Ed Weaver

Five first half touchdowns by Selinsgrove’s Logan Leiby paved the way for the District IV South All-Star team in a 63-20 rout of the District IV North All-Star team in Friday’s 28th annual game put on by the South Williamsport Lions Club at South Williamsport’s Rodney K. Morgans Stadium.

18 seconds into the game Leiby connected with teammate Ricky Cope on a 53 strike putting the South up 7-0 following Elijah Hoffman’s extra point. Two minutes later Leiby threw his second scoring strike, this one to Line Mountain’s Brenden Cregger for 15 yards. After another two minutes, Leiby had his third touchdown pass, a 19-yard strike to teammate Jarrett Inch, and the South All-Stars were up 21-0.

Both teams traded scores in the second quarter starting with the North squad. Jersey Shore’s Elijah Shemory found the end zone from 5 yards out with 11:28 to cut it to 21-7 following North Penn-Mansfield’s Justin Kriner’s extra point. Leiby took back over for the South team, throwing his fourth touchdown to Bloomsburg’s Eric Foust from 15 yards out to push the score to 28-7 with 7:27 remaining until halftime.

The North answered back three minutes later as this time Shemory found North Penn-Mansfield’s Dylan Wesneski from 6 yards out to make it 28-14 after Kriner’s kick.

The South squad capped the half as Leiby connected with Cope again from 29 yards out, putting the South comfortably ahead 35-14 at intermission.

The South squad picked up right where they left off in the third and added three most scores in the quarter. Their first score came from Shikellamy’s Gabe Tilford on a 55-yard scamper with 7:02 remaining, followed by a 21-yard blocked punt return by Lewisburg’s Tony Dressler with 5:59. Then with 1:00 left, Shamokin’s Devin Pietkiewicz scored from 65 yards out.

The North squad sandwiched in a score as Montoursville’s William DeWald recovered a fumble and returned it 85 yards to the house. After the third quarter was over, the South All-Stars held a 56-20 lead.

The game’s final score came with 4:59 remaining as Tilford rumbled from 11 yards out to bring the final to 63-20 for the South squad, ending a three-year losing streak.

Leiby finished 9-for-12 with 241 yards and 5 touchdowns, Tilford carried the ball 13 times for 115 yards, and Cope led the receiving corps with 122 yards on 4 grabs.

Shemory was 20-for-48 for 269 yards with an interception and touchdown for the North and Wesneski caught 13 balls for 138 yards and a touchdown.

Photo provided by Coy Gobble, Towanda Daily Review.

The Wellsboro Hornet defense caused six (5 fumbles and 1 interception) Troy turnovers to improve to 5-0 after a 49-14 win on Friday, September 22.

The Hornets held Troy’s triple option offense in check the majority of the night while holding the Trojans to under 200 yards of total offense. Of the six turnovers caused, Wellsboro’s offense scored off four of those turnovers.

One thing that did hurt the Hornets on Friday was penalties. The Hornets were penalized 8 times for 65 yards in the first half, and 11 for 85 yards for the game. Head coach Matt Hildebrand knows he and the team must clean those up going forward.
“The score probably wasn’t indicative of how we played,” Hildebrand said. “I don’t think we played our best football tonight but I give a lot of credit to Troy though. Troy was definitely by far the most physical team we’ve played this season. They smacked us in the mouth early on. We benefited from their turnovers that put us in some good situations. Take those away and it’s a lot closer game. I knew coming in that Troy is a much better team than their record and they will win some games moving forward.”

While it took the Hornet offense some time to heat up, they still managed to put up 375 total yards. After two Troy drives to start the game, both ending in punts, senior Quinn Henry scampered through the Troy defense for 44 yards to put Wellsboro up 7-0 with 4:57 remaining in the first after senior Nic Ingerick’s extra point.

Troy immediately answered back as a 29-yard kick return by Ja Wallace and a 45-yard run by Tyler Williams put the ball at the Wellsboro 8-yard line. Clark Jackson called his own number and tied the game up just 33 seconds later.

The Hornets mounted an 8-play drive after Troy’s score to retake the lead. A 22-yard run by sophomore Aidan Hauser on the fourth play of the drive got the ball to the Troy 20. Another 7 yard run by Hauser moved the ball to the 13, but the Hornets went in reverse on a negative run and 2 penalties. Faced with a fourth-and-long from the Troy 26, Henry connected with senior Dalton Prough, who went up and over his defender to haul in the touchdown with 2:20 remaining in the first. Hauser ran in the two-point conversion to put the Hornets in front 15-7.

Wellsboro’s next three scores all came off of Troy fumbles.

The first score came with 1:04 left in the first quarter as Henry connected with Hauser from 42 yards out one play after the turnover. The Hornets went for two and Henry connected with sophomore Karter Witmer to put Wellsboro up 23-7. After another lost fumble to close out the first, the Hornets took ove at the Troy 27. After being hit with a holding penalty, Henry rushed for 20 yards down to the 15-yard line and senior Chase Moser scored on the next play to bring the score to 29-7.
Midway through the second the Hornet defense caused yet another Troy fumble, but this time sophomore Zach Florio scooped it up and returned it 42 yards for a touchdown. Ingerick’s extra point split the upright and the Hornets led 36-7.
Troy coughed the ball up for a fourth time in the first half but the Hornets were unable to capitalize as they were hit with two penalties and were forced to punt.

Troy started the second half by recovering an onside kick and took over at midfield. A 35-yard run by Nate Martin put the Trojans in scoring position where Jackson again scored from 8 yards out to bring the score to 36-14 after Seldon Rogers’ kick. Wellsboro’s offense again got off to a slow start, but the defense was there to help them out.

After a Henry interception in the end zone, Troy started at their own 20-yard line, but a Michael Borden fumble gave the Hornets back the ball at the Troy 27. A 21 yard run by Henry got the ball to the 6 where Moser scored for the second time to make it 42-14 with 4:10 remaining. After a Troy punt on their next drive the Hornets tacked on 7 more points. Henry scored his second rushing touchdown, and the 48th of his career, from 27 yards out.

Henry finished with 139 yards rushing on 12 carries and was 10-for-16 through the air for 99 yards. Hauser finished with 89 yards rushing on 13 carries and caught 4 passes for 49 yards. Prough caught 3 balls for 38 yards and senior Alex Kozuhowski caught a pass for 9 yards.

Defensively, Moser and juniors Hunter Brown and Robert Brown all had 10 tackles each. Moser forced 2 fumbles, Hunter Brown recovered 3 fumbles, and senior Collin Pietropola recovered a fumble and made 6 tackles. Sophomore Silas Wagaman had an interception for Wellsboro.

“It was a good test for us tonight and I think moving ahead how the game unfolded it will serve us well,” continued Hildebrand. “The kids needed to be tested a little bit and have some adversity and see how they were going respond. I think the next couple of weeks, going down to Muncy on the road again, it’s going to be big for us to come out strong right from the get-go. We can’t let a team get up on us, we have to take care of it early.”

The win improves the Hornets to 5-0 (5-0 NTL Large School Division). Next up for the Hornets is a date with undefeated Muncy (5-0, 4-0 NTL Small School Division) on Friday, September 29.
“We’re happy being 5-0 it’s where we want to be sitting right now and we control our own destiny moving ahead,” concluded Hildebrand. “We just have to continue to press every week and get better. We have to clean up things, things were sloppy tonight. We have to clean up penalties, we can’t be in third-and-20’s, we don’t have a lot of good plays for that down and distance. From an offensive standpoint we have to clean that up. We’ll keep moving ahead and play our brand of football every week.”

The regular season is in the books and the Northern Tier League is now focused on playoffs. Troy and North Penn tied for the Division 1 title while South Williamsport won Division 2.

Wellsboro 28, North Penn 26

The Hornets rallied from a 20-14 deficit at halftime to beat North Penn for the third year in a row and retain the Morton F. Jones Memorial Trophy. After the Panthers scored on their opening drive on a two yard run by Bryce Zaparzynski, the Hornets answered back to trail 8-7. Senior Quarterback Michael Pietropola and Senior Running Back Levi Mack gained 13 yards and 11 yards, respectively on the first two plays before Pietropola hit Junior Anthony Cooper for a 21 yard pass completion. Pietropola then picked up three yards before hitting Cooper in the front of the end zone in front of two Panther defenders for the nine yard score. Senior Jack Chambers‘ kick split the uprights and the Hornets trailed 7-8 with 6:57 left in the opening frame.

North Penn would score on their next drive as Bo Burleigh hit Zaparzynski on a 33 yard pass down the sidelines to take a 14-7 lead. The Panthers would then extend their lead to 20-7 with just over three minutes remaining in the opening half as a Wellsboro fumble gave the Panthers excellent field position. Zaparzynski would score his third touchdown of the half on a five yard run. Wellsboro added a score right before the end of the half as Mack found the end zone from two yards out to bring the score to 20-14 North Penn.

The Hornets opened the second half with a score on their opening drive. The Hornets took to the ground for the majority of the drive as Pietropola, Mack, and Senior Jarret Dean to get the Hornets to the Panthers’ 43-yard line. From there Pietropola hit Smethers for a five yard gain followed by a eight yard gain by Dean to give the Hornets a first down on the North Penn 25-yard line. Pietropola hit Senior Nick Levindoski for 10 yards and then called his own number on his way to a 15 yard touchdown to put Wellsboro up 21-20 after Chambers’ extra point.

North Penn answered right back on their opening drive, aided by two costly Wellsboro penalties. Zaparzynski eventaully scored his third rushing touchdown from 13 yards out to go up 26-21 with 3:41 remaining in the third quarter. The Hornets would answer back and would take the lead for good on their next drive. Pietropola and Dean were the workhorses on the drive and got the Hornets to the Panthers’ 11-yard line before getting hit with a holding call. Smethers caught a four yard pass on first-and-20 and two plays later caught his only touchdown of the game from 16 yards out with 16 seconds left in the quarter. Chambers’ extra point gave the Hornets the 28-26 lead which they would hold on to.

