll tell you that. I knew they were going to lean on us, push on us. We just couldn't come up with another key stop.”

The Philadelphia Catholic League team from District 12 also was state champion in 2011. This was Wood's fourth consecutive visit to Hershey. This was the first state championship appearance for WPIAL champion Central Valley (15-1), a school created in 2010.

“It's the worst feeling,” Whitehead said. “Your senior year. Last game playing high school. Win or lose, it's still sad. We lost, and there's nothing we can do. I just enjoyed playing with all my friends.”

The emotional loss came less than a week after the death of a Central Valley teammate Dominick “Andy” Treemarchi.

Whitehead rushed for 34 yards on 13 carries and caught two passes for 69 yards. But for the first time in seven playoff games this year, he was held out of the end zone. He left in the first half after making a tackle but later returned.

“Got the wind knocked out of me,” Whitehead said. “It was hard to breathe. Every time I tried to breathe in, it was aching.”

McClenton had two 12-yard touchdown runs in the first quarter, a 51-yarder in the third and a 15-yarder in the fourth. Wood teammate Alex Arcangeli added 132 yards on 16 carries.

As a team, Archbishop Wood rushed for 364 yards and five touchdowns on 44 carries. In contrast, Central Valley rushed for 71 yards on 38 carries.

With 6-foot-5, 285-pound Penn State recruit Ryan Bates at tackle and a five-man unit that averaged 255 pounds, Archbishop Wood has an offensive line few can match. In the PIAA semifinals, Wood rushed for 525 yards on 39 carries.

The line-of-scrimmage advantage showed on Wood's first possession, when the Vikings covered 78 yards in four rushes: 12, 48, 6 and 12 yards. With two TD runs by McClenton, Central Valley trailed 12-0 after the first quarter.

The Warriors' only first-half points came on the final play of the second quarter when senior Brandon Wilson returned an interception 48 yards for a touchdown.

The TD was an emotion lift for the Warriors. It came four minutes after Whitehead dropped a sure touchdown catch on fourth-and-goal at the 1. Central Valley trailed 12-7 at halftime.

“That interception was big, obviously, getting that score late,” Lyons said. “We were down there and came up empty, didn't get anything. I said we needed some key stops to get off the field.

“Our magic number was four or five stops, but I don't think we got that number.”

After a 51-yard touchdown run by McClenton made it 20-7 in the third, Central Valley answered. CV's Kurt Reinstadtler caught a 55-yard touchdown pass from Johnny George to pull back within a touchdown early in the fourth.

But the 20-14 score was the closest Central Valley got. Archbishop Wood clinched the victory with touchdown runs by McClenton and Arcangeli.

“It's the states,” Whitehead said. “You're going to get the best team.”