WELLSBORO – In a battle of attrition, it’s often the first team to blink that ends up on the wrong end of the result.
That was what happened to Wellsboro on Thursday night as it hosted Wyalusing. After battling to a scoreless tie for over 44 minutes of game time, and both teams having limited scoring opportunities for most of the game, it was Wyalusing that capitalized on Wellsboro blinking – i.e. on turnovers.
Wellsboro committed four turnovers in the game, including on each of its last three possessions in the fourth quarter, and Wyalusing scored touchdowns off two of those takeaways in the final four minutes of the game, both on a pair of runs by Dylan Johns that were also the two longest offensive plays of the game for either team, and the Rams’ stellar defense that produced Wyalusing’s second straight shutout gave the Rams a 13-0 win over the Green Hornets to improve to 3-0.
“Credit to Wellsboro – they played inspired defense. We faced adversity but I was glad to see how our guys responded and came out for the second half,” said Wyalusing coach Rich Rogers. “We had all five guys up front playing different positions (than they were used to), so that was part of it. We also hadn’t seen a 3-5 defense yet this year, so it was new and a matter of adjusting to that.”
Except for the end, it was largely a forgettable night on offense for both teams. Wyalusing only ran two plays from the red zone in the entire game, the last of which was Johns’ 18-yard touchdown run on a fourth-and-4 play that finally broke the scoreless tie at the 3:34 mark of the fourth quarter. That play, and the short field that accompanied the drive, was set up by Will McBride’s interception and return to the Green Hornet 46-yard line with 8:02 remaining in the game.
“We made some small adjustments here and there but really it was just them stepping up,” said Rogers. “All year the defense has stepped up and kept us in games. Credit to our defense as well, those guys made the plays when they had to and I’m so glad how they came together as a team tonight.”
Wellsboro, despite being held to just 82 yards of offense by the Rams, was actually the team that had more scoring chances in the game. The Green Hornets had what appeared to be a 32-yard touchdown pass from Griffin Morral to Marek Mascho called back due to a holding penalty and was later forced to punt to end that drive with 3:21 remaining in the second quarter.
Wellsboro then had a golden opportunity in the third quarter, as the Green Hornets stopped Wyalusing’s first drive of the half with an interception by Reed Richardson, who returned it 20 yards to give Wellsboro the ball all the way up at the Wyalusing 23.
The Green Hornets advanced as far as the Ram 10-yard line, running their first plays of the game in the red zone, but were stalled at the 12. Jonathan Carl came in to attempt a 30-yard field goal, but prior to attempting it, Wellsboro picked up a five-yard penalty to an illegal substitution, pushing the attempt back about four yards to just inside the 25-yard line. The 34-yard attempt sailed wide left and the game remained scoreless.
The next drive for Wellsboro began at the Ram 37-yard line, thanks to a 20-yard punt return by Mascho after Wyalusing had gone three-and-out from its own 20 following the missed field goal. From there, the Green Hornets managed to get the ball all the way down the 6, but the drive again stalled, leading to 23-yard field attempt by Carl, but this one was blocked at the 10:16 mark of the fourth quarter.
“Our guys played their tails off, they did everything we asked them to tonight and kept fighting the entire game,” said Wellsboro coach Matt Hildebrand. “We’re playing a lot of young guys right now, a lot of freshmen are playing varsity football. We came up short but I’m very proud of the effort they put forth. It stings right now but a lot of positives will come out of a game like this.”
Wyalusing’s first touchdown was the longest drive of the game for either team time-wise, and the Green Hornets then fumbled on the subsequent kickoff return, giving the Rams another golden opportunity with field position and the ball at the Wellsboro 35. Three plays later, Johns burst up the middle for a 30-yard touchdown run to put a cap on things, along with a 109-yard night on the ground for him.
“We kind of showed them our tendencies. We were running diamond formation and running inside and anytime we went to our normal wishbone, we were going outside,” said Rogers. “We just flip flopped it for the third quarter and got a little bit of space.”
“It seemed like the type of game where one big play was going to determine this game and Johns is a good running back and he got a seam and we had one breakdown and that determined the game,” said Hildebrand. “You look at it from the other side of the ball, we get a holding call on our touchdown that gets called back, so we just need to learn from this and get better for next week.”
The Rams then sealed it by recording their third straight takeaway from Wellsboro to end the game, and the fourth of the game, as McBride recorded his second interception from his defensive line position to end it.
Wyalusing 13, Wellsboro 0
Wyalusing (3-0) 0 0 0 13 – 13
Wellsboro (0-3) 0 0 0 0 – 0
Fourth quarter
3:34 – (Wy) Dylan Johns 18-yard run (run failed), 9-46, 4:28
1:53 – (Wy) Dylan Johns 30-yard run (Gromley kick), 3-35, 1:41
Statistics
Wy We
First downs 11 6
Rushes-net yards 49-170 24-58
Passing yardage 0 24
Passing 0-5-0-2 5-13-0-3
Fumbles-lost 3-0 2-1
Penalties-yards 6-45 6-50
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING: Wyalusing: Dylan Johns (23-109-2), Ayden Hunsinger (18-75), Jonathan Earle (4-(-18)), Ethan Vanderpool (2-6), TEAM (2-(-2)); Wellsboro: Ryder Bowen (18-64), Griffin Morral (3-(-3)), Marek Mascho (2-(-1)), Cole Knapp (1-(-2))
PASSING: Wyalusing: Jonathan Earle (0-3-0-0-1), Reuben Kinney (0-2-0-01); Wellsboro: Griffin Morral (5-13-24-0-3)
RECEIVING: Wyalusing: None; Wellsboro: Marek Mascho (4-19), Jonathan Carl (1-5)