Troy 23, Canton 8

The Trojans won the Old Shoe in the game’s 60th anniversary and also earned the NTL large school title (which they will share with North Penn) for the first time since 1988. Both teams went scoreless in the first quarter as they traded punts, but Troy struck with 11:56 to play in the second on a three yard run by Ben Sherman. Nick Stephani added the extra point to put the Trojans up 7-0. After a Canton fumble and two more punts, Troy increased their lead to 14-0 with 3:57 in the half as Diante Jones raced 70 yards down the right sideline for the touchdown to end the scoring for the first half.

Troy went up 17-0 midway through the third quarter on a 15 yard Stephani field goal. Canton would finally get on the scoreboard with 8:07 remaining in the game. After a few key passes from John Bowman, the Warriors would set up at the Trojan seven yard line for a first and goal. Noah Barnett ran in the easy seven yards for the score. The Warriors would go for the two-point conversion and add those extra points with a completed pass from Bowman to Malachi Washington to cut the Trojans’ lead to 17-8.

Troy would score once more on the night, with a 41-yard touchdown run from Chance Lantz with just over five minutes left in the game. This time, though, the PAT from Layton Calkins would fall short, setting the final score at 23-8.

Athens 49, Sayre 0

After a disappointing 2014 season, Athens won three of their final four games to finish the season on a high note as they shut out the Sayre Redskins in the Rusty Rail game. Athens quarterback Tyler Forbes had a big day, running 14 times for 164 yards and four scores and completing 3-of-5 passes for 73 yards.

Forbes scored his first touchdown of the night with 9:13 of the first quarter on a three yard run to give Athens the early lead. Peyton Lewis scored with 3:57 remaining in the first quarter to put Athens up 14-0 on a two yard run. Forbes struck again at 9:30 of the second quarter on an eight yard run and he ended the half with a 67 yard run.

In the third quarter Forbes scored again on an 18 yard run at 9:30 and then Brandon Sturzenegger got into the act at 3:40 with a five yard run. Kalen Keathley capped the scoring with 3:32 left in the game on a one yard run.

Athens finishes the 2014 season with a record of 4-6 while Sayre ends at 3-7.

Towanda 42, Wyalusing 10

The Black Knights earned a berth in District IV Class AA playoffs as they scored 35 unanswered points after falling behind early. Fumbles would be the Rams’ downfall as star running back Luke Jennings coughed the ball up four times on the night.

The Rams struck first on their opening drive as they would take a 3-0 lead on a 28 yard Warner Mendoza field goal after a 14 play drive. Towanda would answer right back, as Steven Yates busted off a 44-yard run followed by Noah Huff’s seven-yard touchdown run. Tyler Basse’s PAT made it 7-3. Wyalusing would answer back after Towanda’s score with a short, four play drive that started at their own 47-yard line. Justin Haley scored from two yards out at the 2:57 mark to put Wyalusing back up, 10-7. From that point on, Towanda’s defense turned up the intensity and shut out the Rams.

The next three drives all resulted in fumbles. First, Jennings fumbled the ball with Towanda recovering. Just three plays later, Towanda QB Noah Huff lost control of the ball giving the Rams possession. However, Jennings fumbled again on the next drive to give the ball back to the Black Knights.

Towanda would go up 14-10 on Wyalusing after Huff connected with Dylan Bates on a 10 yard pass before the first half ended. Towanda extended their lead on their opening possession of the second half as they put together an 11 play, 65 yard drive that culminated in a Huff sneak from the one-yard line and a 21-10 Towand lead with 7:00 left in the third quarter.

Another Jennings fumble on Wyalusing’s first play on their ensuing drive would set up the next score, as the Knights traveled 65 yards in eight plays. Huff again found Bates on a three yard pass, and Basse’s extra point made it 28-10 with 4:17 left in the third. The teams would trade punts into the fourth quarter before Huff again went to the air, connecting with Brandon McClinko on a 41-yard completion to the five. From there Yates went in to make it 35-10. The Knights closed out the scoring with Huff’s third touchdown pass, this time connecting with Tyler Vanderpool on a 38 yard pass, as Basse’s final PAT made it 42-10.

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Ed Weaver is the creator of WellsboroAthletics.com and WellsboroFootball.com. You can follow him on Twitter, friend him on Facebook, or add him to your circles on Google+.

Wellsboro 28, Towanda 21

Wellsboro recorded their second straight win over the Black Knights as they hung on for a 28-21 win. Towanda scored on their opening drive as they put together a six play drive that was capped by a 32 yard pass from Noah Huff to Dylan Bates to put the Black Knights up 7-0 with 8:16 remaining in the opening quarter. Wellsboro was unable to pick up a first down on their opening drive and were forced to punt the ball back to Towanda. The Wellsboro defense buckled down on Towanda’s next possession and forced them to punt on fourth down for their own 30-yard line.

Wellsboro scored on their second possession to even the score. After a one yard pass from Senior Quarterback Michael Pietropola to Senior Wide Receiver Kieron Smethers, Pietropola found a seam in the Towanda defense and raced 86 yards to the end zone. Senior Jack Chambers‘ made the extra point to tie the game at 7-7.

Again, the Hornet defense stepped up and forced a three-and-out after sacking Huff for a seven yard loss. A 23 yard punt return by Junior Anthony Cooper gave the Hornets excellent field position inside the Towanda 25-yard line. Dean got the Hornets down to the six-yard line on a 16 yard run before Pietropola connected with Smethers for a six yard touchdown as time expired in the first quarter to take a 14-7 lead.

The Hornet defense forced their first of five turnovers on the night as they dropped Steven Yates for a four yard loss and caused a fumble after Towanda moved inside the Wellsboro 25-yard line after a 33 yard kick return by Huff set them up at the 50-yard line. The Hornets went right back to work as Pietropola scrambled for 24 yards and then connected on a 25 yard pass to Senior Nick Levindoski to move into Towanda territory.

Following an incomplete pass, Pietropola picked up a first down on a 10 yard run and Dean broke free on runs of 17 and four yards to put the Hornets at the Towanda 2-yard line. The following play, Pietropola ran over a Black Knight defender for his second touchdown of the night. Chambers made the extra point and the Hornets led 21-7 with 7:13 left in the first half.

The Hornets and Black Knight traded possessions for the rest of the second quarter and Wellsboro took a 21-7 lead into the half.

The Wellsboro defense caused their second caused their second turnover and scored six points of their own as they dropped Huff for a four yard loss and caused him to fumble. Smethers was in the right place at the at the right time as he picked up the loose football and ran the remaining 29 yards to give Wellsboro a 28-7 lead with 6:08 left in the third quarter.

Towanda found life in the fourth quarter as they put up 14 points to cut into the Hornets lead. Noah Huff and Steven Yates were able to find running lanes in the Wellsboro defense. Huff’s one yard run and kick by Tyler Basse brought the score to 28-14 Wellsboro with 7:34 remaining in the game. Yates scored late in the quarter to bring the score to 28-21, but Towanda’s onside kick attempt following the touchdown failed to go the required 10 yards giving Wellsboro the ball and the win.

Canton 52, Cowanesque Valley 27

The Canton Warriors rushed for over 350 yards and six touchdowns as they handed the visiting Cowanesque Valley Indians their fifth consecutive loss.

Canton struck first as Noah Barnett returned the game’s opening kickoff 80 yards for a touchdown. Trevor Route, the hero from last week’s 37-36 victory over North Penn, missed his first extra point attempt and Canton led, 6-0.

CV would answer Canton’s opening score with one of their own on their opening drive. Ethan Mead scored his first of two touchdowns as he scampered all over the field from his 19-yard line to tie the game at 6-6. One play later Mead converted the extra point try to give CV their only lead on the night at 7-6.

The score remained 7-6 CV until Barnett scored his first rushing touchdown of the night from 65 yards out to give the Warriors the lead back. Jimmy Bowman put Canton up 14-7 as he received a direct snap on the extra point try and found the end zone for the two-point conversion.

Canton would increase their lead by two early in the second quarter. After driving down to CV’s two-yard line and failing to convert on fourth down, Jimmy Bowman and Malachi Washington tackled Connor Calaman in the end zone for a safety. Canton failed to produce on the drive following the free kick and would turn the ball over on downs after a wide open Washington dropped a pass in the end zone on fourth down.

The Indians would put a few plays together before Calaman’s pass was intercepted by John Bowman. This time Canton would capitalize on the opportunity as Jimmy Bowman ran the ball three times for 53 yards on the drive and scored a two yard touchdown to put Canton up 22-7.

Canton scored once more before the first half concluded as John Bowman threw a 16 yard strike to Mason Moore in the corner of the end zone with 13 seconds left to put Canton up 34-7 as the teams hit the locker room.

Canton’s next scoring drive didn’t happen until late in the third quarter as Bryce Cole broke a 19 yard run to put the Warriors up 40-7 after a failed two-point conversion. CV would turn the ball back over on their next possession as John Bowman intercepted a Calaman pass to five the Warriors excellent field position. Washington would add his only score of the night as he plowed into the end zone from two yards out to put Canton up 46-7 as time ticked down in the third quarter.

Cowanesque would answer back on their following possession. Mead used his speed to torch Canton’s defense on a 70 yard run to make the score 46-13 Canton after the two-point conversion failed. The Indians would get the ball back as Joey Brown recovered a Canton fumble to give CV excellent field position. The Indians took advantage of the opportunity and pulled to within 46-19 after Bell scored from six yards out.

Canton struck again on their following drive as Barnett found the end zone for his third rushing touchdown as he found the end zone from 24 yards out to give the Warriors a 52-19 lead. Cowanesque would score one more time. Calaman kept the ball and swept around the left end for a 70 yard score. Bell would convert the two-point conversion as the score would be 52-27.

