Mike Vukovcan I can’t guarantee any results tonight, but I can say for certainty that it will be a great high school football atmosphere tonight at Tony Dorsett Stadium.
It’s Central Valley vs. Hopewell on Homecoming!
Unlike in years past, this will be a matchup of teams with equal skill level and two teams that are playoff quality.
Anyone that follows high school football in Western Pennsylvania are familiar with Central Valley and the program that Hall of Fame coach Mark Lyons has built.
When you’re discussing the best high school football coaches in the WPIAL, Coach Lyons name is in the conversation because of the remarkable consistency of the CV program.
Unfortunately, the games over the years between these two teams have not been close, which is something the Vikings are looking to change.
HOPEWELL VS. CENTRAL VALLEY RESULTS LAST 5 MATCHUPS:
Central Valley 44 Hopewell 20
Central Valley 47 Hopewell 6
Central Valley 51 Hopewell 2
Central Valley 63 Hopewell 28
Central Valley 52 Hopewell 7
This will no doubt a test and a barometer to see just how much this Hopewell program has made over the last two years. In order to reach the level of greatness that Coach Mottes and his coaches want to take this program to, they will need to compete with and eventually beat Central Valley.
The questions is will this be the year they do it?
Hopewell enters tonight’s game with an overall record of 6-2 (2-2 in conference), while Central Valley is 4-4 (4-1 in conference). When you look at Central Valley’s record keep in mind, they really challenged themselves in the non-conference with games against Montour, Thomas Jefferson and Belle Vernon.
When looking at their results against the Big 3 in conference, CV defeated Beaver (51-19), lost to Avonworth (34-6) and beat North Catholic (34-28).
KEYS TO GAME:
-The Hopewell offense will have to be able to get their running game on track, specifically sophomore running back Nasir Wade. Without the services of sophomore Brody Rock for much of the season, Wade has been the face of their ground game. ‘Bruiser’ has collected 901 yards on just 78 yards, while pulling in 16 catches for 321 yards and a total of 11 touchdowns.
Quarterback James Armstrong gets a lot of focus, and deservedly so, but the impact that Wade has provided to this team has been huge. The combination of Armstrong and Wade gives Hopewell a ‘Two Headed Monster”. The nice thing is that both of them are only sophomores.
Central Valley’s defense will no doubt be geared up to stop Armstrong, so how can offensive coordinator Zach Rosa keep them off-balanced by finding ways to get Wade the ball.
Hopewell RB Nasir Wade
-With that being said, the one area that I believe the Vikings can have success is attacking the Central Valley secondary. If the Vikings offense line can keep Armstrong upright, I look for him to have success getting the ball to his numerous playmakers such as Tre Cameron, Logan Triscila, Avery Bokor, Kingston Krotec and Rock.
Limit penalties which puts the offense behind the chains, have the offensive line keep Armstrong clean and this offense will put up points.
Keep in mind, this Hopewell offense has scored 30-plus points in 7 of their 8 games and 40-plus points six times.
Hopewell quarterback James Armstrong
-The biggest key to victory for Hopewell will fall on the shoulders of their defense and can they figure out the way the Warriors will try and attack them and be able to stop it.
CV is difficult to prepare for because their offense really has no identity in the sense that they can do so many things successful. They run full house, a spread, trips and keep defenses off balance by doing it all.
The three players to watch for Central Valley are Ethan Shearer (their best player), Braddock Ambrose and Aaron Lawson.
All season long, Hopewell’s success on defense has been predicated by the play of their talented defensive line and that will remain the case tonight. Can they disrupt things for Ambrose and get them into 3rd and long situations? But make no mistake about it, Shearer is the key.
PREDICTION:Â Â Like with the Hopewell/OLSH girls volleyball match on Wednesday, I believe this game has a chance to be a classic game that comes down to the 4th quarter.
With the crowd that CV will bring along with what I expect to be a near sellout Hopewell crowd, the atmosphere should be electric and one of the best at Hopewell in years.
In the end, I believe the difference will be Hopewell’s offensive playmakers which have been tremendous all-season. Over the last few games, the Vikings passing game has been lethal and I look for that to continue tonight.
FINAL SCORE: HOPEWELL 38 CENTRAL VALLEY 31
A reminder, we’ll be streaming the game live tonight on the Vikings Sports Now Facebook Page. Our pregame coverage will begin at 6:45 PM with Bruce Frey and Craig Bokor.
