Role of a power forward endures in today’s speed-based game

Peters stops 32 shots as Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins post win

<p>DALLAS TWP. &#8212; Beating Dallas at home is one thing.</p><p>Going on the road and taking down their toughest Wyoming Valley Conference Division 1 opponent is another impressive accomplishment within its own right.</p><p>That&#8217;s why Crestwood senior Hubert Herrera described the Comets&#8217; 3-0 win over Dallas as a &#8220;statement.&#8221; Beating Dallas for the second time in the regular season just checks another box as the Comets prime for another run in districts and look to get back into the PIAA tournament for the second time in two years.</p><p>&#8220;It&#8217;s just a statement,&#8221; Herrera said. &#8220;A lot of other teams out there will see that score and they&#8217;re going to know what we&#8217;re coming for.&#8221;</p><p>Crestwood&#8217;s 12-0 start &#8212; heading into Saturday&#8217;s game against Berwick &#8212; is no fluke.</p><p>The Comets are outscoring opponents 79-7 this season and have posted eight shutouts. And while Crestwood returns a lot of key players from last year&#8217;s district title-winning team, including Herrera and fellow seniors Max Gariano, Michael Ceklosky and Sean Murphy, Herrera&#8217;s cites the Comets ability to play team soccer as the key reason to this impressive start.</p><p>&#8220;We&#8217;re definitely adapting a lot better to these better teams,&#8221; Herrera said. &#8220;These last couple games we&#8217;ve been moving the ball a lot more. We&#8217;re just trusting each other more and I feel that that&#8217;s really been helping us out.&#8221;</p><p>Crestwood second-year coach David McFarland sees it, too.</p><p>The Comets&#8217; teamwork and hard work sets them apart from any other team in Division 1.</p><p>Crestwood often practices six days a week with two hours of &#8220;hard, hard work.&#8221; It&#8217;s that hard work and effort that have improved the Comets from a year ago, when they finished the regular season before beating Dallas to win both the WVC Division 1 championship and District 2 Class 3A championship.</p><p>&#8220;These guys are talented, but, for sure, they work like no other team,&#8221; McFarland said. &#8220;All these results really reflect on how much they work.&#8221;</p><p>Aside from the popular names like Herrera, Gariano and Murphy, McFarland has season some secondary players step up at key times this season.</p><p>Take Justin Sterling&#8217;s goal against Dallas on Tuesday, for example. The junior&#8217;s goal was the third of the game and nail in the coffin for the Mountaineers.</p><p>Sterling isn&#8217;t known for his goal-scoring, but his hard work through the play paid off with a just his second goal of the season.</p><p>&#8220;He&#8217;s been playing amazing, defensively, offensively,&#8221; McFarland said. &#8220;We knew it was just a matter of time before he would score a goal in big games. He is an example of the work ethic I was talking about earlier, where he&#8217;s not the most-skilled player but he&#8217;s worked so much since Day 1.&#8221;</p><p>While McFarland has been impressed with the players who have returned this season, stating that the Comets &#8220;have a few forwards who are really strong, scoring a lot of goals&#8221; and also highlighted the play of the returning midfielders, it&#8217;s the freshmen class that has really caught his eye.</p><p>There are two or three freshmen that have made an impact this season, which not only helps Crestwood&#8217;s current hopes of defending its district crown but also builds a strong foundation for the future.</p><p>&#8220;I tell the guys &#8212; every week I tell them, their last name doesn&#8217;t matter to me. Their age doesn&#8217;t matter to me. The only thing that makes a difference is what they do on the field,&#8221; McFarland said. &#8220;Whether they&#8217;re freshmen or seniors, it doesn&#8217;t matter much.</p><p>&#8221;If they&#8217;re able to perform during practice and during JV games, or when they have two or three minutes on the varsity field, we&#8217;ll give them more minutes. The freshmen, they were able to seize the opportunity and their minutes are growing every game, more or less.&#8220;</p><style>
.neFileBlock {
	margin-bottom: 20px;
}
.neFileBlock p {
	margin: 0px 0px 0px 0px;
}
.neFileBlock .neFile {
	border-bottom: 1px dotted #aaa;
	padding-bottom: 5px;
	padding-top: 10px;
}
.neFileBlock .neCaption {
	font-size: 85%;
}
</style>
<div class='neFileBlock'>
<div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/web1_TTL110917Crestwood-HersheyBSoc_3.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Crestwood&#8217;s 1-0 PIAA Class 3A loss to Hershey last season, has fueled Hubert Hererra (10) and the Comets to a undeafted record through the first seven weeks of the Wyoming Valley Conference regular season. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/web1_TTL110917Crestwood-HersheyBSoc_3.jpg</photo0><caption0>Crestwood&#8217;s 1-0 PIAA Class 3A loss to Hershey last season, has fueled Hubert Hererra (10) and the Comets to a undeafted record through the first seven weeks of the Wyoming Valley Conference regular season. </caption0><photoCredit0>Bill Tarutis file photo | For Times Leader </photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><subheadMeta>Crestwood soccer team sweats to make wins look easy</subheadMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By DJ Eberle</p><p>djeberle@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach DJ Eberle at 570-991-6398 or on Twitter @ByDJEberle</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Crestwood soccer team works to make wins look easy