North Penn 36, Wyalusing 15

Following a last-second, 37-36 loss to Canton last week, North Penn kept their perfect NTL Division 1 record intact as they handed the Wyalusing Rams the loss. North Penn’s leading rusher Bryce Zaparzynski was out of the lineup, but Levi Christman stepped in to lead the Panthers in rushing and receiving yards on the night and scored three touchdowns.

Christman started the scoring as he recovered a fumble as ran it 27 yards to the end zone for the score. The Panthers’ ensuing two-point conversion attempt failed and they led 6-0 with 9:05 remaining in the opening frame. Five minutes later Christman found the end zone again, this time on a 22 yard run. Dayton Wood caught Bo Burleigh’s two-point conversion pass to put the Panthers up 14-0.

Wyalusing cut into the Panthers’ lead with 10:30 remaining in the first half as Luke Jennings found the end zone from 13 yards out. Werner Mendoza converted the extra point to make it 14-7 North Penn.

Wyalusing would be dealt a huge blow later in the quarter as Jennings would exit with an injury after tallying 78 yards on 18 carries and would not return. The junior has rushed for 1,664 yards and 20 touchdowns in 2014 including four 200+ yard games and one 300+ yard game.

The teams traded possessions for the remainder of the second quarter before Burleigh connected with Wood on a five yard touchdown pass with 51 seconds remaining. Brad Pequignot ran in the two-point try to make it 22-7 North Penn at the half.

The game stayed 22-7 into the fourth when Christman caught a three yard pass from Burleigh and Luke Kelly caught the two-point try from Burleigh to extend the Panthers’ lead to 30-7 with 9:45 remaining in the game. Wyalusing got the points back just a minute later when Ryan Kipp ran in from 24 yards. Justin Haley ran in the two-point conversion to make it 30-15 North Penn.

The Panthers capped the scoring with 2:25 left in the fourth quarter as Kelly caught a 18 yard pass from Burleigh to give the Panthers the 36-15 win.

Troy 38, Athens 28

Troy won their eighth game of 2014 after defeating an Athens team that was on the rebound after winning their previous two games. Troy struck first after both teams traded opening possessions that ended in punts. Nick Stephani and Brandon Mattocks rotated running the ball on Troy’s second possession, setting them up at the Athens 12-yard line. From there, Chance Lantz busted through the middle and into the end zone for the first score on the night. With 4:55 left in the quarter, Stephani’s extra point would make it 7-0.

The Wildcat offense answered right back within the next minute. On third-and-10 on their own 25, Tyler Forbes completed a 75 yard pass to Kalen Keathley for a touchdown with only 3:49 to play. The Trojans would keep their lead at 7-6 as Austin Lister’s extra point attempt would fall short. Troy extended their lead to 14-6 on their next drive as they continued to run the football. Ben Sherman and QB Isaac Havens tossed in some yards along with Stephani and Mattocks, bringing the ball to the Athens five-yard line for a first and goal before Lantz found the end zone for the second time on the night.

Troy then went up 21-6 as Havens would keep the ball and run 46 yards for the touchdown with 9:53 remaining in the opening half. Athens cut the lead to 21-14 as Forbes connected with Lister on a 16 yard pass to finish the Wildcats’ 11-play drive. The Wildcats would then set up for the extra point, but they went for the fake as Aaron Barry completed a pass to Bill Bennett for the two-point conversion with the clock reading 4:54.

Troy added one more score before the half ended when Stephani scored from 20 yards out and kicked the extra point to take a 28-14 lead at the half. The Trojans added to their lead at the 6:20 mark of the third quarter as Stephani scored from 33 yards away and added the extra point as well to make the score 35-14 Troy.

Athens would rebound with 14 unanswered points in the fourth quarter. After forcing a Troy punt on fourth-and-24, Athens executed a quick, two play drive that ended with a Payton Lewis touchdown grab to bring the score to 35-21 Troy with 10:25 to go in the game. Just a few minutes later, Athens recovered a Mattocks fumble and regained possession at the Troy 37-yard line. Forbes worked his magic, throwing three complete passes until finally, at the three-yard line on first-and-goal, he ran it into the end zone for the easy score. Lister added the extra point, and with 8:29 to play in the game, the Wildcats cut the lead to 35-28.

Despite Athens’ attempts to stop the running game, Troy continued to eat up yards and found themselves outside of the Wildcats’ end zone. Athens stopped Troy on third down from the three-yard line, but Stephani added a short field goal to claim the 38-28 victory.

South Williamsport 55, Sayre 24

Senior Dominick Bragalone continued his stellar 2014 season as he rushed for 259 yards on 11 carries to lead the Mounties to a blowout 55-24 win against the Redskins. Bragalone started the scoring with 9:43 left in the first quarter as he scored from 25 yards to put the Mounties up 7-0 after Logan Wein’s kick. Bragalone then scored at 7:16 on a 32 yard run to make it 14-0.

With 4:16 left in the opening quarter South’s John Peters ran in a score from 11 yards out to make it 21-0 after the Wein point after. At the start of the second quarter Bragalone scored on a 47 yard run to put South up 27-0. Back-to-back four yard runs from Peters and quarterback Matt Boone made it 41-0. Boone would then hit Riley Thomas for a three yard scoring strike to take a 48-0 lead.

Sayre eventually got on the scoreboard with 2:14 left in the second quarter as J.P. Harbst ran the kickoff back 72 yards to cut the deficit to 48-8 as Matthew Ingrassia punched in the tw0-point conversion. South would score once more before the half ended as Boone hit Thomas on a 22 yard pass to go up 55-8.

The Redskins got two scores in the fourth quarter. The first came on a two yard run by Tylor Belles with 8:33 left to play. Gavin Lundy-McCutcheon hit Harbst for the two-point conversion to make it 55-16. Then with 4:03 left to play, Bradly Hatch ran in a touchdown from five yards out followed by Matthew Eberlin running in the point after to make it a 55-24 final.

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Ed Weaver is the creator of WellsboroAthletics.com and WellsboroFootball.com. You can follow him on Twitter, friend him on Facebook, or add him to your circles on Google+.

After week 8, there are no more unbeaten teams in the Northern Tier League.

Canton 37, North Penn 36

The Canton Warriors accomplished what no other team has been able to this past Friday night. Beat North Penn. The Warriors scored the game’s opening points late in the first quarter as Tyler Cole punched the ball in from two yards out after a making a big punt return a few plays earlier. After the extra point was missed, Canton held a 6-0 lead.

Canton’s lead would become short lived as just about two minutes later, North Penn’s Bryce Zaparzynski would score a two yard touchdown of his own and then he would convert the two-point conversion to put the Panthers up 8-6. Canton would answer back on their next drive. Cole scored his second touchdown of the night on a 39 yard run after he broke a few tackles to put the Warriors back up 12-8 after they failed to convert the two-point conversion.

North Penn would score twice more before the end of the half. Their first came on a pass from Bo Burleigh to Levi Christman for 27 yards. The conversion attempt failed and the Panthers held a 14-12 lead. That score would increase to 20-12 going into halftime as Burleigh set up a screen pass for Zaparzynski and he 28 yards for the score.

After a Canton fumble on their opening drive of the second half, Burleigh found Christman again in the end zone, this time for four yards to put the Panters up 28-12 after a successful two-point conversion.

From that point on, Canton would score 18 unanswered points to get back into the game. Their first score came on a four yard carry by Noah Barnett with 8:27 left in the third quarter. The two-point attempt failed and North Penn held a 28-18 lead. Cole scored his third rushing touchdown to bring the score to 28-24 on a seven yard run. Canton would eventually take the lead with 1:41 remaining in the game.

The Warriors took control with 6:15 remaining and used the majority of the clock along with converting three third down conversions to eventually find the end zone for the go-ahead touchdown. Cole pounded in his fourth touchdown of the game from 10 yards out. The point after was no good as Canton took a 30-28 lead. North Penn bounced back after being aided by Canton penalties to regain the lead. Burleigh hit Dayton Wood on a 29 yard pass and run in the two-point conversion to take a 36-30 lead with 1:05 remaining.

The Warriors had 75 yards to go, no timeouts, and were without Cole who was ejected from the game on a personal foul on the previous drive. Neither of these things were a factor for the Canton offense who used two huge pass plays, one on third down between Bowman and Bryce Cole for 21 yards and another between Cole and Travis Butcher for 25 yards. The Warriors’ first attempt at a game winner was placed just out of the reach of Moore. The second attempt, with just seven seconds left on the clock, could not have been placed any better.

Bowman threw a ball over the defender’s head and over the shoulder of Moore who would haul it in to tie the game at 36 all. The game was won behind the foot of Route who converted the game winning point after.

Wyalusing 38, Wellsboro 28

The Wellsboro Green Hornets suffered their second NTL Division 1 loss on the year as Wyalusing rushed for 294 yards. The Green Hornets struck first as Levi Mack found the end zone from nine yards out to put the Hornets up 7-0 after Jack Chambers made the extra point with 5:04 remaining in the first quarter.

Wyalusing would answer back after they pinned Wellsboro in their own territory and forced a bad punt. Luke Jennings found the end zone for the first time on the night as he took the ball 24 yards to the house to tie the game at 7-7 with 10:25 remaining in the second quarter. The Hornets would rebound on their following drive to take back the lead. After a few runs by Mack and a 16 yard gain by Senior Quarterback Michael Pietropola on fourth down, Pietropola hit Mack on a middle screen that got Wellsboro down to the Rams nine-yard line. On the next play Pietropola found Junior Anthony Cooper in the back of the end zone. The snap on the extra point was bad but Freshman Quinn Henry picked the ball up and hit Junior Nick Tremper for a two-point conversion to take a 15-7 lead with 7:00 remaining in the first half.

The Rams would bring the score to 15-14 five plays later as Ryan Kipp scored from nine yards out. Wyalusing would then take the lead with 14 seconds left in the first half on a 30 yard field goal by Warner Mendoza to take a 17-15 lead at the half after the Rams got the ball inside the Wellsboro 10-yard line after another bad punt.

