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KINGSTON – Regardless of the result of Saturday’s regular season finale between Midd-West and Holy Redeemer, it wasn’t going to change what either team would be doing next week.

The Royals already had their spot in the District 2 Class 2A playoffs locked in and they will play at unbeaten top seed Dunmore next week in the first round. Midd-West, on the other hand, would be playing its final game of the season, as the Mustangs did not qualify for the District 4 Class 4A playoffs.

Still, both teams had something to play for. For the Royals, they had already set a school record for most wins in a season with five, and with a win, could guarantee the program’s first-ever winning season. Midd-West was looking to improve its win total for the third straight year.

So, while it didn’t change anything, by the end of the night, it looked more like Midd-West should be the playoff bound team.

For the third straight year, it was Midd-West that got the better of the Royals and this time, in dominating fashion. The Mustangs held Holy Redeemer to just 26 yards of offense and forced five Royal turnovers, and that was more than enough to overcome six turnovers of their own as the Mustangs wrapped up their 2026 season with a 21-0 shutout over Holy Redeemer.

“Our defense was just absolute monsters tonight. They’ve been really showing up the second half of the season and tonight really put it all together and looked great,” said Midd-West coach Jeff Janovich. “They’ve really come a long way, just working together and doing what they need to do. I’ve never had a team that won a game with six turnovers but it sure feels good to do so.”

The win was the third of the season for the Mustangs, their most in a season since they won four in 2019. It also marks the third straight season of an improvement in wins, as Midd-West has gone from a winless season in 2023, to one, two and now three wins in each season since.

Two years ago, Midd-West snapped a 27-game losing streak with a win over Holy Redeemer in the teams’ final game of the regular season. The Mustangs then followed that up with a home win over the Royals, who were also bound for the District 2 playoffs, in last season’s regular season finale.

“The last couple of years, we’ve been on the uptick and we definitely expect that to keep moving,” said Janovich.

Midd-West sacked Holy Redeemer quarterback Brady McDermott five times. In his final game as a Mustang, Jared Devine spent a good portion of the evening in the Holy Redeemer backfield, and his 2.5 sacks were enough to set the school record for career sacks. While he was there the most, he was most definitely not alone, as the Mustangs recorded 12 negative yardage plays and held the Royals to just three first downs.

“Our execution was off and a lot of the things we normally do in the passing game just weren’t there tonight,” said Holy Redeemer coach Vito Quaglia. “It’s about pushing through that adversity that happens and we couldn’t find another gear. Defensively, especially in the first half, we were battling and that’s one of the things we really improved on this year, as opposed to last season. But, we just didn’t execute in some spots that we normally do. It happens at times and you’ve just got to find another way, but give them credit. They found ways to overcome their mistakes and we couldn’t.”

Only four out of 15 rushing attempts by Holy Redeemer resulted in positive yardage, and McDermott only completed 6-of-26 passes on the evening.

While Holy Redeemer was the beneficiary of six Mustang turnovers, McDermott was also picked off five times by five different Midd-West players, and unlike the Royals, Midd-West did manage to score off one of them.

There were a combined five turnovers in the first quarter alone – two by the Royals and three by the Mustangs – but neither team was able to score. A 36-yard field goal attempt by Midd-West fell short on the first play of the second quarter.

But Holy Redeemer’s ensuing drive produced a combined -14 yards, and a 26-yard punt with a nine-yard return gave Midd-West the ball at the Royal 33-yard line. Four plays later, Witten Carter extended the play by scrambling around in the pocket and eventually found Mason Fultz in the end zone for a 21-yard touchdown pass to get the Mustangs on the scoreboard.

Midd-West’s next scoring drive came from nearly identical starting field position, as McDermott was picked off by Aiden Rose, who returned it to the Royal 32 at the 5:47 mark of the second quarter. The Mustangs then took seven plays and Noah Kratzer punctuated the drive with a one-yard plunge that made it 14-0 after a successful two-point conversion.

Given the way Midd-West’s defense was playing, the Mustangs’ opening drive of the second half may have put the exclamation point on the game, and that turned out to be the case. After receiving the second half kickoff, but being pushed back to their own 21-yard line after a penalty to start the drive, the Mustangs proceeded to chew up nearly half of the third quarter with an 11-play, 79-yard drive capped by Fultz’ second touchdown of the night, an 18-yard run, to make it 21-0.

In his final high school game, Fultz was a big difference in the game, as his 59 rushing yards on 12 carries was a game-high and he also caught a pair of passes for 32 yards. Carter completed 10-of-15 passes for 103 yards and a touchdown despite also throwing four interceptions.

After Fultz’s second touchdown of the night, Holy Redeemer still had five more possessions in the game, but two ended with interceptions and the other three ended with four-and-outs.

Despite the dismal ending to the regular season, the Royals still set a record for wins in a season, finishing at 5-5, and with a win would have guaranteed a winning record for the first time in school history. While that still is possible, it’ll be a much steeper climb going up against Dunmore next week. Still, the Royals are in the postseason for the second straight year.

“Two years in a row, Redeemer is in the postseason. We have some work to do and have to go against a pretty stout opponent next week and we understand that, but it’s an opportunity and we’re always going to seize an opportunity to go out there and play some football,” said Quaglia.

Midd-West 21, Holy Redeemer 0
Midd-West (3-7) 0 14 7 0 – 21
Holy Redeemer (5-5) 0 0 0 0 – 0

Second quarter
8:01 – (MW) Mason Fultz 21-yard pass from Witten Carter (kick failed), 4-33, 2:02
2:23 – (MW) Noah Kratzer 1-yard run (D. Drumheller pass from Carter), 7-32, 3:24

Third quarter
6:21 – (MW) Mason Fultz 18-yard run (Kullman kick), 11-79, 5:39

Statistics
MW HR
First downs 17 3
Rushes-net yards 49-133 15-(-41)
Passing yardage 103 67
Passing 10-16-1-4 7-30-0-5
Fumbles-lost 3-2 1-0
Penalties-yards 7-75 4-45

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING: Midd-West: Mason Fultz (12-59-1), Witten Carter (10-2), Noah Kratzer (8-8-1), Maverick Smith (6-18), D’Angelo Drumheller (3-38), Jiovaunni Drumheller (3-6), Jared Devine (2-(-2)), Barry Penepacker (1-3), Grayson VanHorn (1-2), Konnor Kullman (1-0), Nic Hummel (1-0), Ronnie Johnson (1-(-1)); Holy Redeemer: Jerry Fino (6-(-9)), Brady McDermott (6-(-33)), Lucas Shrader (2-1), Kevin Arroyo (1-0)

PASSING: Midd-West: Witten Carter (10-15-103-1-4), Mason Fultz (0-1-0-0-0); Holy Redeemer: Brady McDermott (6-26-69-0-5), Lucas Shrader (1-3-(-2)-0-0), Max Mohutsky (0-1-0-0-0)

RECEIVING: Midd- West: D’Angelo Drumheller (5-45), Mason Fultz (2-32-1), Aiden Rose (2-15), Konnor Kullman (1-11); Holy Redeemer: Michael Zbierski (3-45), Jerry Fino (2-20), Ryan Zelinka (1-3), Lucas Shrader (1-(-1))

ALMEDIA – Bucktail made the District 4 playoffs back in 2023, but dropped their last three games of that season, including a six-point game in the first round of the Class A postseason.

