HAZLETON-Berwick coach C.J. Curry couldn’t have scripted the first four weeks of the season any better. Once again on Friday night, his Bulldogs rolled to another lopsided victory. This time, it was Hazleton Area who fell victim to a running game that hasn’t been stopped yet. Behind an offensive line that opened consistent holes for Ty’Meere Wilkerson and others, Berwick cruised to a 48-6 win.
“We had to battle adversity in a couple of these games, it’s the second time that we’ve been down,” Curry said. “Being down to Lake-Lehman, nobody panicked. (Hazleton) came right down the field, scored six points, and nobody panics on this team. It’s just our ability to overcome that adversity, but our guys have worked for this. They’ve had these games circled for the last 274 days in what they call ‘The Payback Tour.’ We’ve bought into that. We didn’t like how we got pushed around last year. We wanted to make sure that we came out bigger, faster, stronger, but the biggest thing is our chemistry and believing in each other. I’m just super proud of how our guys have been working. The job is not finished, there’s no doubt about that.”
Berwick (4-0) fell behind early after Hazleton quarterback Freddy Corrado found Logan Gennaro on a 30-yard touchdown pass. It was nothing more than an early speed bump for the Bulldogs, who immediately answered. Wilkerson took a toss to the right side and went in untouched for the first of his four touchdowns which came from 23 yards out, capping off a nine-play drive. Following a fourth down stop, Wilkerson needed just one play to increase the lead to 14-6. The senior, who now has 882 yards in four games, sprinted 57 yards to paydirt with 7:48 left in the second quarter. Wilkerson finished with 290 yards on 20 carries, and made things look easy against an overmatched defense.
“He’s unbelievable,” Curry said of Wilkerson. “That’s why he is a Division I running back, a Division I athlete. I think after this, he might be getting some more phone calls. He loves the University of New Hampshire, that’s where he’s verbally committed to right now, but I can feel some other schools will probably be knocking on the door here soon. We have to clean some things up, the defense has to clean some things up, but our guys, they’re playing really well and they’re playing for each other, which is the most important thing.”
Hazleton (1-3) failed to convert on another fourth down in Berwick territory later in the second quarter, and the Bulldogs would punch another one in just before halftime. Wilkerson broke loose on a 50-yard run that set Berwick up in the red zone. On fourth-and-goal from the 2, Wilkerson plowed across the goal line behind an offensive line that did its job all night long. The Bulldogs ran for 417 yards and averaged just under ten yards per attempt.
“We want to hang our hats on those guys,” Curry said. “There are two guys that are four-year starters and another guy who is a senior. All these guys have starting experience with the exception of our right tackle, and he’s been one of our highest rated guys so far this season, in Mike Perry. Those guys just take so much pride in what they do. We knew from the get-go, when we started our install this past February, we wanted to run the football and we had the guys to do that. It’s just the attitude of those guys that’s been unbelievable.”
The second half turned out to be total domination by Berwick. For one of the rare times in the game, a drive stalled, but still ended up working out. Lining up in punt formation, the up-man Ashton Smith saw something he liked, made a call, and threw a pass to Alex Estrella, who was wide open on a 41-yard touchdown pass down the left sideline. That little bit of trickery pushed the lead to 28-6 with 8:07 left in the third quarter.
“That’s something that we saw on film, actually they didn’t come out to cover,” Curry said. “We had it called if they didn’t come out. Ashton Smith was our quarterback last year, and he threw a great ball. How about Ashton Smith, throws a touchdown, runs for a touchdown, has a huge tackle on a kickoff and has a huge sack.”
Less than two minutes after Smith’s touchdown pass, Wilkerson closed out his big night in style by blowing past the secondary on a 69-yard run to the house. Touchdowns by Gavin Galutia and Smith finished off the scoring, and Berwick’s defense did the rest. The Bulldogs held Hazleton to minus-22 yards and no first downs in the second half. In addition, Berwick totaled five sacks, and limited running back Xavier Heck to 51 yards on 15 carries, after he rushed for over 200 yards in a win against West Scranton last week.
“Credit to that front,” Curry said. “J.J (Leonard), Matt (Gordner), Everett Snyder, Skyler Nevel, Gabe Decker, those guys are doing a great job, and it gives our linebackers space to make plays. Those guys have been locked in all season, but we’re going to take our lumps here and there. Heck is a pretty good running back, and they have a pretty good football team. So we’re happy to get this one, but we’ve got work to do for sure.”
Berwick 7 14 20 7-48
Hazleton Area 6 0 0 0-6
Individual Scoring
First Quarter
H-Logan Gennaro 30 pass from Freddy Corrado (kick failed) 9:08
B-Ty’Meere Wilkerson 23 run (Caleb Yost kick) 4:44
Second Quarter
B-Wilkerson 57 run (Yost kick) 7:48
B-Wilkerson 2 run (Yost kick) 1:15
Third Quarter
B-Alex Estrella 41 pass from Ashton Smith (Yost kick) 8:07
B-Wilkerson 69 run (Yost kick) 6:23
B-Gavin Galutia 9 run (kick failed) 3:14
Fourth Quarter
B-Smith 46 run (Yost kick) 9:41
Team Statistics
………………………..B………………H
1st downs………..17………………..5
rush-yds……….42-417………28-17
comp-att-int…..1-3-0…………8-13-0
pass yds………….41……………119
total yds……….458……………..136
fumb-lost…….0-0……………..2-1
pen-yds……….5-30……………3-15
Individual Statistics
Rushing-Berwick: Ty’Meere Wilkerson 20-290, 4 TDs; Ashton Smith 2-54, TD; Caleb May 2-26; Everett Snyder 2-20; Gavin Galutia 5-19, TD; Brady Cleaver 2-9; JoJo Santiago 6-0; Conner Roberts 2-0; Team 1-(-1). Hazleton Area: Xavier Heck 15-51; Andrew Lucarino 4-(-4); J.J. Lantigua 2-(-5); Freddy Corrado 7-(-25).
Passing-Berwick: Smith 1-1-0, 41 yds., TD; Cleaver 0-2-0. Hazleton Area: Corrado 8-13-0, 119 yds.
Receiving-Berwick: Alex Estrella 1-41, TD. Hazleton Area: Jose Lopez 2-49; Logan Gennaro 2-38, TD; Heck 3-26; Daniel Colon 1-6.