Wyalusing would score on their first drive of the second half as Jennings caught a pass from Justin Haley and raced 77 yards to the end zone to go up 24-15 with 10:26 remaining in the third quarter. Wellsboro would answer back on their opening drive as Pietropola converted passes to Seniors Nick Levindoski and Nick Marple and with a 16 yard run by Mack, the Hornets found themselves on the Wyalusing six-yard line before Pietropola found Senior Kieron Smethers to trail Wyalusing 24-21.

Jennings found the end zone for the third time, after the Rams forced back-to-back turnovers, as he carried the football 17 yards to put the Rams up 31-21 with 6:30 remaining in the game. Wellsboro would take to the air on their next drive and found themselves at the Rams’ five-yard line after Pietorpola hit Smethers with a 39 yard pass. After a Wyalusing penalty in the end zone moved the ball to the three-yard line, Pietropola ran the ball in a touchdown two plays later and the Hornets trailed 31-28. The score would be the Hornets last on the night.

Wyalusing put the nail in the coffin on the next drive when Jennings snuck through the Hornets defense for a 52 yard touchdown on third-and-two to take the 38-28 lead.

Sayre 48, Montgomery 19

After being tied 13-13 at the half, Sayre scored out scored the Red Raiders 35-6 in the second half to claim the NTL Division 2 victory. Sayre scored five straight touchdowns, starting with a 23-yard William Hudock run at the 10:20 mark of the third quarter. After the JP Harbst point after, Sayre led 20-13. A Matt Ingrassia 5-yard run five minutes later put the Redskins up 27-13 after Harbst’s kick, then 10 seconds into the fourth quarter Ward scored on a 23-yard touchdown run to make it 34-13 after Harbst’s point after. Ingrassia then scored on a 21-yard touchdown run followed by Harbst punching one in from a yard out to put Sayre up 48-13.

Montgomery scored their lone points of the second half on a 36 yard touchdown strike from Sergi Cole to Keanu Sauers with no time left on the clock to make it a 48-19 final.

Troy 43, Towanda 28

It was the tale of two halves between Troy and Towanda. The first half of Friday’s game was the Noah Huff show as the Towanda quarterback scored three touchdowns and racked up more than 250 yards of total offense in the half. Troy had few answers for Huff and weren’t able to get anything going offensively as they trailed 21-0.

After the half everything changed as the Trojans scored 43 second-half points on their way to a 43-28 victory on Friday night in Towanda’s Homecoming game. The second half started out with a bang for Troy as Brandon Mattocks took the opening kickoff back 91 yards and just 11 seconds into the half Troy had cut the 21-0 deficit to 21-7. The Trojans cut into the lead even more later in the third quarter when Nick Stephani scored on a 10-yard run with 3:42 left in the quarter. The extra point failed and it was 21-13 Towanda.

Early in the fourth quarter the Trojans tied the ball as Ben Sherman ran in from 24 yards out and Mattocks had the two-point run. With 11:05 left in the fourth it was 21-21. Just over a minute later Troy took the lead as Towanda went to punt from deep in their own territory and Schucker busted in and blocked the kick for the safety to make it 23-21. Troy took the kick after the safety and went right back to work as Sherman ran in from 51 yards out and just 51 seconds after they took the lead the Trojans were up 30-21 after the Stephani extra point.

Towanda got back to within two points as Huff raced 80 yards to the end zone to bring the score to 30-28. Troy added two more scores to finish off the night, both by Mattocks. Mattocks scored on a 16 yard run with 5:38 left and the extra point failed after picking up nine yards on a fake punt on fourth down and with 3:05 left Mattocks had a 54 yard scoring run to close out the game.

Athens 40, Cowanesque Valley 0

A week after defeating Wyalusing, Athens kept their momentum alive as they shut out Cowanesque Valley. The Wildcats wasted no time in keeping the momentum on their side as Brandon Sturzenegger gave the Indians a raw deal on his 64-yard touchdown for a score with a run down the sideline on the second play of the game. Austin Lister added the PAT for an early 7-0 lead. The Indians responded on the following kickoff as Ethan Mead returned the ball down to the Wildcats’ nine-yard line, but were unable to produce any points.

Athens then turned to Sturzenegger, the Wildcats’ running man, on the next series. Sturzenegger carried the ball seven times on the 12-play drive for 41 yards before scoring on a three yard run. Tyler Forbes narrowly missed scoring on the conversion attempt as he slid just outside of the left side pylon. CV responded with an 11-play drive with Mead carrying the ball seven times for 27 yards and Connor Calaman adding 20 yards on three carries. However, once again, the Wildcat defense tightened up in the red zone and stop the Indians on downs at the 15-yard line.

Athens scored to make it 20-0 when Tyler Forbes converted on third-and-10 at their own 15-yard line when he hit Kalen Keathley, who raced 85 yards for a touchdown just before the end of the first half. Athens and CV traded possessions for much of the second half before the Wildcats’ Payton Lewis scored to make it 33-0 in the fourth quarter. A few minutes later, Lewis broke tackles up the middle of the CV defense before getting away with an 87 yard touchdown with just over a minute left in the game to push the score to 40-0.

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Ed Weaver is the creator of WellsboroAthletics.com and WellsboroFootball.com. You can follow him on Twitter, friend him on Facebook, or add him to your circles on Google+.

The Wellsboro Varsity Football team dropped their second game of the year as they lost 38-28 to Wyalusing on Friday, October 17.

For the second week in a row the Hornets got off to a strong start but found themselves trailing late in the game. Unlike last week against Bloomsburg, however, the magical comeback was not in the cards. After trading opening drives the Hornets struck first at 5:04 in the first quarter.

The Hornets put together an eight play drive that covered 62 yards. Senior Running Back Levi Mack put the Hornets up 7-0 after Senior Jack Chambers’ extra point on a nine yard run. Wyalusing put together a long, 10 play drive but the Hornet defense eventually forced the Rams to punt the ball away just inside of the Hornets’ 40-yard line. Pinned deep in their own territory, Wellsboro could not get anything going and would give Wyalusing a short field to set up their first score after a bad punt.

Three plays later, Running Back Luke Jennings found the end zone for the first time on the night as he took the ball 24 yards to the house to tie the game at 7-7 with 10:25 remaining in the second quarter. The Hornets would rebound on their following drive to take back the lead. After a few runs by Mack and a 16 yard gain by Senior Quarterback Michael Pietropola on fourth down, Pietropola hit Mack on a middle screen that got Wellsboro down to the Rams nine-yard line. On the next play Pietropola found Junior Anthony Cooper in the back of the end zone. The snap on the extra point was bad but Freshman Quinn Henry picked the ball up and hit Junior Nick Tremper for a two-point conversion to take a 15-7 lead with 7:00 remaining in the first half.

The Rams went right back to work on the ensuing drive. The Rams ran the ball five times on the drive highlighted by a 27 yard run by Jennings. Ryan Kipp eventually found the end zone from nine yards out to bring the score to 15-14 with 4:59 remaining in the half. The Hornets next drive ended ended in just five plays as Pietropola was intercepted for the team’s first turnover of the night. Wyaluinsg was unable to capitalize, however, and Wellsboro would get the ball back.

The Hornets could not generate any offense on their next drive and were forced to punt, but a bad snap gave the ball back to the Rams on the Hornets’ six-yard line. Wellsboro’s defense held and kept the Rams out of the end zone. Wyalusing lined up and converted a 30 yard field goal to take a 17-15 lead with 14 seconds left in the half.

Wyalusing received the second half kick and added to their lead as Jennings caught a 77 yard pass from from Justin Haley to go up 24-15 with 10:26 remaining in the third quarter.

The Hornets would bounce back on their following drive. Pietropola converted passes to Seniors Nick Levindoski and Nick Marple and with a 16 yard run by Mack, the Hornets found themselves on the Wyalusing six-yard line before Pietropola found Senior Kieron Smethers to trail Wyalusing 24-21.

With new energy the Hornets forced a turnover on Wyalusing’s next drive. Wyalusing took to the ground again and eventually found themselves at the Wellsboro 38-yard line before Marple intercepted Haley’s next pass and returned it 37 yards to set up the Hornets on the Rams 39-yard line.

After Pietropola’s opening pass fell incomplete, Mack rattled off a seven yard run and Cooper fumbled the ball back to Wyalusing on the next play to end the scoring threat. The Hornets defense would hold again as they eventaully stopped the Rams on fourth down to get the ball back at their own 20-yard line, but another turnover, this time by Mack after a 15 yard run, gave Wyalusing the ball back at the Wellsboro 36-yard line.

Jennings found the end zone for the third time as he carried the football 17 yards to put the Rams up 31-21 with 6:30 remaining in the game.

Wellsboro would take to the air on their next drive and found themselves at the Rams’ five-yard line after Pietorpola hit Smethers with a 39 yard pass. After a Wyalusing penalty in the end zone moved the ball to the three-yard line, Pietropola ran the ball in a touchdown two plays later and the Hornets trailed 31-28. The score would be the Hornets last on the night.

Wyalusing put the nail in the coffin on the next drive when Jennings snuck through the Hornets defense for a 52 yard touchdown on third-and-two to take the 38-28 lead.

Pietropola completed 20-of-37 passes for 230 yards and two touchdowns. Mack was the leading rusher with 64 yards and a touchdown on 14 carries, and Marple led the team with 10 catches for 99 yards for a new Wellsboro Football Varsity Record*. Smethers caught four passes for 57 yards and a touchdown, Levindoski caught three passes for 24 yards, and Cooper caught one pass nine yards and a touchdown.

Defensively, Tremper recorded 18 tackles, Mack had 10 tackles, and Senior Ben Davis had nine.

With the loss, the Hornets fall to 6-2 (1-2 NTL Division 1). The team will be back in action next Friday, October 24 as they host Towanda.

* – Records may not be accurate to date due to incomplete stats. If you know of a record not currently listed on this page, or have game statistics or film from previous years, please contact us.