Since then, the Bucks hadn’t won another game on the field (a forfeit win last year notwithstanding) up until two weeks ago – nearly three years to the date of its last on-field win – when Bucktail defeated a Coudersport team by a touchdown two weeks after losing by 27 points to the Falcons.

So, with a young and larger than usual squad in terms of numbers for the smallest football-sponsoring school in Pennsylvania, it was important for the Bucks to finish off the 2026 season strongly as they went up against a Columbia-Montour Vo-Tech squad that has struggled this season, and whose only win also came via a forfeit.

So, for the Bucks, their 42-6 win over the Rams is a significant accomplishment as it relates to Bucktail’s future with a roster full of underclassmen, and a 24-player roster. Quite frequently in the past, the Bucks have only dressed numbers in the teens.

”We have 24 and that is a rarity and being able to dress all of them today was huge. Today was a real good indication of how much better our younger kids have gotten and it was important for us to end this way,” said Bucktail coach Bruce Ransom. “We start six sophomores on offense and a freshman, so those are good signs. We played well, executed well, had a lot of second-and-shorts and established the run, which gave us the option to throw a little bit when we had to and that made the difference today.”

Bucktail racked up 347 yards of offense and scored on its first six possessions of the game. CMVT managed to put up 204 yards of offense, but was again bitten by turnovers, committing five.

“We’ve been talking all week about discipline and eye-discipline and doing your job for the whole series and that’s what it comes down to,” said CMVT coach Mark Varner. “The first series, we gave them too many free yards on offside penalties. We stopped them on first and second downs and then they run their counter-cross with their quarterback or the reserve with their winger, misdirection, which we knew they were going to do, and our discipline wasn’t there, we went inside and they’d make a big play. It’s something we’ve talked about all year and I think it was better today but they still at times exploited that youthfulness and inexperience.”

The Bucks had just one possession in the first quarter, and put together an eight-play, 61-yard drive capped by a two-yard touchdown run by Levi Stevenson at the 3:44 mark. The Rams turned it over on downs on their first drive after receiving the opening kickoff, and then drove it down to the Bucktail 4-yard line before losing a fumble and a fourth-and-goal play near the end of the quarter.

Bucktail took over at its own 9-yard line and proceeded to drive all 91 yards down the field in nine plays, capped by an eight-yard run by quarterback Corbin Pentz, with just under nine minutes to play in the second quarter.

Later in the second, Nickolas Dennis picked off a Jaxon Hartman pass and returned it 33 yards to the Bucktail 49. Three plays later, Teagan Stone got loose for a 44-yard touchdown run, which with a successful two-point conversion made it 22-0 with 3:33 remaining in the first half.

CMVT then turned it over on downs at its own 37 with 1:10 left in the half, and another long play, this one a 38-yard touchdown from Pentz to Stone, made it 28-0 heading into halftime.

Bucktail put the game into the mercy rule as Pentz and Stone connected again, this time for a 32-yard touchdown pass, on the Bucks’ opening possession of the second half. Stone finished with 78 yards rushing on four carries, and also had 78 yards receiving on three catches, along with three total touchdowns.

“Our underclassmen have had success the last couple of years at the junior high level but have had their legs handed to them earlier this season,” said Ransom. “But they never strayed direction, and put in the work and the experience they’re bringing as younger guys showed today.”

The Rams averted the shutout early in the fourth quarter when Jaxon Hartman hit Wyatt Bodnar for a 65-yard touchdown pass. It was the second long completion of the day for Hartman, who earlier in the game connected with Blake Sponenberg for a 51-yard pass in which Sponenberg was tackled just shy of the end zone. CMVT had another chance to score at the end of the game but a couple of Hartman’s passes were dropped in the vicinity of the end zone.

For CMVT, its season comes to a close as well with its lone win coming by forfeit. Yet, the environment around the team never turned negative as can often happen around teams that lose every game on the field in a given season.

Additionally, there is a backdrop of uncertainty surrounding the school, whose teachers went on strike yesterday and whose future model of education delivery and whether or not athletics will continue at the school is up in the air.

“We didn’t lose anyone once the season started. When you’re having a tough season, 1-9, you usually have guys that say ‘I don’t want to be a part of that,’ and they don’t show up anymore but that wasn’t these kids,” said Varner. “They showed up for each other and kept coming out and kept working hard and you appreciate that. There are so many things working against them, but they showed up, were proud of their school and did their school proud and you can’t ask anything more.

Though nothing has been decided, it is possible that Saturday’s game could be the last CMVT football game ever played.

“I think any individual that is associated with this school, if they would have been here today and seen these kids work hard, or had been at any practice or game, they would see what sports and extracurricular activities mean to this school,” said Varner. “And they could not, with a straight face, pull athletics from this school. It’s a shame that people that are in charge of doing things for the kids aren’t doing things for the kids.”

Bucktail 42, Columbia-Montour Vo-Tech 6
Bucktail (2-6) 6 22 14 0 – 42
CMVT (1-9) 0 0 0 6 – 6

First quarter
3:44 – (B) Levi Stevenson 2-yard run (run failed), 8-61, 4:21

Second quarter
8:56 – (B) Corbin Pentz 8-yard run (Stone pass from Pentz), 9-91, 4:03
3:33 – (B) Teagan Stone 44-yard run (Stevenson pass from Stone), 3-51, 1:51
:20 – (B) Teagan Stone 38-yard pass from Corbin Pentz (pass failed), 2-37, :50

Third quarter
8:20 – (B) Teagan Stone 32-yard pass from Corbin Pentz (Heiser run), 6-46, 3:40
2:40 – (B) Jaden Intallura 42-yard run (run failed), 4-51, 2:46

Fourth quarter
8:11 – (VT) Wyatt Bodnar 65-yard pass from Jaxon Hartman (run failed), 3-68, 1:44

Statistics
B VT
First downs 19 5
Rushes-net yards 35-269 34-64
Passing yardage 78 140
Passing 3-5-2-0 4-14-1-2
Fumbles-lost 1-1 4-3
Penalties-yards 17-132 5-40

