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.