After week 7, the North Penn Panthers have taken sole possession of the NTL Division 1 standings.

North Penn 44, Troy 33

The Panthers spoiled Troy’s Homecoming and knocked them from the ranks of the unbeatens in a back-and-forth game. After both team’s opening drives stalled North Penn opened the score fest as Panther quarterback Bo Burleigh connected with Bryce Zaparzynski on a three yard swing pass with 18 seconds left in the first to go up 6-0. Troy answered back on an eight yard run from Ben Sherman and would take a 7-6 lead after Nick Stephani’s extra point split the uprights.

North Penn would counter with a 10 play, 75 yard drive keyed by a 30 yard completion from Burleigh to Zaparzynski. Burleigh would then take it in himself from 3 yards out, and his 2-point conversion pass put them back on top 14-7 with 4:33 left till half. Troy bounced right back to tie up the game at 14-14 as Chance Lantz found the end zone from three yards out.

North Penn got the ball back and scored 90 seconds later as Burleigh connected with Luke Kelly on a 55-yard strike with Kelly dragging a Troy defender the final five yards into the end zone. Brad Pequignot ran in the two-point try, and it was 22-14 North Penn with only 34 seconds left until half. Troy’s Diante Jones answered back on a 65 yard burst to get the Trojans trailing within two points at 22-20.

North Penn started the second half with a 61 yard touchdown from Burleigh to Zaparzynski that would put the Panthers up 30-20. Jones brought the Trojans back to within 30-26 at the 7:12 mark of the third quarter with a 31 yard scoring sprint one play after returning the ensuing kick 50 yards. The Panther series saw Burleigh connect with Kelly again for a 66 yard gain that would set up another Zaparzynski run to go back up, 36-26.

Troy again bounced back thanks to a short field on a 55 yard run by Jones to trail 36-33 until North Penn would ice the game Burleigh found Dayton Wood for a 24 yard score.

Burleigh threw for a record 405 yards and 4 touchdowns passes and Luke Kelly had six catches for 171 yards and a score. Diante Jones had 14 carries for 175 yards and two scores for Troy.

Wellsboro 28, Bloomsburg 24

After getting knocked out the previous week against Troy with a shoulder injury, Wellsboro’s Michael Pietropola came off the sidelines for the final drive after Sophomore Quarterback Brandon Lamphier was sidelined to throw a game-winning 15 yard touchdown pass to Senior Kieron Smethers.

The Hornets found the end zone first on the night as Levi Mack ripped off a 52 yard run to go up 7-0 with 5:37 remaining in the first quarter following Jack Chambers‘ extra point. Bloomsburg would get on the scoreboard with 12 seconds remaining in the opening quarter as Sam Miller returned a Mack fumble for 64 yards. Wellsboro’s defense would block the extra point attempt to set the score at 7-6 Wellsboro.

The Hornets again traded offensive drives before the Lamphier found Smethers for a nine yard touchdown after Mack got the Hornets into the red zone after a 43 yard run. Following Chambers’ extra point with 1:27 remaining in the first half the Hornets led 14-6 at the half.

Bloomsburg came alive in the second half to score 18 unanswered points to eventually take the lead over Wellsboro. Quarterback Coty Kashner tied the game on a one yard run at 14-14 after a successful two-point conversion with 6:58 left in the third quarter. Bloomsburg took a 21-14 with 10:27 remaining in the game on a 34 yard pass from Kashner to Brandon Breisch. The Panthers added a 26 yard field goal with just over four minutes remaining to push their lead to 10 points before the Hornets got back into gear.

A 50 yard kick return up the Wellsboro sidelines by Marple energized the struggling Hornet offense as Lamphier threw his second touchdown pass, this one being a 36 yarder to Marple to bring the team within three points as the visiting team trailed 24-21 with 3:50 remaining. From that point on the Wellsboro defense came alive to force the Panthers to punt the ball back to Wellsboro for the final drive of the night.

The Hornets started at their own 25-yard line. Lamphier’s first down pass fell incomplete but the Sophomore gained 15 tough yards on second down to set the team up with a first down at the 40. Senior Dylan Widows caught an 11 yard Lamphier pass to give Wellsboro another first down before Lamphier would exit on the next play after getting sacked. Pietropola entered the game and connected with Smethers on a 42 yard pass to get the Hornets down to the Panthers’ 15-yard line before connecting with him for the game’s final touchdown with 57 seconds remaning to claim the 28-24 win.

Pietropola was 2-4 for 57 yards and one touchdown. Mack had his third 100 yard game as he put up 140 yards on 19 carries and a touchdown. Smethers caught five passes for 79 yards and two touchdowns and Marple caught two passes for 69 yards and a touchdown.

Next week, the Hornets, 6-1 (1-1 NTL Division 1), take to the road for the final time in 2014 against Wyalusing.

 Athens 34, Wyalusing 28

Athens ended a five-game losing streak as they defeated the Rams on the road. Wyalusing’s Dylan Otis scored from one yard out with 5:21 remaining in the first quarter to put Wyalusing up 7-0. The Rams increased their lead to 14-0 with 11:06 left in the first half as Luke Jennings scored on a 10 yard run.

Athens would get on the scoreboard with 3:38 remaining in the first half. Tyler Forbes connected with Kalen Kealthley on a 66 yard pass to bring the Wildcats to within 14-6 after the extra point bounced off the uprights.

Athens came back to tie the game up at 14-14 in the third quarter when Brandon Sturzenegger found the end zone from six yards out. From there, it was a score fest as Wyalusing quickly answered back. Jennings scored on an 11 yard run with 2:27 left in the quarter to put the Rams up 20-14. Keathley then took the ensuing kick and returned it 75 yards to tie the game at 20-20 for the Wildcats.

Keathley scored another touchdown, this time on a 45 yard pass from Forbes to go up 28-20 after the Rams had a short punt after being stopped on third down. The Rams would score again on their next drive as Justin Haley would complete the 53 yard touchdown pass to Jennings with 9:32 remaining in the game.

Athens would go for the winning score on the following drive. A key pass from Forbes to Lister set Athens up at the Wyalusing 27, which would soon prove to be good scoring position. A few plays later, and on third and fifteen, Forbes would complete another pass, this time to Bill Bennett, for the score with 5:59 remaining in the fourth quarter.

Athens (2-5, 1-3 NTL Division 1) will travel to Cowanesque and Wyalusing will host Wellsboro in week 8.

Canton 51, Montgomery 6

Canton racked up over 500 yards of total offense while holding Montgomery to just 159 to take the NTL Division 2 win. Canton was led both offensively and defensively by junior Noah Barnett. Barnett rushed 11 times for 113 yards and three touchdowns. He also had 56 receiving yards and a receiving touchdown to bring his total to four scores on the game. He also came up big on the defensive side of the ball with an interception.

Canton’s senior quarterback, John Bowman threw the ball efficiently all evening. He completed all but one pass going 6-for-7 for 173 yards and two scores. Barnett and Malachi Washington were on the receiving ends of Bowman’s touchdown passes.

Canton scored just three plays into the game as Bowman tossed a ball to his right into the hands of Barnett who would go 56 yards untouched for the opening touchdown of the game. Tyler Cole scored the second Warrior touchdown after Montgomery was held on third down. Cole took the ball from Bowman five yards out, lowered his shoulder knocking down a Montgomery defender as he stepped into the end zone.

Canton scored again just a few plays later as Barnett scored from five yards out to extend the Warriors lead. Canton pushed their lead to 26-0 as Malachi Washington caught a 70 yard Bowman pass over a Red Raider defender. The Canton defense held Montgomery to another three-and-out and on the following punt, Tyler Cole took the punt on the left side of the field, changed directions, hit the right side corner as he picked up a few key blocks and would take the punt 60 yards into the end zone.

The Warriors led 45-0 at halftime, and would add another touchdown at the beginning of the fourth quarter as Bryce Cole would rattle off a 30 yard touchdown run to put Canton up 51-6 after Montgomery scored on a run by Montgomery quarterback Sergi Cole.

Canton (3-4, 2-2 NTL Division 2) will host North Penn next Friday and Montgomery (2-5, 1-1 NTL Division 2) will host Sayre.

Muncy 34, Sayre 8

Muncy ran for 368 yards as they easily defeated Sayre for the NTL Division 2 victory. Dakota Nixon led the Indians with 23 carries for 195 yards and Junior Ramos gained 160 yards on 12 carries.

Ramos started the scoring at 7:20 of the first half on a 12-yard run and Nixon keyed the drive with 41 yards on four carries. Nixon scored on a one-yard run at :57 of the quarter after a one yard Sayre punt gave Muncy the ball at the Sayre 20-yard line. Nixon scored on a two-yard run at 9:34 of the second quarter and Nixon had the two-point run. Ramos scored on a six-yard run at 1:38 and the kick was good to make it 27-0.

Ramos had a 23-yard touchdown run in the fourth at 3:16 and Nixon hit the extra point for the final Muncy score. Muncy’s drive was keyed by the 23-yard scoring run and also a 31-yard run by Ramos.

Sayre scored with 2:56 left when J.P. Harbst hit Chris Ray on a 55-yard touchdown on a halfback option pass.

Michael Ward led Sayre with 13 carries for 75 yards and Harbst ran for 75 yards on seven carries. Garrett Weaver had six carries for 17 yards, William Hudock ran for seven yards and Matthew Ingrassia gained five yards.

Harbst was 1-for-1 for 55 yards for Sayre and Marshall Felt was 1-for-8 for four yards, while Gavin McCutcheon was 3-for-7 for 19.

Jeff Fry was 4-for-15 for 53 yards passing for Muncy, with Maurice Brown grabbing three balls for 53 yards.

Towanda 38, Central Columbia 28

The Black Knights were led by a trifecta of seniors offensively who accounted for all of the team’s offense on the night. Noah Huff ran for 186 yards and three touchdowns on 21 carries and also threw for 40. Fellow senior captain Steven Yates also went over the century mark on the ground, going for 101 while senior Dylan Bates ran for 65 yards and two touchdowns and also hauled in three of Huff’s seven completions on the evening.