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING: Bucktail: Levi Stevenson (9-42-1), Corbin Pentz (5-24-1), Teagan Stone (4-78-1), Patrick Tarantella (4-24), Jaden Intallura (3-40-1), Stephen Heiser (3-26), Joey Heiser (3-6), Angelo Tarantella (1-37), Timothy Gentzyel (1-(-2)), Aidan Ditty (1-(-2)), Quinn Dorman (1-(-4)); CMVT: Liam Patraw (11-30), Cody Zimmerman (11-28), Hoyt Kelley (3-8), Jacob Fosse (1-2), Blake Sponenberg (1-1), Jaxon Hartman (1-(-5))

PASSING: Bucktail: Corbin Pentz (3-5-78-2-0); CMVT: Jaxon Hartman (4-14-140-1-2)

RECEIVING: Bucktail: Teagan Stone (3-78-2); CMVT: Bradley Jones (2-24), Wyatt Bodner (1-65-1), Blake Sponenberg (1-51)

SHAMOKIN – Based on the lengthy postgame celebration with friends and family on the field at Kemp Memorial Stadium, it was easy to see what Mount Carmel’s 23-7 win over Shamokin meant to everyone associated with program. The Red Tornadoes won back the Coal Bucket for the first time in three years, completed a perfect regular season for the first time since 2022, and erased the painful memory of an improbable victory by Shamokin one year ago. Mount Carmel (10-0) will open the District 4 Class 3A playoffs as the top seed, and will host Wellsboro next week in the quarterfinals.

“We had this game circled on the schedule for a year straight,” Mount Carmel fullback/defensive end Max Karycki said. “Everyone could say how they felt about last year’s game, but at the end of the day, when the clock hit zero, that was the score. We lost last year. We worked our absolute butts off for an entire year, just for this game, and being 9-0 going into it, and finishing 10-0, it’s a blessing to play with these guys. I give all the credit to my teammates and my coaches for an awesome job. Great preparation leading up to this week, and it’s the result we looked for.”

On the first two drives, it looked as if Mount Carmel would cruise to recapturing the Coal Bucket against a depleted Shamokin team that was without quarterback Logan Steele and running back Noah Ringes. Jaylen Delaney raced past the defense, and found the end zone on a 50-yard run exactly three minutes into the game. Cooper Karycki then extended the lead to 14-0 when he scored on a 4-yard run off the left side with 5:14 left in the opening quarter. Shamokin (8-2) started the game with Barrett Walsh at quarterback, but quickly switched to freshman Evan Pancher after two unsuccessful possessions.

“So, it was great to come out, score really quick there,” Mount Carmel coach John Darrah said. “I think we had a couple penalties and turnovers in the second and third quarter that were hurting us. But, to our guys’ credit, they stayed with it, and came up big when we had to at the end there.”

The shorthanded Indians did what they could to stay in the game, with a little bit of help from Mount Carmel. Max Karycki recovered a fumble to set up the Red Tornadoes deep in Shamokin territory, but Mount Carmel gave it right back on the very next play with a fumble of its own. A holding penalty would also erase any hope of a scoring threat before halftime. Despite the sputtering and self-inflicted wounds on offense, the Red Tornadoes’ defense held Shamokin to just 60 yards and two first downs in the opening half, while maintaining the two-score lead.

“I thought our defense played great tonight,” Darrah said. “We gave up a play here or there, but we seemed to continue to fight. Definitely hats off to our defense for playing a full 48 minutes there.”

Late in the third quarter, Shamokin made things interesting. Sheldon Sassani recovered a fumble at the Mount Carmel 32, and Pancher would finish the eight-play march with a 2-yard touchdown run at the 2:05 mark. With the large crowd on the home side in it for the first time all night, Delaney provided a huge momentum swing when he got free on a 38-yard run to steady the ship for his team. Delaney finished with a game-high 101 yards on 12 carries.

“I mean, honestly, I can’t even remember what the heck happened,” Darrah said in the midst of the on-field get-together. “I remember kicking the field goal, which I think was a big play. That was a great play by Josh (Miller). But yeah, our guys just played tough. It wasn’t the prettiest, but we got it done.”

The field goal Darrah referred was indeed an important play in the game. Facing a 4th-and-3 at the Shamokin 5 with just under 10 minutes remaining, Darrah decided to give Miller his first field goal opportunity of the season. Miller proved he has a big leg on kickoffs, but he also has an accurate one. His 22-yard field goal gave the Red Tornadoes a 17-7 lead, and put a ton a of pressure on a Shamokin offense that wasn’t able to generate drives on a consistent basis.

“We were kind of looking at how close we were,” Darrah said. “We were a little further away than we thought. I think if it would have been 4th-and-1, we probably would have went for it. But it was about 4th-and-3 or 4th-and-4, and Josh is a great kicker. We haven’t kicked one this year. Great time to get your first one I guess, right?”

A sack by Chance Swatski and Aidan Brokenshire forced a quick Shamokin punt, and Cooper Karycki would deliver the knockout punch. Karycki got loose down the right side on a 45-yard touchdown run to put the game away with 5:17 left. Karycki chipped in with 86 yards on 10 carries, after going over the 1,000-yard mark for the season last week against Central Mountain. Mount Carmel forced yet another three-and-out on defense, then easily ran out the clock. The disappointing 5-6 record from 2025 now seems like a distant memory, as Mount Carmel will begin the quest of trying to win its first District 4 championship since 2011.

“I think it’s big,” Darrah said. “I think our kids fought hard, and we learned a lot about ourselves last year, learning how to face adversity. And you know, it feels great to see how hard they worked, and for it to come to fruition here.”

Mount Carmel 14 0 0 9-23
Shamokin 0 0 7 0-7

Individual Scoring
First Quarter
MC-Jaylen Delaney 50 run (Josh Miller kick) 9:00
MC-Cooper Karycki 4 run (Miller kick) 5:15

Third Quarter
S-Evan Pancher 2 run (Kingston Heim kick) 2:05

Fourth Quarter
MC-Miller 22 field goal 9:41
MC-Karycki 45 run (kick blocked) 5:17

Team Statistics
……………………MC…………S
1st downs………….14…………..5
rush-yds…………44-312………33-65
comp-att-int…..2-5-0………….4-9-0
pass yds…………..4………………35
total yds………….316………….100
fumb-lost………..4-2………….2-1
pen-yds…………..5-40…………10-70

Individual Statistics
Rushing-Mount Carmel: Jaylen Delaney 12-101, TD; Cooper Karycki 10-86, 2 TDs; Mikey Higgins 10-62; Jason Klokis 7-38; Max Karycki 3-34; Team 2-(-9). Shamokin: Trey Taylor 12-48; Evan Pancher 14-13, TD; Ryan Bickert 6-8; Barrett Walsh 1-(-4).

