TUNKHANNOCK — Nanticoke’s Zach Fox ripped off a 54-yard touchdown run in the second quarter Friday night at Tunkhannock only to see it called back because of a penalty. Five plays later, he scored from 26 yards out only to see it wiped off the board because of a yellow flag. And when quarterback Lucas Stachowiak scored from 4 yards out four plays later, a chop block negated the score.
Those momentum-killing flags could have stalled even the strongest of offenses. But for Nanticoke last night, they were merely roadblocks on the road to paydirt.
Fox finally finished the drive with a touchdown on a 19-yard run. It was one of five first-half touchdown runs for the junior running back as he spared the Trojans a 42-7 win over Tunkhannock.
Nanticoke totaled 405 rushing yards as it dominated the line of scrimmage Friday. Fox ran for a game-high 243 yards, all in the first half, and four Trojans ran for at least 40 yards as they moved within a game of .500.
“We put in the work for this,” Fox said. “The line put in the most work and they were making great blocks. I can’t thank them enough.”
“We deserve a night like this,” Nanticoke coach Ron Bruza said. “We’re banged up quite a bit, but our kids played well.”
Nanticoke took some time finding its footing, but once it did, there was no answer from a Tunkhannock defense that allowed 9.6 yards a carry last night. The Trojans found their footing when Fox hit a sweep play for a 49-yard touchdown run on the penultimate play of the first quarter.
That one sweep play turned into a bushel of sweeps that opened holes like the automatic doors at Walmart. Fox’s first seven carries of the game went for 24 yards. His final 11, primarily on that sweep, went for 219 yards, including all five of his touchdown runs. Nine of those 11 carries went for at least 16 yards.
“My pulling guard, my favorite blocker, Ryan Wiaterowsi, he’s always out there and he moves guys with the first block and I can just read it and go from there,” Fox said. “Our line used a lot of anger that’s built up from all the losing, and they brought it out tonight.”
“That’s our Wing-T offense,” Bruza said. “We want to get those guards out there.”
Nanticoke expanded on its 6-0 lead early in the second quarter despite having those three touchdown runs called back because of penalties. Fox’s 19-yard scoring run made it 14-0. He then needed just one play for a 13-yard touchdown scamper after a bad punt snap set up the Trojans in the red zone. When Nanticoke’s Aiden Kolet ended Tunkhannock’s best offensive drive with an interception, Fox needed just two plays to cover all 35 yards for his fourth score.
And when the Tigers didn’t cover a squib kick and Nanticoke recovered, Fox needed just one snap to score on a sweep from 37 yards out. The Trojans scored three times in the final 4 minutes, and 8 seconds of the first half to turn a tight game into a mercy rule contest.
“We’ve overcome penalties and adversity all season,” Bruza said. “But they’re slowly learning how to win and how to overcome the adversity.”
“We don’t get our heads down after a bad play, like those touchdowns that were called back,” Fox said. “We just keep going strong.”
Now, Nanticoke is within a win of getting to .500 despite having only eight of its original 22 starters from the preseason still in the lineup. The Trojans’ win Friday was their second in three games and they close with contests against Holy Redeemer, Shamokin, and Hanover Area.
“We feel good, but we feel like we can still do way better,” Fox said. “We’re going to stay locked in and come play the last few games strong.”
“They’re gaining confidence,” Bruza said. “We’re not where we want to be and we’re playing with guys we maybe didn’t expect to be playing. But we’ve got some winnable games coming up and we have to keep getting ready.”
Nanticoke 42, Tunkhannock 7
Nanticoke 7 28 0 7 — 42
Tunkhannock 0 0 0 7 — 7
First Quarter
N – Zach Fox 49 run (kick blocked), :52
Second Quarter
N – Fox 19 run (Fox run), 6:26
N – Fox 13 run (kick failed), 4:08
N – Fox 16 run (Luke Stachowiak run), :50
N – Fox 37 run (Sophia Lukowski kick), :39
Fourth Quarter
T – Colin Madan 49 pass from Joey Ross (Paige Adams kick), 6:29
N – Sam Petrini 34 run (Lukowski kick), 1:55
Nan Tun
First Downs 16 5
Rushes-Yards 42-405 22-5
Comp-Att-Int 0-1-0 5-12-1
Passing 0 129
Total Yards 405 134
Fumbles-Lost 2-1 1-0
Penalties-Yards 8-76 7-63
Individual statistics
Rushing: Nanticoke — Zach Fox, 18-243, 5 TDs; Mykal Julian, 11-63; Sam Petrini, 3-52, TD; Treston Allen, 8-44; Eugene Gyle, 2-3. Tunkhannock — Tenzen Lewis, 10-22; Caden Simmers, 4-5; Ethan Dominick, 1-3; Bobby Schultz, 1-2; Joey Ross, 4-(-9); Team, 2-(-18).
Passing: Nanticoke — Lucas Stachowiak, 0-1-0. Tunkhannock — Joey Ross, 5-12-1, 129 yds., TD.
Receiving: Nanticoke — None. Tunkhannock — Colin Madan, 4-126, TD; Gavin Montross, 1-3.
INTERCEPTIONS — Nanticoke, Aiden Kolet.
Records: Tunkhannock (1-6); Nanticoke (3-4).
