WEST PITTSTON — Berwick linebacker Rocco Romeo ran into the Wyoming Area backfield untouched on the second snap of the second half Friday night. He had Warriors running back Lidge Kellum dead to rights.
Kellum cut and ran through Romeo’s tackle on the toss sweep. And then he met a pack of Bulldog tacklers at the line of scrimmage, Kellum ran through them, too. Kellum was finally brought to the ground after a 5-yard gain which had no business being a positive yardage play.
You can point to Kellum’s 42-yard touchdown run Friday night as a sign of his explosiveness as a runner. But it was that innocuous 5-yarder at the start of the third quarter at Jake Sobeski Stadium which set a tone for the Warriors, who led Berwick by just eight points at that moment. It was the physicality with which Kellum ran the football which has allowed the Warriors to not skip a beat in their run game despite graduating 1,800-yard back Aaron Crossley.
Kellum ran for 225 yards and four touchdowns last night as Wyoming Area posted a 42-20 win on Berwick. Kellum eclipsed the 1,000-yard mark for the season Friday and has run for at least 100 yards in each of his last five games.
“He’s an explosive runner,” Wyoming Area coach Randy Spencer said. “He’s a glider in terms of having legitimate breakaway speed. But he’s also turned into a strong runner.”
A year ago, Kellum was an as-needed option in the Warriors’ backfield as Crossley took on the bulk of the offense’s carries before heading off to Lehigh to play running back. Kellum shined in some blowout wins, eclipsing 100 yards against both Holy Redeemer and Lake-Lehman. But he also showed there was some big play potential as he averaged better than 12 yards a carry on his 47 totes.
He’s returned for his senior season as the featured back in one of the Wyoming Valley Conference’s best offenses. And Kellum is a big part of why the Warriors have had so much success. He ran for more than 300 yards in a win over returning state finalist Dallas. He had more than 150 yards even in a loss to undefeated Western Wayne.
And when the game got hairy last night, Spencer and the offense turned to the 170-pounder and asked him to run around and through a Berwick defense which was spending ample time in the Berwick backfield. Kellum carried on all 10 plays of 63-yard drive which allowed Wyoming Area to take a 14-6 lead into halftime.
Kellum carried on all six plays of a 55-yard touchdown drive to start the second half. His 42-yard scoring run 4 1/2 minutes later showcased how quickly he can gash a defense. And with a comfortable lead, Kellum’s night was done.
At the point of his 42-yard scoring run, Kellum was averaging 9 yards per carry. The rest of the Warriors offense was average 1.57 yards per play when someone had the ball in their hands.
“As he’s played this season he’s built a lot of competitive confidence, not just in his ability, but in his running physicality,” Spencer said. “And because of that he’s perceived as getting stronger and stronger.”
Wyoming Area (5-1) scored 21 points to break open a one-score halftime game against Berwick (1-5). It’s a problem the Bulldogs have had for much of this difficult season.
“It seems like the tale of the tape for us has been the third quarter,” first-year coach CJ Curry said. “There’s just something about the third quarter that we can’t keep the momentum going. But at 14-6 at halftime I thought we were right in the mix and we were playing well.”
And they were. Berwick recovered a Wyoming Area fumble in the first half and forced a midfield punt. And running back Ty Wilkerson put the Dawgs on the board when he scampered 53 yards on a sweep to the left to cut the initial Warriors lead to 7-6.
Wilkerson had 80 rushing yards at halftime but finished with just 88 after the Warriors made some second-half adjustments.
“They’ve got the fastest runner in the conference in Wilkerson and he got one on us,” Spencer said. “That was a matter of them shifting from one formation to another and us needing to adjust, and a couple guys just didn’t get there in time. And someone with that athletic ability and speed is going to make you pay.”
“He’s unbelievable,” Curry said. “Get the ball in his hands and let him get to work. He was a broken tackle away a couple of times. Ty’s awesome and we’ve been finding ways to get him the ball.”
Wyoming Area 42, Berwick 20
Berwick 0 6 0 14 – 20
Wyoming Area 7 7 21 7 – 42
First quarter
WA—Lidge Kellum 35 run (Nick Ciampi kick), 3:02
Second quarter
B—Ty Wilkerson 53 run (kick failed), 6:37
WA—Kellum 1 run (Ciampi kick), :46
Third quarter
WA—Kellum 1 run (Ciampi kick), 8:57
WA—Kellum 42 run (Ciampi kick), 4:27
Fourth quarter
WA—Luke Kopetchny 17 pass from Anthony Delucca (Ciampi kick), 9:36
B—Alex Estrella 59 run (run failed), 7:38
B—Ashton Smith 3 run (Smith run), 1:00
Ber WA
First downs 10 14
Rushes-yds 31-215 38-258
Com-att-int 6-11-2 3-5-0
Pass yards 52 70
Total yards 267 328
Fumbles-lost 1-1 1-1
Penalties-yards 5-31 2-25
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
Rushing—Berwick, Ty Wilkerson, 14-88, TD; Alex Estrella, 1-59, TD; Brock Simms, 2-33; Billy Hanson, 7-15; Conner Roberts, 2-8; Everett Snyder, 3-6; Ashton Smith, 2-6, TD. Wyoming Area, Lidge Kellum, 25-225, 4 TDs; Trustin Johnson, 7-23, TD; Michael Crane, 3-9; Anthony Delucca, 1-3; Team, 2-(-2).
Passing—Berwick, Billy Hanson, 5-10-2, 26 yds.; Ashton Smith, 1-1-0, 26 yds. Wyoming Area, Anthony Delucca, 3-5-0, 70 yds., TD.
Receiving—Berwick, Ty Wilkerson, 3-8; Brett Eisenhauer, 1-26; Julian Howie, 1-11; Shiloh Escobar, 1-7. Wyoming Area, Luke Kopetchny, 3-70, TD.
INTERCEPTIONS—Wyoming Area, Josh Mruk, Damian Lefkoski.
RECORDS: Wyoming Area (5-1); Berwick (1-5).