Passing-Mount Carmel: Delaney 2-5-0, 4 yds. Shamokin: Pancher 4-8-0, 35 yds.; Walsh 0-1-0.

Receiving-Mount Carmel: M. Karycki 1-4; Higgins 1-0. Shamokin: Sheldon Sassani 3-27; Bickert 1-8.

MOUNT CARMEL – The only thing standing between Mount Carmel and a perfect 9-0 to take into next week’s Coal Bucket rivalry game with Shamokin was an 0-8 Central Mountain team that last won a game almost exactly three years ago in October 2023.

No problem, right? Not really, as Mount Carmel scored on its first six possessions and put the game into the mercy rule early in the second half. But despite losing 49-21 to the Red Tornados, Central Mountain looked nothing like a winless team.

The Wildcats consistently moved the ball on Mount Carmel, picking up 17 first downs in the game and 360 yards of offense, including 176 through the air and 184 on the ground. They also held a decided advantage in time of possession and ran 61 plays to just 36 for Mount Carmel.

But Central Mountain simply had no answer for Mount Carmel’s offense as the Red Tornados racked up 450 yards.

“I thought our guys played tough and we’re exactly where we want to be at this point in the year and we’re ready for a big one next week,” said Mount Carmel coach John Darrah.

“We’ve played some really tough competition all year and we’ve competed,” said Central Mountain coach Travis Thompson. “Mount Carmel’s offense is their bread and butter and that’s where they punish your team. We thought we could move the ball offensively and we were able to execute but they’re a tough team all around. There’s a lot of good takeaways and positive things for us, but that’s a great team we faced tonight and they lived up to the billing.”

Alex Johnson completed 20-of-33 passes for 176 yards and a touchdown, while Kyle Everett ran 21 times for 82 yards and a score. With that duo lining up in the backfield on nearly every snap, they kept the Red Tornado defense off balanced at times, and Central Mountain also did not commit a turnover on the evening.

“Alex is able to throw the ball well and we’ve known that and we’ve really liked how Kyle has been running the ball lately and we knew if we were going to be able to move the ball on Mount Carmel, you have to have a tough runner and he was one of the toughest ones we’ve had all year so we figured we’d switch it up, put Alex at quarterback, which they hadn’t seen and have Kyle just run hard,” said Thompson.

But for all of the positives that Central Mountain could potentially take away from having moved the ball on one of the state’s top Class 3A teams, they were unable to slow down Mount Carmel’s offense. The Red Tornados averaged 12.5 yards per play. Mount Carmel’s longest scoring drive took six plays, and the Red Tornados had two scoring drives of just two plays, and two other scoring drives of only four plays. Mount Carmel had seven plays of 20 yards or more on the night.

“The way they run that offense, it’s difficult to prepare for it during the week,” said Thompson. “Trying to reach your JV offense how to run a scout offense with all of their moving parts is almost impossible so we did our best this week with preparation but it’s a brutal offense to go against, so hats off to them. We knew if we gave them some space in the seam that they would break one.”

Jaylen Delaney and Cooper Karycki both went over the 1,000-yard rushing mark for the season as they each posted 100-yard games. Delaney ran for 102 yards on just three carries and also threw for 67, completing all five of his pass attempts with two touchdowns, and also had a 66-yard punt return in the first quarter to set up Mount Carmel’s first score.

Karycki ran nine times for 130 yards and a pair of touchdowns and also caught one of Delaney’s two touchdown passes.

“It was great to see them both go over 1,000 on the same night,” said Darrah. “I’m really proud of how hard they’ve worked and it’s great to see them

Central Mountain punted after its opening drive of the game and Delaney returned it 66 yards all the way to the Wildcat 4-yard line. Two plays later, Jason Klokis took a direct snap and punched it in from a yard out for the first points of the game.

Another Wildcat punt on their second drive gave Mount Carmel the ball at its own 36. From there, the Red Tornados needed just five plays to go 64 yards, capped by Cooper Karycki’s 20-yard touchdown run.

Mount Carmel was then pinned inside their own 20, starting their next drive on their own 18. Delaney got loose for an 80-yard run on the first play from scrimmage before being tackled just shy of the goal line at the Central Mountain 2-yard line. On the next play, he tossed a shovel pass to Max Karycki for the touchdown to make it 21-0 with :43 left in the first quarter.

From there, Central Mountain put together a 13-play, 80-yard drive capped by a 16-yard touchdown pass from Johnson to Mason Masorti on a fourth-and-7 play to cut the lead to 21-7. That drive took 6:16 off the clock and featured a pair of fourth down conversions.

But Mount Carmel answered right back with a brief four-play, 69-yard drive that took just 1:27 to go back up by three scores on a three-yard touchdown run by Michael Higgins with 5:00 to go in the first half. A 61-yard run by Cooper Karycki flipped the field as it got the Red Tornados from their own 31, where they started the possession, all the way down to the Central Mountain 8-yard line.

The Red Tornados put one more touchdown on the scoreboard before the end of the half as Cooper Karycki capped another drive with his second touchdown of the first half, this one a 15-yard run.

Central Mountain managed to recover a quasi-onside kick to start the second half, but they were stopped on fourth-and-1 from the Mount Carmel 34 by the Red Tornados. Mount Carmel took over and needed just four plays to go 65 yards, capped by Delaney’s second touchdown pass of the night, this one to Cooper Karycki for his third touchdown of the night, which put the game into the mercy rule at the 8:49 mark of the third quarter.

Central Mountain added a pair of fourth quarter touchdowns, one following a block punt and one off a big offensive play. Mount Carmel, which hasn’t punted much this season, elected to punt on fourth-and-10 from its own 32 early in the fourth quarter and it was blocked by Gavin Edmonston and recovered by the Wildcats at the Mount Carmel 24. Five plays later, and after another fourth down conversion, Everett ran it in from 10 yards out to make it 42-14.

After another Mount Carmel touchdown on Jaxon Bobick’s 40-yard run, Central Mountain took over at its own 20, and on the first play from scrimmage, Gavin Heverly found a hole and outran all Red Tornado defenders for an 80-yard touchdown run.

The win sets up a showdown for the Red Tornados with the rival Shamokin next Friday. Although the Indians lost their first game of the year to Blue Mountain on Friday, depriving the matchup of having two undefeated teams for the first time in more than two decades, it will still be one of the most anticipated Coal Bucket games in recent memory.

“To us, it’s a huge game every year, and this year is no different,” said Darrah. “It might be different to some people on the periphery, fans, and things like that, but to us, it’s one of the biggest rivalries in the country, so it’s no different this year.”

