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Reading & Northern to take over rail service to Humboldt

<p>A running back averaging 10 yards per carry. A receiver with 11 touchdown catches. A quarterback a hair away from 1,800 passing yards.</p><p>Athletic ability is part of the reason Wyoming Valley West&#8217;s Sean Judge, Devon Weidman and Aaron Austin have such lofty statistics. The other part of the equation is blocking. Without it, even the most talented skill player can&#8217;t achieve such numbers.</p><p>Blocking will be the key Friday night as Valley West (12-0) hosts Parkland (11-1) at 7 p.m. at Spartan Stadium in Kingston in the District 2/4-11 Class 4A subregional championship game.</p><p>The game is also a PIAA Class 4A state first-round contest, with the winner playing next week against the District 12 champion in the quarterfinals. Simon Gratz (10-2) and LaSalle College (7-3) play at noon Saturday at Northeast High School in Philadelphia to decide the District 12 champion.</p><p>Valley West averaged 44.4 points per game on the way to the Wyoming Valley Conference Division 4A championship. The Spartans continued the torrid pace in the postseason, defeating Nazareth 51-34 and Bethlehem Liberty 55-35. Those games marked the second and third time they topped 50 points.</p><p>And a good portion of the credit goes to those interior linemen who don&#8217;t get much notoriety &#8212; senior tackle Jason Wall, sophomore tackle Chris Bleich, senior guards Brian Hoffman and Kris Wolfe and senior center Nelson Colon.</p><p>&#8220;Especially the way they&#8217;ve played the last few weeks,&#8221; Valley West coach Pat Keating said. &#8220;They&#8217;re a huge reason we&#8217;re at where we&#8217;re at. They&#8217;ve controlled the line of scrimmage the last two games and have been able to churn out a lot of yards on the ground and in the air with Aaron as well.</p><p>&#8220;They&#8217;re overshadowed by Devon and Sean and Billy (Davison) and L.J. (Wesneski) and those guys. But they&#8217;ve really done a nice job for us.&#8221;</p><p>Bleich is the biggest at 6-foot-6 and 310 pounds and is already drawing Division I interest. Wall and Wolfe are the most experienced and, at one time, both knew what it was like to play with the football in their hands. They were fullbacks at the mini-football level.</p><p>&#8220;I sort of outgrew it,&#8221; said Wall, who is 270 pounds.</p><p>So now the job is making others look good.</p><p>&#8220;We don&#8217;t get a bunch of credit,&#8221; Wall said. &#8220;But we know up front we&#8217;re fast and physical, and that&#8217;s what leads to all the scoring in the game. Even though we&#8217;re unsung, we know we&#8217;re a big part of it.&#8221;</p><p>So do the skill guys.</p><p>&#8220;Some of the plays they make you sit there and wonder how they made that play,&#8221; Wolfe said. &#8220;But Sean and Devon, they give us a lot of credit for their touchdowns and rushing and receiving yards and all that. They&#8217;re very humble.&#8221;</p><p>The offensive line will have a huge job Friday. Parkland&#8217;s defense has been played extremely well since a 41-34 loss to Bethlehem Liberty in Week 6. The unit has allowed 39 points total in the last six games, including a 37-0 pasting of Easton last Friday.</p><p>The Trojans&#8217; defensive talent starts up front with Syracuse recruit Noel Brouse (6-5, 260) at defensive tackle. Jahan Worth, the other D-tackle, is undersized a bit at 5-11 and 220 pounds, but is very disruptive. Neither defensive end, D.J. Hohman and Palmer Kerch, tops 200 pounds, yet they excel against the pass and the run.</p><p>Parkland&#8217;s talent isn&#8217;t limited to defense. Quarterback Devante Cross is heading to Boston College. He has over 1,000 yards rushing and 2,000 passing. Based on two lists on the Internet, only 11 Pennsylvania high school quarterbacks entering the season have accomplished 1,000 rushing/2,000 passing seasons.</p><p>&#8220;He&#8217;s extremely athletic,&#8221; Keating said of Cross, who will play cornerback at Boston College. He had eight interceptions entering the playoffs. &#8220;He can beat you with his arm and his legs. He is a headache to defend. Their offensive line is huge. They&#8217;re 6-6, 6-5, a couple 300 pounders. And they have size on the perimeter.&#8221;</p><p>Size as in 6-5 wideout Kenny Yeboah, who has verbally committed to Temple. Whether Yeboah is covered or not, it doesn&#8217;t matter. Cross isn&#8217;t shy at throwing to him because he can pluck the ball from shorter defensive backs.</p><p>Cross has accounted for 50 percent of Parkland&#8217;s rushes. Running back Erik DiGirolamo is the only other Trojans to carry the ball more than 25 times this season with 120 rushes. So, in theory, the offense seems predictable in a sense with Cross involved directly in the play 79 percent of the time.</p><p>&#8220;No, no. It makes it more difficult to defend,&#8221; Keating said. &#8220;They are spreading you out and they are still able to run the ball with a downhill tailback and a real athletic quarterback. It really puts pressure on your defense.&#8221;</p><p>Valley West&#8217;s defense has bent at times in the postseason, but also has forced nine turnovers. The group also had six in its last two regular-season games and 24 during the WVC season.</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Wyoming Valley West football players warm up before practice on Tuesday. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/web1_TTL1127HSF-Parkland-WVW-Preview1.jpg</photo0><caption0>Wyoming Valley West football players warm up before practice on Tuesday. </caption0><photoCredit0></photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/web1_TTL1127HSF-Parkland-WVW-Preview2.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Wyoming Valley West running back Bill Davison (44) throws a pass during warmups at practice on Tuesday. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/web1_TTL1127HSF-Parkland-WVW-Preview2.jpg</photo1><caption1>Wyoming Valley West running back Bill Davison (44) throws a pass during warmups at practice on Tuesday. </caption1><photoCredit1></photoCredit1></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/web1_TTL1127HSF-Parkland-WVW-Preview3.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Wyoming Valley West assistant coach Ryan Mahovich works with one of the special teams during practice Tuesday. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo2>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/web1_TTL1127HSF-Parkland-WVW-Preview3.jpg</photo2><caption2>Wyoming Valley West assistant coach Ryan Mahovich works with one of the special teams during practice Tuesday. </caption2><photoCredit2></photoCredit2></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/web1_WVW-WALL.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Wall </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo3>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/web1_WVW-WALL.jpg</photo3><caption3>Wall </caption3><photoCredit3></photoCredit3></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/web1_WVW-WOLFE.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Wolfe </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo4>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/web1_WVW-WOLFE.jpg</photo4><caption4>Wolfe </caption4><photoCredit4></photoCredit4></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><subheadMeta>Valley West faces Parkland in 4A state playoffs</subheadMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By John Erzar</p><p>jerzar@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><factboxMeta><p style="text-align: center;"><strong>PARKLAND AT WYO. VALLEY WEST</strong></p><p style="text-align: center;">PIAA Class 4A Playoffs</p><p>7 p.m. Friday</p><p>Tickets: $6</p></factboxMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach John Erzar at 570-991-6394 or on Twitter @TLJohnErzar</p></shirttailMeta></div>

H.S. Football: Wyoming Valley West faces Parkland in 4A state playoffs