The first half was back-and-forth with the game being tied at 21-21 at halftime. In the second half, Towanda received the opening kick and put together a 10 play, 64 yard drive that took over four minutes was capped by Bates’ second touchdown of the game to put Towanda up for good at 28-21.

Central had to punt on its ensuing drive and Towanda got a 27 yard return from Yates to set up their drive from the Central 27-yard line. Central stopped the Black Knights inside the 5 and Towanda settled for a 22-yard field goal by Tyler Basse to go up two scores, 31-21.

The Blue Jays answered back just before the end of the third quarter with a short drive capped by Koch’s second touchdown run of the night from 15 yards to cut the lead to three, 31-28.

From there, Towanda put together another 10-play drive but this one was stopped by Central when Williams intercepted Huff, giving Central the ball at its own 15. The Blue Jays then put together a near 5-minute drive that featured two outstanding catches by Williams, including one for 26 yards that was a simultaneous possession with the Towanda defensive back to set up Central at the Towanda 48. But from there, the drive stalled as Williams was dropped for a loss on a second down running play and then Shannon was sacked by a blitzing Kalob Benjamin on fourth down.

Rather than trying to run out the clock, with Central still having two timeouts remaining, Huff ended up getting loose up the middle for a 31-yard run for his third touchdown of the night to put the game away with just over two minutes left.

Towanda (5-2, 1-1 NTL Division 1) will now host Troy in week 8.

South Williamsport 56, Cowanesque Valley 19

The South Williamsport Mounties (6-1, 2-0 NTL Division 2) scored 56 first half points as they defeated Cowanesque 56-19 on Friday, October 10.

Riley Thomas got South on the scoreboard early as he caught a 53 yard touchdown from Matt Boone just 10 seconds in and Logan Wein made the extra point to make it 7-0.

Dominick Bragalone broke the 2,000 yard barrier for the second consecutive year as the standout running back tallied 161 yards and two scores on only seven carries. The senior scored the next two South touchdowns, the first on a 26 yard run and the second on a 46 harder to put South up 21-0 with 5:36 remaining in the first quarter.

Thomas found the end zone for a second time on the night at the 3:18 mark of the first quarter on a 70 yard punt return to put South up 28-0 and John Peters scored on a 35 yard run with one second left in the quarter to make it 35-0 South.

South went to the air in the second quarter as Boone would throw for three scores before the half ended. With 9:17 left in the opening half as Tyler Schonewolfe caught an 11 yard touchdown from Boone to make it 42-0. With 6:04 remaining, Thomas caught a nine-yard pass from Boone to make it 49-0 following the extra point, and Brock Jones caught a 26 yard pass with 2:54 remaining to put South up 56-0.

The Indians found the end zone for the first time with 2:16 remaining in the third quarter as Connor Callaman scored on a 45 yard run. Zane Fuller’s extra point attempt failed and CV trailed 56-6. CV scored twice more on an 11 yard run by Joey Brown and Cory Wells caught a 37 yard pass from Brown to bring the final score to 56-19.

Boone was 10-for-13 passing for 186 yards and four scores for South and Brown was 3-for-7 for 78 yards and a score for CV.

Bragalone ran for 161 yards and two scores on seven carries and Peters had three carries for 75 yards and a score. Brendan Bell had 10 carries for 20 yards for CV, Callaman had 53 yards on seven carries and Caleb Robbins ran four times for 29 yards.

Thomas hauled in five passes for 122 yards and two scores and Jones had two catches for 38 yards and a score for South. Wells caught a pass for 37 yards and a score for CV, Dakota Corwin had a catch for 24 yards and Ben Brubaker had a catch for 17 yards for CV.

South Williamsport hosts Muncy and CV hosts Athens in week 8.

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Ed Weaver is the creator of WellsboroAthletics.com and WellsboroFootball.com. You can follow him on Twitter, friend him on Facebook, or add him to your circles on Google+.

One week into the second half of the 2014 Northern Tier League season and things have changed among the league leaders.

Troy 17, Wellsboro 0

The Troy Trojans improved to 6-0 (2-0 NTL Division 1) as they held the previously undefeated Wellsboro Green Hornets scoreless in their homecoming game. It was 0-0 after the first quarter as each team moved the ball well offensively, but could not convert inside the red zone. The Wellsboro team would face adversity all night as Senior QB Michael Pietropola would exit the game with a shoulder injury. After that, Troy took advantage of good field position due to bad Wellsboro snaps and scored scored their first touchdown with 54 seconds left in the first half on a 5 yard run by Chance Lantz.

Troy would add to their lead in the third quarter on a 23 yard field goal from Nick Stephani to go up 9-0, and would scored with 8:32 left in the game on a 2 yard run by Issac Havens to finish the scoring at 17-0.

Bloomsburg 18, Muncy 0

The Muncy Indians continued their struggles on the season as they lost 18-0 to Bloomsburg. Sophomore Jahvel Hemphill rushing touchdowns and put up 52 yards on 19 carries. Sam Miller also caught a touchdown pass from Coty Kashner to round out the scoring. Kashner went 9-19 for 179 yards for Bloom, while Muncy’s Jeff Fry completed 2-of-12 passes for 12 yards.

Muncy running back Dakota Nixon continued to impress as he rushed for 127 yards on 20 carries, his fifth consecutive 100+ yard game. Muncy travels to Sayre in week 7 while Bloomsburg hosts Wellsboro.

North Penn 24, Warrior Run 7

The North Penn Panthers improved to 6-0 (2-0 NTL Division 1) after a dominant performance against visiting Warrior Run. Missing starting running back Bryce Zaparzynski, the Panthers relied on Brad Pequignot. Pequignot scored all of North Penn’s 24 points as he ran for 145 yards on 23 carries with three touchdowns and three two-point runs.

North Penn scored first on the night as Pequignot scored from 13 yards out and ran in the two-point conversion to take an 8-0 lead with 9:20 remaining in the first quarter.

Warrior Run cut the deficit to 8-7 with a second left in the quarter when Matt Trukenmiller caught a five yard touchdown from Franklin James.

Pequignot scored his second touchdown of the night at the 5:50 mark in the third quarter on a 20 yard run. Following his two-point conversion run, the Panthers held a 16-8 lead. In the fourth Pequignot got his third score on a two yard run with 9:08 left and capped the scoring with his third two-point conversion to give the Panthers the 24-7 victory.

North Penn travels to Troy in week 7 in a battle of the remaining unbeatens.

Wyalusing 31, Danville 0

The Wyalusing Rams improved to 4-2 after an impressive 31-0 shut out against Danville. Luke Jennings continued his impressive season as he rushed for 269 yards and 3 touchdowns on 32 carries. Jennings scored on runs of 34, 27, and 69 and Dylan Otis scored from one yard out to shut out the Ironmen.

Danville looked like they would score towards the end of the game, but a pass interference penalty against the Rams and a facemask against the Ironmen negated the score. Wyalusing takes on Athens in week 7.

Towanda 41, Athens 14

The Black Knights recorded their 500th program win last Saturday as they quickly jumped out 21-0 lead on the Athens Wildcats. QB Noah Huff got Towanda on the scoreboard first with 6:56 remaining in the opening frame on a 23-yard touchdown run. Tyler Basse hit the extra point and it was 7-0. After a quick four-and-out by the defense Steven Yates took the punt back 60 yards to the house and after Basse hit the extra point at 5:35 it was 14-0.

Towanda increased their lead to 21-0 in the final seconds of the first quarter as Dylan Bates scored on a five-yard touchdown pass from Huff and Basse hit the extra point. Yates scored on a five-yard run with 5:13 left in the half and Basse hit the extra point to make it 28-0 and Bates got his second score of the game at 1:34 of the half when he hauled in a 15-yard touchdown from Huff and Basse hit the kick.

After forcing an Athens fumble the Black Knights got the ball back and went right to work as Huff hit Noah Wheeler on a 14-yard touchdown with just 22.6 seconds left in the half. The kick failed and Towanda led 41-0 at the break.

Athens would score once in the third quarter and once in the fourth to eliminate the shut out. Sean Waltman capped the Wildcats first scoring drive with a 3 yard score. Austin Lister hit the extra point and it was 41-7 with 32.7 seconds left in the third quarter.

On their next possession the Wildcats gave the ball to Kalen Keathley on a reverse and he took off for a 27-yard touchdown. Lister hit the extra point with 9:39 left in the game for the final points of the contest.

Huff was 5-for-7 passing for 57 yards for Towanda with three of those five completions going for scores. Huff also gained 58 yards on 10 carries with a touchdown.

Yates had 52 yards on eight carries and Keegan Kisner had 20 yards on four carries. William Davidson gained seven yards, Nick Sutton four yards and Griffin Sites and Brandon McLinko each gained a yard. McLinko was 1-for-1 passing for a yard.

Towanda (4-2, 1-1 NTL Division 1) will take on Central Columbia in week 7.

Canton 46, Bucktail 20

Canton collected their second win of 2014 as they ran all over Bucktail in non-league action. Tyler Cole accounted for 224 all-purpose yards and four touchdowns to lead the Warriors to the win and remain in contention with Bloomsburg, Muncy and Montgomery , who Canton plays next week, all of whom are 2-4, for the last playoff spot in Class A.

The Warriors had two 100-yard rushers on the day as Noah Barnett also ran for 104 yards and two touchdowns, while Jimmy Bowman ran for 72 yards and a touchdown all in the second half. Canton ran for 359 yards on the afternoon, averaging 12.4 yards per carry.

The Warriors scored touchdowns on their first six possessions of the game, which spanned the entire first half as the undermanned Bucks. Cole scored his first touchdown on a 16-yard run and Barnett followed that with a 29-yard run for a score, before Cole then hauled in his 73-yard touchdown pass – all in the first quarter. Barnett would score on a 68 yard touchdown run and then Cole ripped one off from 85 yards for his third trip to the end zone in the second quarter to put the game out of reach.

