SOUTH WILLIAMSPORT – You can count on less than one hand the number of teams in District 4 that have more wins than South Williamsport over the last decade.
The Mounties have been one of the top programs in the district at that time, and guiding the program through that period has been one man, Chris Eiswerth. Now in his 13th season as head coach of the Mounties, Eiswerth has built a tough-nosed program that primarily wins games by effectively running the football better than its opponents.
On Friday, Eiswerth picked up his 100th win at South Williamsport with a 46-22 win over Northwest, and like the vast majority of the rest of those wins, it came by running the ball down the throat of their opponent.
South racked up 245 rushing yards, including 183 in the first half, led by Ryan Casella’s 149 yards and three touchdowns, and the Mounties wrapped up an 8-2 regular season, the most regular-season wins they’ve had since going 9-1 in 2017, with a 46-22 win over Northwest.
“Our guys really came out and set the stage early, played really well offensively, defensively, and on special teams,” said Eiswerth. “Defensively, we only gave up a few yards in the first half. They were very physical, and we were proud of them. We have a group of seniors that have really worked hard, through some injuries and adversity this season, so it was great to see them have a great senior night.”
South held Northwest to just 31 yards, including -11 on the ground in the first half, and the Rangers managed just two first downs, as they built a 32-0 lead over Northwest at the half. For the game, Northwest was held to -5 rushing yards.
The Mounties scored on their first three drives of the game, including their first after receiving the opening kickoff in which they took up over half of the first quarter with a 13-play, 57-yard drive capped by the first of three touchdowns by Casella on the night, a 3-yard run.
South then took nine plays to go 80 yards in their next possession, capped by a 7-yard pass from Tadd Lusk to Landyn Gephart. Casella then found the end zone for the second time on a 14-yard run that capped a short drive after South had taken over at the Northwest 34 following a short punt.
Lusk enjoyed an efficient night through the air, throwing for 110 yards on 7-of-14 passing and three touchdowns. Two of those were to Gephart, who had three catches for 70 yards.
A Northwest turnover helped jump-start South’s final scoring drive of the first half, which came when Jace McCoy was strip-sacked near midfield and South recovered at the Northwest 40. Six plays later, Lusk hit Kaiser Kistner in the end zone for an eight-yard touchdown pass to make it 32-0 at halftime.
“You don’t need to watch film on South Williamsport. They’re big, strong kids that are going to run the ball on you, and defensively, they play sound. Every kid is in the weight room all year long. We’re rebuilding our program and that’s where we need to be,” said Northwest coach Leigh Bonzcewski, whose team will travel to Bucktail next week for a first-round Class A district playoff game.
The Mounties put the game into the mercy rule in the first minute of the second half. Casella picked off McCoy’s pass on Northwest’s first offensive play of the second half at midfield and returned it 19 yards to the Northwest 31. Four plays later, he found the end zone for the third time on the evening with an 18-yard touchdown run to put a cap on his evening and make it 38-0.
After not having any success on the ground in the first half, Northwest largely abandoned the run in the second half and went to the air, resulting in McCoy throwing for 182 yards in the second half to finish the game with 224 passing yards on 19-of-29.
McCoy tossed three touchdowns in the second half, two to Andrew Bonzcewski, who finished with six catches for 90 yards. The Rangers scored on three straight possessions in the second half, with McCoy hitting Bonzcewski for a 12-yard touchdown pass to cap a 10-play, 60-yard drive at the 3:58 mark of the third quarter to get on the scoreboard.
Bonzcewski also hauled in a 14-yard touchdown reception when McCoy hit him in a tight window in the middle of the end zone with 7:49 left in the fourth quarter. Northwest then stopped South Williamsport on downs at the South 32-yard line, and McCoy then hit Adam Chonko on the first play of Northwest’s resulting drive for a 32-yard touchdown pass.
While it was mainly against South’s second-team defense, Northwest’s second-half offensive outburst resulted in the third-most points scored in a game this year for the Rangers, behind only their two wins of the year. That could create some momentum and confidence for the Rangers as they head into their District 4 Class A first-round playoff game at Bucktail next week.