Mount Carmel 49, Central Mountain 21
Central Mountain (0-9) 0 7 0 14 – 21
Mount Carmel (9-0) 21 14 7 7 – 49

First quarter
8:39 – (MC) Jason Klokis 1-yard run (Miller kick), 2-4, :12
4:23 – (MC) Cooper Karycki 20-yard run (Miller kick), 5-64, 1:18
:43 – (MC) Max Karycki 2-yard pass from Jaylen Delaney (Miller kick), 2-82, :18

Second quarter
6:27 – (CM) Mason Masorti 16-yard pass from Alex Johnson (Fredricks kick), 13-80, 6:16
5:00 – (MC) Michael Higgins 3-yard run (Miller kick), 4-69, 1:27
:47 – (MC) Cooper Karycki 15-yard run (Miller kick), 6-47, 2:15

Third quarter
8:49 – (MC) Cooper Karycki 16-yard pass from Jaylen Delaney (Miller kick), 4-65, 1:20

Fourth quarter
6:40 – (CM) Kyle Everett 10-yard run (Fredricks kick), 5-24, 2:57
3:42 – (MC) Jaxon Boblick 40-yard run (Miller kick), 5-78, 2:58
3:16 – (CM) Gavin Heverly 80-yard run (Fredricks kick), 1-80, :26

Statistics
CM MC
First downs 17 20
Rushes-net yards 28-184 31-383
Passing yardage 176 67
Passing 20-33-1-0 5-5-2-0
Fumbles-lost 1-0 1-0
Penalties-yards 5-40 2-15

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING: Central Mountain: Kyle Everett (21-82-1), Alex Johnson (5-16), Gavin Heverly (1-80-1), Kole Corman (1-6); Mount Carmel: Cooper Karycki (9-130-2), Austin Ventilli (5-47), Michael Higgins (4-27-1), Jaylen Delaney (3-102), Jaxon Boblick (3-46-1), Logan Shuder (3-4), Preston Pultynovich (2-2), Gabe Higgins (1-24), Jason Klokis (1-1-1)

PASSING: Central Mountain: Alex Johnson (20-33-176-1-0); Mount Carmel: Jaylen Delaney (5-5-67-2-0)

RECEIVING: Central Mountain: Caleb Stitzer (6-65), Kyle Everett (5-42), Mason Masorti (5-42-1), Gavin Heverly (3-24), Jacob Rembold (1-3); Mount Carmel: Max Karycki (2-32-1), Cooper Karycki (2-28-1), Preston Pultynovich (1-7)

ALMEDIA – With a roster featuring 22 juniors and seniors, Lower Moreland has one of its most experienced teams in recent years. By contrast, Columbia-Montour Vo-Tech entered this season with a very inexperienced roster, and its inexperience has been exacerbated by a rash of injuries that has necessitated an installation of a new offense midway through the season.

So, with those two things as the backdrop, Saturday’s result wasn’t all that surprising. Lower Moreland limited CMVT to just 26 total yards as the Lions largely shut down the Rams’ rushing lanes and options out of the backfield, while the Lions scored on all six of their first half possessions and also added a score on special teams as Lower Moreland topped the Rams 51-0.

“They’ve had some injuries with their offense because we saw some tape from earlier in the season and it was a different offense, but I totally understand where he’s coming at it throwing some single wing and misdirection stuff, but we got film on it and our defensive coordinator did a great job getting our guys prepared and getting ready for it,” said Lower Moreland coach Dominic Gregorio. “Our kids are pretty aggressive. On our defensive line, we have all five starters back from last year and we were able to get after them a bit.”

The win improves the Lions to 6-1, their best start to a season in several years. Next week, Lower Moreland can win its seventh game in a season for the first time since 2009. And with at least two wins in their last three games, the Lions can notch an eighth win for the first time since 2008.

The Rams managed just two plays of 10 yards or more on the afternoon and had 17 plays go for negative yardage.

“This was probably the best team we’ve played all year. As a coach, you always look for that weak spot or gap in their system but there wasn’t one out there today,” said CMVT coach Mark Varner. “They were just beating us to the gap, to the ball carrier, to the spot, to the blocks, so sometimes you just have to tip your hat to the other team. We do need to play better against good teams like this, but I think we were a little shell shocked and a step behind on some of our blocks.”

The Lions scored touchdowns on five of their first 12 offensive plays of the game, and also returned a blocked punt for a score as well. Meanwhile, CMVT didn’t get its first first down of the game until the final minute of the first half.

The Rams opened the game with a three-and-out and Lower Moreland took over near midfield. The Lions then put together a seven-play, 52-yard drive capped by Andrew Rodriguez’ seven-yard touchdown run. That ended up being the longest scoring drive of the game for Lower Moreland, both in plays and yards.

The Lions’ next three touchdowns came on a two-play drive and a pair of single-play drives. The Rams turned it over on downs at their own 38, and then Rodriguez ripped off a 38-yard touchdown run on the second play of the Lions’ ensuing drive.

Jude Gove and Chase Carroll then connected for a pair of touchdowns, the first for 65 yards and the second going for 42 yards to put the Lions up 28-0 at the 11:38 mark of the second quarter. Those two connections broke single-season school records for the Lions, as Gove now has 11 touchdown passes and Carroll has 12 touchdown catches.

“We have some athletes and when we throw the ball up, they have a chance at catching it,” said Gregorio.

CMVT then had a punt partially blocked from its own 13 that rolled back behind the line of scrimmage, where it was scooped up at the 1-yard line and carried into the end zone by Jagger Fink.

A pair of rushing touchdowns by Eddie Weber later in the second quarter, one of which came following an interception that was recorded on one of just two pass attempts by the Rams on the day, capped the first half scoring. The Lions also added a safety in the third quarter.

“The main problem with our defense today was our tackles were getting pushed inside, and instead of fighting pressure and holding their gap, they were stepping inside and hands were coming out and that gave them a big area to run through,” said Varner. “We adjusted that in the second half and made sure our ends didn’t get too deep and our tackles fought pressure better and it shut that gap down and things looked much better in the second half. We’ll take it as a learning opportunity and make adjustments and move on.”

