Doubters beware: EF relishes underdog role in WPIAL final vs. Central Valley
Rob Burchianti | 缅北禁地
Elizabeth Forward鈥檚 DaVontay Brownfield turns the corner on a 13-yard run against North Catholic during the third quarter of last Friday night鈥檚 WPIAL Class 3A semifinal game at Mars. Brownfield scored on the next play and the Warriors went on to win, 17-0. EF meets top-seeded Central Valley in the WPIAL Class 3A final tonight at North Allegheny.
Rob Burchianti | 缅北禁地
Elizabeth Forward鈥檚 Spencer Ross (64) levels North Catholic running back Kyle Tipinski during last Friday night鈥檚 WPIAL Class 3A semifinal game at Mars. EF meets top-seeded Central Valley in the WPIAL Class 3A final tonight at North Allegheny.
Central Valley will be a heavy favorite when it takes the field at North Allegheny High School tonight against Elizabeth Forward in the WPIAL Class 3A football championship game.
The Warriors wouldn鈥檛 want it any other way.
鈥淭hey love being an underdog,鈥� EF coach Mike Collodi said of his team. 鈥淭hroughout my career here at EF we鈥檝e proved a lot of doubters wrong. Whenever people want to doubt us we usually rise to the occasion and play our best games.鈥�
History is on the side of Central Valley in this Warriors vs. Warriors match-up but a look at 2020 numbers doesn鈥檛 show a huge disparity in the two unbeaten teams.
Central Valley, coached by Mark Lyons since the school鈥檚 inception in 2010, has won three WPIAL titles and reached the PIAA championship game for the second time last year, falling 21-14 to Wyoming Area.
Collodi understands why his team is considered David to CV鈥檚 Goliath.
鈥淭hey鈥檙e an overall great team from top to bottom,鈥� he said. 鈥淪ix times in 11 years they鈥檝e played in the WPIAL title game. They鈥檙e the defending WPIAL champs with a high-scoring offense, great defense and Division-I guys all over the field.
鈥淭hey鈥檙e big, they鈥檙e physical, they鈥檙e fast. That鈥檚 why they鈥檙e No. 1 in the state.鈥�
Elizabeth Forward isn鈥檛 in the five-team state rankings but that doesn鈥檛 mean they鈥檙e not a confident, formidable opponent.
鈥淲e鈥檙e going there with the mindset to win,鈥� Collodi said. 鈥淚 think we can beat anybody. We played a great game against North Catholic and shut out a high-powered offense that scores 44 points per game and held them to 100 yards.
鈥淥ur guys are capable of doing anything. We鈥檙e not going to be intimidated by anybody, I don鈥檛 care who we鈥檙e playing. We鈥檝e got our game plan. Our kids are ready to roll. They know they鈥檙e in for a challenge and they welcome that opportunity.鈥�
The game, which kicks off at 7 p.m., features the top two defenses in Class 3A in points allowed per game with CV at 8.6 and EF at 9.1.
Lyons鈥� Warriors (9-0), who won the Northwestern Conference, average 53.6 points per game while Collodi鈥檚 Warriors (8-0), who won the Interstate Conference, put up 30.5.
Central Valley defeated East Allegheny, 56-7, and Keystone Oaks, 70-21, in reaching the final. The win over KO wasn鈥檛 unexpected as CV trounced them 65-14 during the regular season.
There are no common opponents between the two. Keystone Oaks reached the semifinals by edging visiting South Park, 28-24, a team Elizabeth Forward blasted 35-0 on the road.
Elizabeth Forward鈥檚 path to the final went through Freeport, 34-20, in the quarterfinals and North Catholic, 17-0, in the aforementioned semifinals.
Central Valley is led on offense by quarterback Ameer Dudley (936 yards passing, 15 touchdowns) and running back Landon Alexander (947 yards rushing, 16 touchdowns).
Elizabeth Forward rides a ground game spearheaded by DaVontay Brownfield (621 yards, 10 touchdowns), Nico Mrvos (559, six touchdowns) and Kyle Flournoy (300 yards, two touchdowns), who has come on late in the season.
EF has thrown for 881 yards with 355 of that coming from Zion White following an injury to Evan Lewis.
Bowling Green recruit Chase Whatton leads Elizabeth Forward鈥檚 defense and starts on the offensive line as well.
Collodi said his team is as healthy as it can be at this point in the season.
鈥淲hen you play eight hard weeks, coming off a really physical game against North Catholic, you get your typical bumps and bruises and get banged up a little bit,鈥� Collodi explained. 鈥淏ut other than that we鈥檙e good.鈥�
As for the site, Collodi said, 鈥淚鈥檝e never been to North Allegheny before so I don鈥檛 know too much about it. It would鈥檝e been nice if these kids had a chance to play at Heinz Field but that didn鈥檛 work out this year.鈥�
While Lyons鈥� run at CV has been impressive, Collodi has taken EF to new heights, including this season when the Warriors won their first ever home playoff game and first postseason game since 2000 after earning its third conference title in four years.
That was part of Collodi鈥檚 plan when he was hired.
鈥淚 had a vision of what I wanted to do and the administration helped me get to where we need to be,鈥� Collodi said. 鈥淚 remember in my interview I had to do a three-year plan, a five-year plan, and they involved us winning conference titles, which we鈥檝e done now three times, and playing for championships.
鈥淚 believe in these kids. I didn鈥檛 really doubt we鈥檇 be where we are right now.鈥