After clawing their way to a 9-8 victory with a last second goal line stand in last year’s 3A PIAA Championship game, the Belle Vernon Leopards managed to take control early in their title repeat, scoring 14 points in the first five minutes and never looking back.
Junior receiver Anthony Crews made a statement with a 78-yard return touchdown on the opening kickoff, then doubled down on the Leopards’ first offensive drive, salvaging a botched handoff and turning it into a 62-yard rushing score.
Crews said that Belle Vernon baited Northwestern Lehigh into a short kickoff by shifting their deep return men: the Tigers didn’t want to give Penn State commit Quinton Martin—the No. 53 player on ESPN’s Top 300 prospects in the class of 2024—a chance with the ball in his hands, so they booted it short to Crews, ready to capitalize.
Crews Kicks Things Off For Belle Vernon
“It was amazing. I knew they were going to kick the ball to me when Q [Quinton Martin] and [Kole] Doppelheuer switched sides back deep, so I was just prepared to catch it and go,” Crews said. “Right away. It [a running lane] opened up. Shoutout to everybody on the… kick return team that blocked for me.”
Belle Vernon’s offense is predicated on spreading the ball around. With the threat of Martin always looming, everybody can share the love. Even though Martin broke a 92-yard touchdown run to put a championship on ice in his last high school game, the star senior said he liked Crews’ statement return even more.
“That was the favorite part of the game for me. We came out in the state championship game, crowd’s excited and Anthony Crews takes it [78] yards to the house,” Martin said. “That’s the way to set the tone, 100 percent.”
The return touchdown played out perfectly, with blockers opening lanes and breaking downfield to escort Crews to pay dirt. The rushing touchdown, however, nearly ended before it started.
Crews struggled to control the handoff, juggling the ball into the air as Tigers’ defenders crashed towards him. At first, Crews didn’t think he could evade them.
Salvaging A Broken Play
“I thought I was gonna get hit, but when I didn’t and I looked up, and I see that cutback is there, I just cut it back and I was gone… it was so open,” Crews said. “Shoutout to my QB [Braden Laux] with that big, amazing, huge block. It’s 100 percent probably the reason—other than my speed—why I scored.”
Laux isn’t your typical signal caller. Committed to Eastern Michigan as a tight end, he also plays on the defensive line. He’s more than capable as a passer, but his willingness to contribute to every facet of the game—like blocking on running plays, where many quarterbacks take a backseat, so defenders don’t have free reign to put a hit on them—opened an extra dimension for the Leopards. Laux broke down what he saw on Crews’ chaotic run, describing his mentality as a blocker.
“I just looked back, saw him bobbling and people coming at him… I was just hoping he didn’t fumble the ball,” Laux said. “He started running back to me, so I just found the first person I saw and blocked him… if they cut it back or if I’m running downfield, I just have to get a hand on somebody.”
Selflessness Defines Belle Vernon
Whether it was Martin enjoying Crews’ big play more than his own or Laux putting his body on the line as a blocker, Belle Vernon head coach Matt Humbert gushed over his team’s selfless style of play.
“That’s the unselfish nature of these kids, and I think that’s a key, core component to the success we’ve had,” Humbert said. “They should be on a poster of how to handle things in terms of unselfish behavior.”
Humbert gave an example of the Leopards’ self-deprecating mentality. With Belle Vernon burning clock deep in Tigers’ territory, they planned to put the ball in their star tailback’s hands. Instead, Martin wanted teammate Jake Gedekoh to get a chance to score.
“We’re driving down here to put the nail in the coffin, and we rotate Quinton and Gedekoh in our wildcat formation: we just go back and forth and call the plays,” Humbert said. “Quinton’s number was up to run it, and we only had two to three yards to go and he said ‘coach I don’t want it, I want him [Gedekoh] to get a touchdown.”
Gedekoh said he wasn’t in on that conversation, but it didn’t surprise him in the slightest.
“I didn’t hear it from him, but I always know he supports me,” Gedekoh said. “I’ve scored many times over the years but I’m sure he probably thought I deserved one.”
Gedekoh’s Adjustment
Gedekoh did take part in another key conversation with his coaches, though. Once the Tigers set up goal-to-go midway through the second quarter, Gedekoh said he noted a defensive adjustment Belle Vernon needed to make.
The result? A goal line stand, with Gedekoh himself making the fourth down stop to keep Northwestern Lehigh out of the end zone. Gedekoh described how he came up with key mental and physical plays for the Bulldogs.
“We were actually doing a 4-4 box, and then I told the coach I needed to get inside, because we were getting all cut up inside,” Gedekoh said. “So, we went 4-3, the end took the outside, took on a fullback, and then flushed it right in [to] the inside backers to make play. Just overall adjusting, we made three stops right there.”
The definition of a warrior, one of Gedekoh’s leg pads soaked red with blood after the game, an injury that he said occurred on Crews’ kickoff return that started the game.
“I think it was the first play of the game. Opened a scab right up, got off the ground and had to play the rest of the game off it,” Gedekoh said. “All year you scrape the same cuts, just keep bleeding, getting bigger.”
Gedekoh said the rude welcome to the championship game fired him up to perform.
“We feed off that over all these the years, since we were younger,” Gedekoh said. “We feed off that energy. Whether it’s a big hit on special teams, big hit on defense to start the game: we’re just all fueled and ready to go.”
All About Quinton Martin
No matter how selfless of a star he is, one would be remiss to leave Martin’s performance out of it. It’s difficult to boil down what makes a future Power 5 player stand out above the rest into a single phrase, but Martin gave it his best shot, describing the burst he used to turn the corner on his 92-yard run that put the game away.
“I saw the opening. Once I see that, there’s nothing in the world that’s gonna stop me from creating that burst and getting to the end zone. I saw nothing but green,” Martin said. “I had to just burst. I’m very confident in my speed, so once I saw that green, I knew no one was going to catch me… I feel like that’s what separates me from other athletes around the country: my burst is insanely good. I don’t mean to be cocky, but I want to keep it as real as possible.”
Even in a game where he won the state championship and starred on both sides of the ball, Martin said he could’ve played better on defense. The Tigers targeted him often, something that surprised him: knowing his talent, most teams try to keep the ball away from him.
“I’m not very used to that [getting targeted], I’m not gonna lie. I could’ve done fairly better in the pass coverage because honestly, I wasn’t expecting it,” Martin said. “But the second half I came out, ready to play, and just did my thing.”
Glad to see the plan worked. An enrollment drop in a school district that has continued to grow for the last 25 years allowing a drop to 3A. Not fishy at all. Now miraculously, back to 4A for the 2024.
If you think Belle Vernon has grown for the past 25 years you’re sadly mistaken pal.
There are districts like Ringgold whose population has dropped but they’ve never moved out of 4A. Yet BVA has higher drops in enrollment to get a move to 3A? Makes zero sense. And the drop happens with their strongest teams under the current coach. Nice when a plan cones together.