Sayre 28, Cowanesque Valley 21

The Redskins scored a late fourth quarter touchdown to claim the victory on Homecoming night against the CV Indians. Sayre scored first to take an early 6-0 lead, but the Indians would not go away as they tied the game up as senior Ethan Mead scored for 10 yards out to finish the five play, 35 yard drive. Sayre, however, bounced right back on their next drive at the end of the first quarter as Tylor Bellis scored on a 25 yard run set up by a 31 yard run by Michael Ward to put the Redskins up 13-7.

Cowanesque would tie the game at 13 and would later score once more to hold a 21-13 lead on touchdowns by Mead. Sayre tied the game with 3:17 remaining in the fourth quarter when Garrett Weaver scored from eight yards out. Weaver then ran in the two-point conversion to tie the score at 21-21. CV fumbled the ball back to Sayre on their following possession, and Sayre would take advantage. The Redskins mounted a four play, 60 yard drive highlighted by a 42 yard run by Weaver. Ward would then score the game-winning touchdown to give the Redskins the victory.

Sayre hosts Muncy and CV hosts South Williamsport in week 7.

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Ed Weaver is the creator of WellsboroAthletics.com and WellsboroFootball.com. You can follow him on Twitter, friend him on Facebook, or add him to your circles on Google+.

The Wellsboro Varsity Football team scored 50 first half points en route to a 63-0 blow out of Sayre on Friday, September 19.

Things looked good for Sayre as they opened the game with an eight-play drive that chewed up half of the first quarter, but the wheels would soon come off as the Hornets quickly went to work following a 40 yard punt return by Senior Nick Marple to set the Hornets up at the 50-yard line. Three plays and one penalty later, Senior Levi Mack bounced off numerous Redskin defenders on his way to a 20 yard run. Following the extra point by Senior Jack Chambers, the Hornets led 7-0.

The Hornet defense forced a fumble on Sayre’s next drive to take the ball back deep in Sayre territory. The Hornets only needed two plays, a 13 yard pass from Senior Michael Pietropola to Senior Dylan Widows and a 15 yard run by Pietropola, to take a 13-0 lead with 2:26 remaining in the opening frame.

The Hornets would add one more score in the first quarter. After an interception by Senior Trystan Wheatley on a botched punt attempt, Pietropola and the offense went back to work. Pietropola connected with Widows for 18 yards and then hit Marple on a 22 yard strike in the end zone to take a 20-0 lead following Chambers’ extra point.

Following another failed Sayre drive, Wellsboro this time put together a nine play drive the culminated with Senior Receiver Kieron Smethers hauling in his first of two touchdowns on the night for 14 yards. The extra point pushed the Hornets’ lead to 27-0 with 8:06 left in the second quarter.

Sayre was able to move the ball on their next drive and got into Wellsboro territory before Senior Defensive Lineman Ben Davis stepped in front of a screen pass and raced 55 yards to the end zone to put the Hornets up 34-0. Wellsboro would score three more times to round out the quarter. The first of the remaining scores was a safety stemming from Sayre’s James Harbst kicking the ball out of the back of the end zone after a bad snap on a punt. Smethers caught his second touchdown, this reception for one yard, to go up 43-0, and Mack scored his second touchdown as time expired to give the Hornets the 50-0 lead going into the half.

The Hornets received the second half kick and put together an eight play drive on the ground as Mack finished the hat trick at the 6:52 mark of the third quarter from one yard out to put Wellsboro up 57-0. Wellsboro would scored once more to start the fourth quarter as Senior Nick Levindoski scored from 10 yards out to push the score to 63-0 with 11:53 remaining in the game.

Pietropola finished the game at 11-15 for 226 yards and 3 touchdowns through the air. The Senior signal caller has now thrown for 941 yards and 12 touchdowns on the year and is 71 yards shy of the 5,000 yards in his career. Mack led all rushers on the night with 16 carries for 102 yards and three touchdowns for his first 100-yard game of the year and second of his career.

“The big boys up front did an outstanding job tonight,” said Mack. “It was amazing. We came out ready to go tonight and just flew around on both sides of the ball.”

Marple led the receiving corps with five catches for 130 yards to bring his total to 562 yards for the season. Widows caught two passes for 31 yards, Levindoski had one for 38, and Smethers caught three for 27.

Defensively, Junior Linebacker Nick Tremper had 10 tackles to lead the team. Senior Michael Brostrom recorded 7 tackles on the night, forced a fumble and recovered two.

The defense only allowed 82 yards of total offense on the night which pleased head coach Matt Hildebrand.

“It starts up front with our defensive line,” Hildebrand said. “Those guys have been incredibly strong this season and makes it tough for teams to get past them. We’ve had a lot of guys step in at our linebacker spots to try and find the best combination and those guys are stepping up and our secondary has done an outstanding job with coverage to this point.”

The Hornets have only allowed six points to date the season and have shut out opponents the other three games.

“When you shut teams out you’re going to win football games, and that’s something I’m very proud of our defense for doing,” concluded Hildebrand.

With the win, the Hornets improve to 4-0 and will take on NTL Division 1 rival Athens on the road next Friday, September 26.

Week three of the 2014 Northern Tier League season is in the books and only three teams; Wellsboro, North Penn, and Troy remain undefeated.

Troy 60, Sayre 8

The Troy Trojans improved to 3-0 after dismantling Sayre by the final of 60-8. This was the second straight game the Trojans scored over 60 points and the second time this year that Sayre has allowed at least 60 points. Troy scored early and often as both Chance Lantz and Diante Jones each scored two touchdowns in the victory.

Troy’s Isaac Havens led the Trojans on the ground with 75 yards and a touchdown on nine carries and went 6-for-8 in the air for 89 yards. Jones added 60 yards on just four carries with two touchdowns. For Sayre, Tylor Belles led the Redskins with 59 yards on seven carries.

Troy will host Wyalusing and Sayre travels to Wellsboro in week four.

Towanda 56, Bloomsburg 12

The Black Knights rebounded after getting shut out in week two by South Williamsport by playing tough defense against the visiting Panthers. Bloomsburg struggled with their offensive game, even from the beginning, and the Black Knights used this to their advantage as much as possible. Towanda Quarterback Noah Huff also returned to form as he ran for two touchdowns and threw for two. Steven Yates, Dylan Bates, Keegan Kisner also scored for Towanda.

Bloomsburg’s first of two scores came on a 21 yard pass from Nick Anderson to Brandon Breisch. The Panthers’ second score. Next week Towanda travels to Hughesville and will look to even up their record.

Muncy 13, Cowanesque Valley 8

Cowanesque jumped out on Muncy early in the game as their second play from scrimmage would result in their only points of the ball game. Ethan Mead raced 58 yards to the end zone. From that point on, the game turned into a defensive battle and Cowanesque retained a 6-0 lead going into the half.

After each team exchanged four-and-outs to start the third quarter, Muncy would force another punt out of Cowanesque valley and head to work on offense.

Nixon would get things rolling for Muncy as he busted off his longest run of the evening with a 43-yard gain. He would follow that up with an 18 yard burst and put his team in great field position with an opportunity to tie the game.

Muncy would do just that as Manuel Ramos took a delayed handoff up the middle 15 yards for a touchdown. Muncy would attempt the two-point conversion to go up by two points but failed to convert. In the fourth quarter, Muncy forced three turnovers and eventually the put together a long drive to win the game.

Jeffrey Fry led the way for Muncy as the sophomore quarterback threw for 132 yards and the game winning touchdown late in the fourth quarter. He went 9-15 on the night throwing the football.

Muncy is now 1-2 on the year and will face Canton in week four while Cowanesque hosts winless Bucktail.

 Jersey Shore 23, Athens 0

The Wildcats took on the defending District 4, Class AAA champions on Friday night and suffered their second straight loss as Jersey Shore won 23-0. The Bulldogs limited Athens to 79 total yards in the game. Levi Lorson led the Jersey Shore attack, gaining 212 yards on 31 carries with two touchdowns.

Kalen Keathley led Athens with two carries for 30 yards and Brandon Sturzenegger had 13 carries for 12 yards. Luke Newman had a carry for seven yards and Zane Vargason and Tyler Forbes each gained four yards on the ground.

Athens falls to 1-2 on the year and will take on undefeated North Penn in week four.

South Williamsport 46, Canton 7

The Dominick Bragalone show was on display again as he rushed for 209 yards on 14 carries and 5 touchdowns.

The game started out scoreless after the first quarter but South quickly scored to start the second quarter. John Peters scored from 18 yards out to put the Mounties up 6-0 and then the rout was on. Canton would finally get on the board when Route hooked up with Travis Butcher on a nifty 70 yard scoring strike late in the game.

South Quarterback Matt Boone was 5-8 for 146 yards passing with 1 touchdown. Tyler Cole had 37 yards on 10 carries while Trevor Route was 5-9 passing with 89 yards and a score to lead Canton.

South Williamsport looks to improve to 3-1 as they face their toughest challenge of the year as Loyalsock crosses the bridge.

Warrior Run 19, Wyalusing 13

The Rams fell from the ranks of the unbeatens as Warrior Run was able to control the Rams’ dynamic ground game. Wyalusing’s Luke Jennings had 115 yards on 20 carries for the Rams and Otis had 47 yards on 11 carries.

Warrior Run struck first in the second quarter when Jake Rohm caught an 11-yard touchdown from Frank James. James hit the extra point and it was 7-0. In the third quarter William Michael scored on a 28-yard touchdown and after the kick failed Warrior Run was up 13-0.

Wyalusing got on the board in the fourth as Dylan Otis scored on a three-yard run and Werner Mendoza’s kick was good, cutting the deficit to 13-7.

Warrior Run got a 23-yard score from Michael. The run failed and Warrior Run led 19-7.