Lower Moreland 51, Columbia-Montour Vo-Tech 0
Lower Moreland (6-1) 20 29 2 0 – 51
CMVT (1-7) 0 0 0 0 – 0

First quarter
5:50 – (LM) Andrew Rodriguez 7-yard run (Makharov kick), 7-52, 4:34
3:29 – (LM) Andrew Rodriguez 38-yard run (kick blocked), 2-38, :16
:53 – (LM) Chase Carroll 65-yard pass from Jude Gove (Makharov kick), 1-65, :20

Second quarter
11:38 – (LM) Chase Carroll 42-yard pass from Jude Gove (Gove run), 1-42, :09
9:44 – (LM) Jagger Fink 1-yard blocked punt return (Makharov kick)
6:55 – (LM) Eddie Weber 2-yard run (Makharov kick), 1-5, :27
1:39 – (LM) Eddie Weber 8-yard run (Makharov kick), 4-28, 2:46

Third quarter
5:08 – (LM) Team Safety

Statistics
LM VT
First downs 13 3
Rushes-net yards 30-186 39-26
Passing yardage 121 0
Passing 5-6-2-0 0-2-0-1
Fumbles-lost 1-1 7-2
Penalties-yards 7-60 2-8

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING: Lower Moreland: Eddie Weber (11-49-2), Constantine Ryan (10-48), Andrew Rodriguez (4-65-2), Jude Gove (2-25), Team (2-(-2)), Levi Fishman (1-1); CMVT: Cody Zimmerman (28-44), Liam Patraw (5-14), Blake Sponenberg (3-5), Zane Labate (1-(-10)), Team (1-(-12)), Jaxon Hartman (1-(-15))

PASSING: Lower Moreland: Jude Gove (4-5-114-2-0), Constantine Ryan (1-1-7-0-0); CMVT: Jaxon Hartman (0-2-0-0-1)

RECEIVING: Lower Moreland: Chase Carroll (3-111-2), Kieran Campbell (1-7), Matthew Duchossois (1-3); CMVT: None

To help counteract that, the Black Panthers put together a more pass-heavy game plan.

It worked near flawlessly for the Black Panthers. After entering the game late in the first half last week and throwing for 145 yards, Paxton Humphrey earned the starting nod under center this week and responded as well as could be expected.

The freshman threw for 335 yards on 19-of-31 passing and three touchdowns to lead Milton to a 51-0 win over the Bluejays for the Black Panthers’ second straight win.

“We knew they were going to blitz the A-gap a lot and we found success in getting the ball out quick,” said Milton coach Matthew Wilson. “Kamryn, JaCori and Jhemzuel as receivers, they put us in great positions by running their routes right. If we can get the ball in their hands quickly, they can make things happen, so that was our game plan.”

Milton racked up 520 yards of offense and held Central to just 91 total yards. Kamryn Wilson caught six passes for 71 yards and a pair of touchdowns, while JaCori Brown had both a passing and a receiving touchdown, as he hauled in four passes for 104 and a score and also tossed a six-yard touchdown pass to Wilson in the first quarter. Jhemzuel Feliciano had three catches for 68 yards as well as a rushing touchdown.

“We know most teams are going to blitz to try to put some pressure on us and try to stop our run game, so we figured if we could get the ball out quickly to our skill guys, we could dictate the flow of the game,” said Wilson “And that helps in the run game because they have to loosen up a little.”

The Bluejays managed just three first downs on the night while Milton had 27. The Black Panthers scored on their first three possessions of the game and took some chunks of time off the clock in the process as they took a 21-0 lead at halftime.

Milton’s first scoring drive went 11 plays for 66 yards and was capped by Wilson’s six-yard touchdown grab from JaCori Brown, who lined up in the Wildcat after doing the same on the previous play and being stopped for no gain. This time, Brown took the direct snap and threw a quick pass to Wilson, who hauled it in for the score.

After a three-and-out by Central, Milton took over at its own 46 and proceeded to go five plays for 54 yards, capped by a 22-yard touchdown grab by Schuyler Humphrey from Paxton Humphrey.

“We knew he had a good arm, he’s played in the last few games and he can scramble out of the pocket and make reads on the run, but we have to do a better job of containing on the outside by our defensive ends and blitzers,” said Central coach Ky Seesholtz.

The Bluejays then put together their most promising offensive drive of the night after they began their ensuing drive at their own 19 and gained two of the three first downs on the evening, including one after a 34-yard run by Owen Zanoline. Central got to the Milton 16-yard line, but on a third-and-5 play, Blake Edgar’s pass was picked off by Wilson at the Milton 4-yard line and returned 10 yards.

From there, Milton put together an 11-play, 86-yard drive that took just under four minutes and was capped by a six-yard touchdown run by Brody Locke. Central did come up with a stop just before the half as Milton got the ball inside the Bluejay 10 but the clock ran out on the half and the Black Panthers took a 21-0 lead into the half.

Central did not get a first down in the second half, as the Bluejays managed just nine total yards in the second half. Meanwhile, Milton scored on its first two second half possessions, as Humphrey tossed touchdowns to Brown and Wilson in the third quarter.

Brown snagged a pass on a crossing route and turned it into a 39-yard touchdown reception before Wilson hauled in a nine-yard touchdown pass for his second scoring grab of the night, before Feliciano’s one-yard touchdown run near the end of the third quarter put the game into the mercy rule.

“Up to this point, we put together a few good weeks where we were able to establish the run and do some things well up front, but tonight we failed to do that,” said Seesholtz. “We just weren’t able to execute up front. Credit to them, they did well on the defensive line and with their linebackers blitzing. These are things we need to improve on next week because Mount Carmel is a good team, probably one of the best we’ll play and we need to be ready to go.”

“We’re on a mission. We need to do well here in the second half of the season to make a push for the 4A playoffs,” said Wilson. “These last few weeks have been preparation for the last three games that are going to be crucial games for us. The last two weeks of practice have been great and that’s showed up on the field.”

Milton 51, Central Columbia 0
Central Columbia (0-7) 0 0 0 0 – 0
Milton (3-4) 14 7 20 10 – 51

First quarter
4:59 – (M) Kamryn Wilson 6-yard pass from JaCori Brown (O’Grady kick), 11-66, 4:25
1:11 – (M) Schuyler Humphrey 22-yard pass from Paxton Humphrey (O’Grady kick), 5-54, 2:45

Second quarter
5:24 – (M) Brody Locke 6-yard run (O’Grady kick), 11-86, 3:52

Third quarter
10:07 – (M) JaCori Brown 39-yard pass from Paxton Humphrey (kick failed), 6-75, 1:53
6:40 – (M) Kamryn Wilson 9-yard pass from Paxton Humphrey (O’Grady kick), 5-34, 1:46
1:13 – (M) Jhemzuel Feliciano 1-yard run (O’Grady kick), 5-54, 1:15

Fourth quarter
4:49 – (M) Gabe Heine 27-yard field goal, 9-49, 6:09
:41 – (M) Carter Letteer 11-yard run (O’Grady kick), 3-35, 1:18

Statistics
CC M
First downs 3 27
Rushes-net yards 26-83 33-165
Passing yardage 8 341
Passing 2-9-0-1 20-32-4-1
Fumbles-lost 3-0 1-0
Penalties-yards 6-42 9-100

