TOWANDA – Three weeks ago, Wellsboro’s offense looked outstanding as it drove down the field for an 83-yard touchdown drive that took up over half the first quarter at Canton.
Unfortunately for the Green Hornets, starting quarter Griffin Morral was injured near the end of that scoring drive, and not only did Wellsboro end up with negative net yardage in the remainder of what would end up as an eight-point loss to the Warriors as Morral didn’t return to that game, but he also missed the next two contests in what ended up as lopsided losses to Troy and Athens.
Morral returned to action on Thursday night for the Green Hornets at Towanda, and the difference was evident from the beginning. Morral guided Wellsboro to two straight scoring drives to give the Hornets a 14-0 lead by the end of the first quarter, and although the Hornets were kept out of the end zone for the remainder of the night, their defense stepped up and kept the host Black Knights off the scoreboard for the entire second half, as Wellsboro’s two first quarter touchdowns were enough as the Hornets topped Towanda 16-7 to snap a four-game losing streak.
“He wasn’t 100 percent, but we did what we needed to do,” said Wellsboro coach Matt Hildebrand. “It’s a confidence thing with the other kids on the team having him back there. He was able to check out of some looks that we had when they gave us some different looks and he has that ability. He made some throws that he maybe shouldn’t have toward the end of the game that were uncharacteristic, but that was maybe just due to lack of playing. We haven’t been able to get some of those yards when we needed them the most but we did tonight.”
Morral completed 8-of-17 passes for 155 yards and a touchdown. He also threw three second half interceptions, but none of them were costly as Wellsboro’s defense picked him up by getting a pair of stops on downs after two of them, and also recording a safety in the fourth quarter, which was the only points scored by either team in the second half.
His short pass to Ethan Keane on the third play from scrimmage of the game turned into a 58-yard pickup after Keane sidestepped a pair of defenders before being tackled just shy of the goal line. One play later, Reed Richardson punched it in from two yards out to give Wellsboro a 6-0 lead.
Towanda then matched right back down the field and appeared to have a successful 30-yard field goal by Brayden Spencer, but an illegal formation penalty erased the field goal and pushed the Black Knights back five yards, and Spencer’s subsequent attempt from 35 yards was blocked and recovered at the Wellsboro 46.
The Green Hornets needed just four more plays to find the end zone again, this time when Morral hit Keane again on a short slant route for an 18-yard reception, and then Morral found Christian Main in the end zone for a successful two-point conversion to make it 14-0 with 3:01 left in the first quarter.
The Black Knights were able to answer this time as they put together a seven-play, 73-yard drive capped by Gage Evans’ three-yard touchdown run on the first play of the second quarter.
Wellsboro then put together a 14-play drive that chewed up over seven minutes and was extended by a 20-yard pickup on a fake punt, but the Hornets were stopped by Towanda at the 1-yard line on a fourth-and-goal.
At halftime, the two teams had combined for 328 total yards – 197 for Wellsboro and 131 for Towanda. The second half was much more of a struggle for both offenses, as the teams combined for just 170 total yards, and only four plays were run by either team in their opponents’ red zone – all by Wellsboro, and in both instances, those possessions ended with an interception.
“I thought both teams played well defensively. We made a few mistakes early but settled down, but we need to score more than 16 points,” said Towanda coach Jamie Wecker. “We had opportunities, we moved the ball but we just couldn’t find any consistency and just couldn’t find that rhythm running or throwing the ball. They confused our kids up front and we just didn’t make as many plays as we needed to tonight.”
On one of those picks, following a penalty that put the Black Knights at their own 10, Towanda was penalized for a delay of game and then back-to-back false starts, which gave them a third-and-18 from their own 2-yard line. Reese Sluyter hit Evans with a short screen pass in the end zone, but Evans failed to get out of the end zone before being met by a pair of Wellsboro defenders, and he was tackled in the end zone for a safety at the 6:25 mark of the fourth quarter.
“They made some adjustments, we made some adjustments and I think it came down to just who wanted it at the end and I was really happy that our guys were able to step up and get this win,” said Hildebrand. “It’s a big one coming over here on Thursday night, and it wasn’t pretty, but we made it happen. We’ll take them any way we can get them. It’s hard to win football games especially when you’re banged up like we have been, but we’ll hopefully get some more starters back next week.”
Wellsboro 16, Towanda 7
Wellsboro (2-5) 14 0 0 2 – 16
Towanda (3-4) 0 7 0 0 – 7
First quarter
10:12 – (W) Reed Richardson 2-yard run (kick failed), 4-65, 1:48
3:01 – (W) Ethan Keene 18-yard pass from Griffin Morral (Main pass from Morral), 4-54, 2:33
Second quarter
11:57 – (T) Gage Evans 3-yard run (Spencer kick), 7-73, 3:04
Fourth quarter
6:25 – (W) Team Safety
Statistics
W T
First downs 11 15
Rushes-net yards 32-109 36-127
Passing yardage 155 107
Passing 8-17-1-3 9-18-0-1
Fumbles-lost 1-0 0-0
Penalties-yards 7-40 10-66
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING: Wellsboro: Max Mascho (19-86), Reed Richardson (9-24-1), Kody Enck (1-2), Griffin Morral (2-(-2)), Team (1-(-1)); Towanda: Gage Evans (11-49-1), Curtis Maynard (11-35), Reese Sluyter (8-16), Jazick Brown (5-22), Drew Maghamez (1-5)
PASSING: Wellsboro: Griffin Morral (8-17-155-1-3); Towanda: Reese Sluyter (9-18-107-0-1)
RECEIVING: Wellsboro: Ethan Keane (3-83-1), Max Mascho (2-45), Reed Richardson (1-16), Christian Main (1-8), Kody Enck (1-3); Towanda: Shane Maghamez (3-62), Gage Evans (3-10), Curtis Maynard (2-34), Jazick Brown (1-1)