The Rams cut into the deficit as Luke Jennings scored on a 20-yard run with the kick failing, to make the final score.

Wyalusing travels to Troy in week four to try and knock off the undefeated Trojans.

North Penn 50, Milton 6

North Penn got 201 yards from Bryce Zaparzynski on the ground and Bo Burleigh threw for 180 yards and three scores on 12-for-22 passing as the Panthers remained undefeated.

Burleigh hooked up with Luke Kelly at 7:42 of the first quarter on a 13-yard pass to put the Panthers on the board. The run failed and it was 6-0. Ryan Turner returned a fumble 18 yards for a touchdown at 6:23 of the quarter and the run failed and it was 12-0. Bryce Zaparzynski had a 56-yard touchdown run with 53 seconds left in the quarter. Burleigh hit Dayton Wood with the two-point try.

Milton erased the shut out in the second quarter with 55 seconds left in the half when Joevaughn Garrison ran in from a yard out but the kick was blocked.

Levi Christman had four catches for 39 yards, Wood had three grabs for 39 yards, Zaparzynski had two grabs for 54 yards, Kelly had two catches for 47 yards and Derek Nybeck had one catch for eight yards.

For Milton, Zack Bennett had 12 carries for 65 yards and he had one catch for 12 yards.

North Penn hosts Athens in week four as they look to stay undefeated.

Wellsboro 71, Bucktail 6

It took the Green Hornets only three minutes to score on the winless Bucks. After a long pass to Nick Marple, Senior Quarterback Michael Pietropola connected with Senior Nick Levindoski for three yards to put Wellsboro up 7-0 following Senior Jack Chambers‘ extra point attempt. Wellsboro’s next scoring drive saw the return of Senior Kieron Smethers for a 10 yard strike. Smethers would also score defensively for the Hornets as he sacked Bucktails’ quarterback, forced a fumble, and returned it 15 yards for the score. After a defensive safety by Junior Anthony Cooper, the Hornets were up 23-0 with 4:24 remaining in the first quarter.

Wellsboro’s next score came from Senior Running Back Levi Mack from 44 yards out. Smethers caught a 48 yard strike from Pietropola shortly after to put Wellsboro up 37-0 at the end of the first quarter. Marple got involved in the scoring parade as he caught an 80 yard pass from Pietropola following another Mack run to go up 51-0. The first half ended as Levindoski punched the ball in from one yard out to take a 57-0 lead at the half.

With Wellsboro’s starters getting a break in the second half, Sophomore Quarterback Brandon Lamphier scored twice on read options to put Wellsboro for the final two Hornet touchdowns. Bucktail would avoid the shut out as Aaron Ransdorf worked his way out of a tackle and raced 62 yards to open the second half.

Pietropola finshed 8-9 for 234 yards and 4 touchdowns through the air. Mack was the leading ground gainer as he carried the ball 7 times for 88 yards and two scores, and Marple was once again the leading receiver as he hauled in two passes for 143 yards and a touchdown.

Wellsboro will look to stay undefeated in week four as they host Sayre.

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Ed Weaver is the creator of WellsboroAthletics.com and WellsboroFootball.com. You can follow him on Twitter, friend him on Facebook, or add him to your circles on Google+.

After week one of the 2014 season that saw all Northern Tier League Division 1 teams start at 1-0 and only one (Montgomery) in Division 2, week two sure did not disappoint.

South Williamsport 42, Towanda 0

South Williamsport improved to 1-1 as they shut out Towanda on the back of Dominick Bragalone. Bragalone only touched the football eight times all game, but had 259 rushing yards and four touchdowns. Matt Boone, quarterback of the Mounties, had a strong game throwing the football as well. He went 5-for-7 for 141 yards and a touchdown. Riley Thomas of South Williamsport led all receivers with three receptions and 97 yards. He also scored a touchdown on one of his three receptions.

Towanda Quarterback Noah Huff carried the ball 14 times for 109 yards, but went 5-for-18 throwing the football for 26 yards as the Black Knights had no answer for the Mounties as they fell to 1-1 on the season.

Towanda hosts Bloomsburg and South Williamsport travels to Canton for their week three matchups.

Wyalusing 62, Montgomery 0

Similar to their week one performance, the Wyalusing Rams continued to run all over their opponents. In week two, the Rams racked up 453 yards on the Red Raider defense en route to a 62-0 win. Wyalusing Junior tailback Luke Jennings picked up where he left off last week, rushing for 255 yards on just eight carries while scoring four times, all in the first half.

Wyalusing improves to 2-0 and will travel to Warrior Run for week three while Montgomery hosts Hughesville.

Troy 61, Cowanesque Valley 6

The Troy Trojans picked up where they left off after a great 2013 season that saw them win the District IV Class AA title. Week two saw Troy run over, around, and through the Cowanesque Valley Indians. The trio of Diante Jones, Chance Lantz, and Brandon Mattocks accounted for five touchdowns. The Trojans travel to Sayre and Cowanesque Valley travels to Muncy.

Canton 18, Sayre 7

After losing to Towanda 21-6 in week one, the Canton Warriors rebounded and improved to 1-1 (1-0 NTL Division 2) as they defeated Sayre. Noah Barnett had 113 yards receiving and two touchdowns on four catches, and 21 carries for 158 yards and a score to lead the Warriors to victory. After Canton lost starting Quarterback John Bowman for the season in week one against Towanda, Trevor Route stepped in to his new role. Route was 4-for-9 with all his passes going to Barnett.

Sayre got on the board with 11:23 left in the opening half as Tyler Belles rushed for an 18 yard touchdown.

Canton hosts South Williamsport and Sayre hosts Troy in week three.

Hughesville 42, Athens 7

After beating Tunkhannock in week one, Athens suffered their first loss of the 2014 season at Hughesville. The Spartans dominated the Wildcats as they scored all 42 of their points in the first three quarters. Athens finally cracked the Spartans defense in the fourth quarter as Justin Reagan connected with Austin Lister on an 18 yard touchdown pass.

Athens hosts Jersey Shore in week three.

Wellsboro 31, Muncy 0

The Wellsboro Hornets pitched their second consecutive shut out of the 2014 season after defeating Cowanesque Valley 48-0 in week one. Senior Quarterback Michael Pietropola accounted for all four of the Hornets touchdowns, as he ran in the opening score and threw for three more.

Pietropola connected with Anthony Cooper, Nick Levindoski, and Nick Marple on passes of 20 yards, 65 yards, and 27 yards. Jack Chambers also made hist first field goal attempt of the year from 33 yards out to cap off the Hornet scoring.

Pietropola went 10-19 through the air for 249 yards and the three scores and has now passed for 481 yards on the season with 5 touchdowns and 0 interceptions.

Marple caught 5 passes for 121 yards and a score and has emerged as the NTL’s leading receiver through the first two weeks with 13 catches for 289 yards and 2 touchdowns.

The Hornets travel to Bucktail and Muncy hosts Cowanesque Valley in week three.

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Ed Weaver is the creator of WellsboroAthletics.com and WellsboroFootball.com. You can follow him on Twitter, friend him on Facebook, or add him to your circles on Google+.

The Wellsboro football team picked up where they left off following the 2013 season with a 48-0 shut out win against Cowanesque Valley Friday night in Westfield.

The Hornets started out on defense and forced CV to punt in only a handful of plays. Following a Cowanesque punt, the Hornet offense only needed three plays to find the end zone for the first time in 2014. Senior Quarterback Michael Pietropola found Senior Nick Marple for 46 yards and following a three yard run by Senior Levi Mack, Pietropola found Marple again, this time for 25 yards and the touchdown. Senior Jack Chambers’ kick was off the mark and the Hornets took a 6-0 with 6:56 remaining in the first quarter.

Following the kick, Cowanesque put together an eight play drive but failed to convert a fourth down giving Wellsboro excellent field position. Pietropola and Mack drove the Hornets down to the two-yard line before Pietropola threw his second touchdown, this time to Senior Dylan Widows. Chambers connected on the extra point to give the Hornets a 13-0 lead.

On the following drive, the Hornet defense got into the scoring mix as Seniors Ben Davis and Michael Brostrom combined for a safety to put the Hornets up 15-0 at the end of the first quarter.

Later in the quarter, Junior Owen Covert returned a punt that hit a CV offensive lineman for a two yard return to put the Hornets up 21-0 after a high snap on the extra point.

The Hornets ended the first half with a four yard touchdown by Senior Nick Levindoski and a two yard run by Mack to take a 35-0 lead at the half.

The third quarter saw no scoring for Wellsboro, but instead saw a stalled drive. Wellsboro took the second half kick and put together a seven play drive only to fumble the ball away inside the red zone. The team quickly rebounded in the beginning of the fourth quarter as Pietropola called his own number and rushed nine yards to pay dirt to put the Hornets up 42-0. Wellsboro would score once more on the night, as Junior Nick Tremper pushed the pile forward for a one yard run to go up 48-0.

“We definitely have things to work on,” said head coach Matt Hildebrand. “Things we didn’t see in scrimmages. Always something to work on.”

One of those things Hildebrand mentioned was turnovers.

“We turnoved the ball over twice in the red zone and we need to clean that up going forward.”

The Hornets amassed over 400 yards of total offense which Hildebrand was pleased with.

“We moved the ball well and some of our younger guys stepped in later on in the game when we need them to. I thought our offensive line did a good job handling their assingments, but we definitely have things to work on in practice this week as we prepare for Muncy.”

Pietropola finished the night going 15-16 through the air for 232 yards and two touchdowns. Mack was the leading rusher with 88 yards on eight carries and a touchdown, and Marple caught 8 passes for 168 yards and a touchdown.

Defensively, Junior Anthony Cooper and Davis each had eight tackles and Levindoski added seven. Tremper recorded 1 interception and returned it for 24 yards, and Brostrom and Davis each had sacks on the night.

With the win, the Hornets start the season 1-0. The team will be back in action on Friday, September 5 as they host Muncy.