“Jace McCoy grew up a lot tonight, he made some good decisions in the second half after being a little tentative in the first half,” said Bonzcewski. “We challenged them at halftime and they played hard in the second half. We played with a lot more intensity in the second half. We’ve improved by leaps and bounds this year and we have a chance to do something next week that hasn’t been done at Northwest in nine years – win a district playoff game.
Northwest’s last playoff win came in District 2 in 2014 over GAR Memorial. They will make the long trip to Renovo next week looking to pick up their first playoff win in District 4.
“I told the kids it’s an honor to play in the district playoffs. I know our record isn’t indicative of a team that’s in the playoffs but everyone is 0-0 now and you win you keep playing and you lose you go home,” said Bonzcewski. “If we can put it together at some point – first half tonight we had some turnovers and penalties – but if we can put it together and play a whole four quarters of solid football like we are capable of, I think we can do a lot of good things.”
South will now get ready for a district semifinal in two weeks, and Eiswerth knows exactly what his team will need to work on if they are going to make it back to the district championship game for the first time since 2021 when they reached the title game in Class 2A. Both of the Mounties’ losses this year came to Muncy and Canton – the other two teams that will have a bye into the Class A semifinals.
“We’ve lost two games this year by a total of seven points and in those two games, I think we had nine fumbles,” said Eiswerth. “We’ve really tried to work on that each week, we did have a few turnovers tonight, but it’s always a process. Guys are trying to get a few extra yards here and there, we’re throwing the ball around a little bit, but I’m pleased with what we’re doing.”
South Williamsport 46, Northwest 22
Northwest (2-8) 0 0 6 16 – 22
South Williamsport (8-2) 16 16 14 0 – 46
First quarter
5:52 – (S) Ryan Casella 3-yard run (Gephart pass from Lusk), 13-57, 6:08
:02 – (S) Landyn Gephart 7-yard pass from Tadd Lusk (Smith pass from Lusk), 9-80, 4:04
Second quarter
8:29 – (S) Ryan Casella 14-yard run (Scheller pass from Lusk), 4-34, 1:23
:38 – (S) Kaiser Kistner 8-yard pass from Tadd Lusk (Casella run), 6-40, 1:33
Third quarter
11:04 – (S) Ryan Casella 18-yard run (pass failed), 4-31, :41
3:58 – (N) Andrew Bonzcewski 12-yard pass from Jace McCoy (pass failed), 10-60, 7:06
:32 – (S) Landyn Gephart 45-yard pass from Tadd Lusk (Kistner run), 5-62, 3:26
Fourth quarter
7:49 – (N) Andrew Bonzcewski 14-yard pass from Jace McCoy (Hudack pass from McCoy), 7-62, 4:43
4:39 – (N) Adam Chonko 32-yard pass from Jace McCoy (Chonko pass from McCoy), 1-32, :30
Statistics
N S
First downs 11 21
Rushes-net yards 14-(-5) 39-245
Passing yardage 224 110
Passing 19-29-3-2 7-14-3-1
Fumbles-lost 4-1 4-1
Penalties-yards 7-69 3-25
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING: Northwest: Jace McCoy (8-(-7)), Adam Chonko (2-4), Dominic Cavuto (2-(-4)), Nicholas Stevens (1-1), Cole Hudack (1-1); South Williamsport: Ryan Casella (19-149-3), Kaiser Kistner (6-43), Jayden Hamm (6-26), Evan Barry (4-25), Chance Quimby (2-0), Ryan Bower (1-2), Landyn Gephart (1-0)
PASSING: Northwest: Jace McCoy (19-29-224-3-2); South Williamsport: Tadd Lusk (7-14-110-3-1)
RECEIVING: Northwest: Andrew Bonzcewski (6-90-2), Cole Hudack (6-32), Trevor Dietz (5-73), Adam Chonko (1-32-1), Zaiden Meeker (1-(-3)); South Williamsport: Landyn Gephart (3-70-2), Dylan Scheller (3-33), Kaiser Kistner (1-8-1)