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING: Central Columbia: Owen Zanoline (12-52), Blake Edgar (7-25), Dominic Keller (4-3), Logan Robbins (2-5), Easton Gonder (1-(-2)); Milton: Luis Santos (11-49), Brody Locke (10-53-1), Paxton Humphrey (4-17), Schuyler Humphrey (3-10), Carter Letteer (2-28-1), Brady O’Rourke (1-7), Jhemzuel Feliciano (1-1-1), JaCori Brown (1-0)

PASSING: Central Columbia: Blake Edgar (2-9-8-0-1); Milton: Paxton Humphrey (19-31-335-3-1), JaCori Brown (1-1-6-1-0)

RECEIVING: Central Columbia: Luke Wise (1-6), Owen Zanoline (1-2); Milton: Kamryn Wilson (6-71-2), JaCori Brown (4-104-1), Schuyler Humphrey (4-64-1), Jhemzuel Feliciano (3-68), Brody Locke (2-21), Brady O’Rourke (1-15)

MONTOURSVILLE-Last week, it was Jaylen Delaney making huge plays in a win over Southern Columbia. This week, it was Mount Carmel’s defense who made things happens against Montoursville. The Red Tornadoes got a huge fourth down stop and forced two turnovers to quickly break open a competitive game in the second quarter, as Mount Carmel took care of things in businesslike fashion with a 35-14 victory.

“I thought our defense did a really good job,” Mount Carmel coach John Darrah said. “We created a couple of turnovers, got some short fields. Overall, I thought the defense stepped up tonight.”

Mount Carmel (7-0) showed no signs of any emotional letdown from the big win against Southern. With the game tied at 7-7 early in the second quarter, a Lance Glenney interception began to turn the tide. Glenney set up the Red Tornadoes with a short field, and they would capitalize. Cooper Karycki crossed the goal line from seven yards out to cap off a 39-yard drive, giving his team a lead it would never relinquish. Karycki finished with a game-high 158 yards on 19 carries, which also included a 72-yard house call on his first touch of the night.

“Our line played good,” Karycki said. “Montoursville was a very, very physical team. I think our line grinded it out. It was a very tough game, but we’re glad we came out with the win.”

Montoursville (4-3) was trailing 14-7 with six minutes left before the halftime. The Warriors decided to roll the dice and go for it on a 4th-and-2 at their own 28-yard line. Quarterback Elijah Eck was stopped a yard short of the line to gain, enabling the flood gates to open. After one touchdown was called back on a penalty, Delaney had no problem finding Aidan Brokenshire on a 14-yard scoring strike. Delaney completed 6-of-9 attempts for 26 yards and two scores. Although his stats were a little bit skewed thanks to a pass that went for a loss of 28 yards in the third quarter, Delaney continues to make strides with the passing game.

“That’s definitely something we’ve been working on a lot,” Darrah said. “So it was nice to see us have two passing touchdowns. That was good. Obviously, when Brokie went out there, we lost a weapon in the passing game, so that made it a little bit more difficult. I would have liked to see us get in the end zone a couple more times in the second half, but we can’t have the penalties. Penalties killed the drives.”

A bad snap on Montoursville’s next possession led to Josh Blessing recovering a fumble, once again giving Mount Carmel prime field position. As they did before, the Red Tornadoes cashed in the turnover for points. Brokenshire was ejected on the drive, so with the next-man-up mentality, it was Kenny Miller that delivered. Miller made his first catch of the year a productive one when he got open and hauled in a 23-yard TD pass from Delaney, extending the lead to 28-7 at the 1:18 mark of the second quarter.

“Kenny is a really good athlete,” Darrah said. “If the ball’s near Kenny, he’s going to catch the ball. Obviously, being a backup tight end, he may not be as familiar with the more in-depth plays and things like that. Kenny can block and Kenny can catch and run. He can do all those kind of things.”

On its first drive of the second half, Mount Carmel continued to hammer away at the Montoursville defense. The Red Tornadoes would march 72 yards in seven plays. Karycki had a 16-yard scamper to set up first-and-goal, then Mikey Higgins fought his way into the end zone for a 2-yard touchdown. In addition to Karycki’s big night, three other Mount Carmel rushers contributed. Higgins totaled 78 yards on 14 carries, and Jason Klokis chipped in with 49 yards on nine attempts. Although he didn’t break any long runs like he did against Southern, Delaney did plenty to help the offense with his legs, adding 94 yards on the ground. He has a very good chance to go over the 1,000-yard mark next week against Central Columbia.

“We can just keep subbing in and out, keeping people fresh,” Karycki said. “It’s very good to have a couple backs, because they’ll be playing at a different speed when they’re fresh. It’s just a good thing to have.”

At one point, Mount Carmel scored on four consecutive drives. Things would kind of bog down as the second half wore on. The Red Tornadoes were unable to finish off a couple of possessions in Montoursville territory. Two drives stalled inside the 30 on fourth down, but Mount Carmel was still able to tally 379 rushing yards and totally control the clock, despite being guilty of 10 penalties for 87 yards.

Mount Carmel 7 21 7 0-35
Montoursville 7 0 7 0-14

Individual Scoring
First Quarter
MC-Cooper Karycki 72 run (Josh Miller kick) 6:29
M-Brayden Burkett 9 pass from Elijah Eck (Brent Crawford kick) 3:04

Second Quarter
MC-Karycki 7 run (Miller kick) 7:00
MC-Aidan Brokenshire 14 pass from Jaylen Delaney (pass failed) 3:05
MC-Kenny Miller 23 pass from Delaney (Karycki run) 1:18

Third Quarter
MC-Mikey Higgins 2 run (Miller kick) 9:19
M-Bryson Fillman 43 pass from Eck (Crawford kick) :50

Team Statistics
……………………. …..MC……………M
1st downs……………24………………13
rush-yds……………62-379……..25-51
comp-att-int………6-9-0………….12-25-1
pass yds………………26…………….226
fum-lost…………….1-1……………..2-1
pen-yds……………10-87…………..9-71

Individual Statistics
Rushing-Mount Carmel: Cooper Karycki 19-158, 2 TDs; Jaylen Delaney 20-94; Mikey Higgins 14-78, TD; Jason Klokis 9-49. Montoursville: Elijah Eck 13-32; Kaden Kleinman 9-28; Colton Conklin 1-2; Brayden Burkett 1-(-4); Team 1-(-7).

Passing-Mount Carmel: Delaney 6-9-0, 26 yds., 2 TDs. Montoursville: Eck 12-24-1, 226 yds., 2 TDs; Team 0-1-0.

Receiving-Mount Carmel: Aidan Brokenshire 2-26, TD; Kenny Miller 1-23, TD; Max Karycki 2-5; C. Karycki 1-(-28). Montoursville: Cole Snyder 5-83; Burkett 4-82, TD; Bryson Fillman 2-47, TD; Kleinman 1-14.

