ORWIGSBURG - One of Schuylkill Haven's goals at the beginning of the season was to be practicing on Thanksgiving.
Thanks to a dominating offensive display in Friday's opening round of the PIAA Class A playoffs, the Hurricanes will do exactly that.
Supported by 605 yards of offense, all on the ground, Schuylkill Haven breezed by District 1 champion Bristol 56-27 at Blue Mountain High School's Eagles' Nest.
"We're not as talented as other teams. But what we do, we're good at," Hurricanes coach Mike Farr said. "A coach told me once, 'You have to do what you do. Don't change for nobody.' "
What District 11 champion Schuylkill Haven was good at Friday was getting through the first wave of defenders.
The Hurricanes were prevented from gaining positive yards on just three of 69 rushes, one of which was a bad snap - the other two were for no gain.
Junior tailback Will Casella led all rushers with 334 yards and six touchdowns on 42 carries, while quarterback Ryan Fink wasn't too far behind with 222 yards and two touchdowns on 18 carries.
Both Casella and Farr credited the offensive line for the awesome display of offense.
"Up front, those five guys don't get near enough credit," Farr said. "Those five guys we have up front right now are really, really good ... I
don't want to say they're the best we've ever had, but they're pretty darn close.
"They execute, they're strong, resilient. Where else do you see kids playing both ways, walking off the field and not even breathing hard?"
It was with that fitness that Schuylkill Haven was able to gain the upper hand on the Warriors.
What began looking like a back-and-forth offensive shootout eventually turned into a Hurricane runaway victory.
Haven opened the scoring with Casella's first touchdown 5½ minutes into the first quarter. After a long kickoff return, Bristol answered just a minute later on a 6-yard run by Donte Simmons.
Casella punched through for three more touchdowns before half's end, scoring on runs of 5, 4 and 3 yards. Simmons added one more score on a 73-yard run and Bristol quarterback Trevor Leone found Kyle Slivka-fralin for a 35-yard, second-quarter touchdown pass to bring the halftime score to 35-21.
While the scoring was abundant in the first half, it started slow in the second.
Haven got on the board first with just under fine minutes to play in the third quarter on Casella's 4-yard run.
Bristol answered when Leone connected with Aidan Coughlin for a 23-yard reception, which was fumbled forward and covered by Warrior lineman Adair Mustafa.
"It looked like it was going to be a shootout early on," Bristol coach Leo Plenski said. "They just wore us down on defense."
Mustafa's fumble recovery touchdown was the last time the Warriors came close to the end zone.
Fink added a 42-yard touchdown run, and Casella scored from 30 yards out to set the final score.
"Everything Williams Valley said in the newspaper last week is true," Plenski said. "Schuylkill Haven controls the line of scrimmage from start to finish.
"If you watch tape on them, it's not complex. They motion, they run right at you and their linemen are going to block you. I could sit there and tell you where the ball was going every time ... they just mauled us over up front."
Simmons led Bristol (9-2) with 114 yards on 17 carries. Leone completed 9-of-19 for 127 yards.
Schuylkill Haven (10-3) will make the short journey to Blue Mountain again next Friday when they meet Old Forge in the state quarterfinals. Old Forge, District 2 champions, defeated Southern Columbia 19-14 on Friday night.
Coming into Friday's game, the Warriors averaged just under 40 points a game.
Schuylkill Haven's 56 points was its highest total all season.
When asked if the Hurricanes had any offense left in the tank for Old Forge next week, Casella didn't hesitate with his answer.
"Oh yeah," he said. "It's Week 13, but you gotta keep going. Me and (Fink) were talking in school today. We said we don't know how much more our bodies can take. But they're going to have to take a little more because we're playing this week."