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)

MILTON – Milton has had a bit of a tough schedule in the first half of the year. With games against Mount Carmel, Danville and Montoursville over the last three weeks, and 6-0 Bloomsburg back in Week 1, Milton limped its way to a 1-4 start heading into Friday’s game against Northwest to open the second half of the regular season, and the Black Panthers were shut out in consecutive games the last two weeks.

That gave them some bottled up energy that was just waiting to be unleashed, and Milton finally was able to do so against the 4-1 Rangers. Not only did they unleash some frustration, but they also completed the rare feat of having a pair of 100-yard passers and a 100-yard rusher on the same team in the same game.

Paxton Humphrey and Kamryn Wilson threw for 145 and 100 yards, respectively, and Luis Santos ran for 167 yards, and the Black Panthers rode those performances to their second win of the season, 33-10 over Northwest.

“We had a brutal stretch of three games with Mount Carmel, Danville and Montoursville. Northwest was very physical, you could tell those guys hit the weight room, and anytime you’re playing someone that’s 4-1 and you only have one win, you’re just eager to get out there and play, and our guys were up the task today,” said Milton coach Matthew Wilson.

The younger Wilson completed 5-of-7 passes and also rushed for a touchdown – Milton’s only first half score. He then shifted to receiver late in the first half, and Humphrey took over under center and proceeded to lead the Black Panthers to four touchdowns in the second half before Northwest tacked on a late touchdown. Humphrey completed 11-of-16 passes with a pair of touchdowns.

“We lost one of our starting receivers last week, and Kamryn is very skilled at the receiver position,” said Wilson. “We have faith in both of our quarterbacks, and we know a lot of teams are going to stack the box so if we can spread them out and have guys that can catch the ball and can make things happen, we’re going to do that, so we put Kamryn out there and trusted Paxton to get the ball out quick.

“We’ve been stressing getting off the ball, running routes fast, selling everything like you’re running a go ball to get those defenders to think or to open their hips quicker. That’s what we focused on in practice. I don’t know if we’ll keep doing the two quarterback thing but we’ll keep rolling with it until it gets stopped.”

Milton’s passing game not only produced 245 yards through the air, but it also opened up the running game for Santos, who carried the ball 22 times for 167 yards and a touchdown.

“He’s fast and physical, but it starts up front with our offensive line,” said Wilson. “We focused on fixing some things this week, switched some things up and I think we found our mixture of guys on the line and anytime Santos gets space, he can make it happen.”

Milton’s defense held Northwest to just 168 yards of offense – all on the ground – and took 49 plays to do so, averaging just 3.4 yards per play while failing to complete a pass.

“Milton did a great job of stopping our bread and butter play with one guy,” said Northwest coach Greg Mullins. “Hats off to them, but inexcusable for us to not stop that. One of our staple plays is that buck sweep. Everyone knows it, it’s on film, we’ve been very successful at it, and you make adjustments to change things around but it was still that one player that was able to wreck havoc.”

That one player was Brady O’Rourke of Milton, and he led the way to stifling Northwest’s offense, which also lost a pair of fumbles and was unable to take advantage of three Milton turnovers, only scoring off one of them near the end of the game.

It was a close game for most of the contest, though, until Milton pulled away with three touchdowns in the last 15 minutes of the game.

Wilson’s 1-yard touchdown run that capped an 11-play, 77-yard drive on Milton’s first possession of the game in the first quarter gave the Black Panthers a 6-0 lead that they would take into halftime.

The Black Panthers then mishandled the second half kickoff and started their possession at their own 5-yard line. After a penalty pushed them back, Santos was tackled in the end zone on the first play from scrimmage of the second half, giving Northwest the safety and cutting the lead to 6-2.

But that was as close as the Rangers would get. The free kick following the safety went over Northwest’s deep man’s head and into the end zone for a safety – an 80-yard kick.

Northwest then fumbled away a carry on its second play of that drive, giving Milton the ball at the Ranger 22. Four plays later, Milton answered right back with an eight-yard touchdown run by Jacori Brown to extend its lead to 14-2.

Milton took a 20-2 lead on Santos’ 14-yard touchdown run with 2:18 remaining in the third quarter. They then scored two more touchdowns on back-to-back possessions in the fourth quarter as Humphrey hit Jhemzuel Feliciano for a 19-yard touchdown and then later hit O’Rourke for a 19-yard touchdown after the Black Panthers recovered a Northwest fumble.

Feliciano was just five yards shy of giving Milton a 100-yard receiver as well, as he hauled in four passes for 95 yards to go along with his score.

The Rangers finally got into the end zone with :59 left in the game when Noah Arnett broke off a 37-yard run for a touchdown. Arnett had 152 rushing yards on 23 carries.

“Everything works off of our plays, so it’s a system and series of plays, and even when we had a couple of other plays that were working, we tried to go back into it and they stopped it,” said Mullins. “I think, physically, we matched up well, so that was disappointing. Our kids worked too hard in the offseason to get bigger, faster and stronger, for this kind of result, so it’s disappointing.”

Milton 33, Northwest 10
Northwest (4-2) 0 0 2 8 – 10
Milton (2-4) 6 0 14 13 – 33

First quarter
4:49 – (M) Kamryn Wilson 1-yard run (kick blocked), 11-77, 5:15

Third quarter
11:49 – (N) Team Safety
10:13 – (M) Jacori Brown 8-yard run (Santos pass from Humphrey), 4-22, :57
2:18 – (M) Luis Santos 14-yard run (pass failed), 5-39, 2:08

Fourth quarter
7:04 – (M) Jhemzuel Feliciano 19-yard pass from Paxton Humphrey (O’Grady kick), 6-72, 2:46
3:54 – (M) Brady O’Rourke 18-yard pass from Paxton Humphrey (kick blocked), 4-50, 2:02
:59 – (N) Noah Arnett 37-yard run (Bilby run), 4-56, 1:32

Statistics
N M
First downs 7 23
Rushes-net yards 39-168 39-182
Passing yardage 0 245
Passing 0-10-0-0 16-23-2-1
Fumbles-lost 2-2 4-3
Penalties-yards 12-110 11-87

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING: Northwest: Noah Arnett (23-152-1), Robby Voyton (7-13), Loegan Diltz (4-21), Mason Bilby (2-(-12)), Wyatt Orlowski (1-2), Ben Bonham (1-(-2)), Cole Cavuto (1-(-6)); Milton: Luis Santos (22-167-1), Jacori Brown (7-64-1), Paxton Humphrey (4-(-9)), Kamryn Wilson (3-(-8)-1), Gavin Whitenight (1-(-5)), Jhemzuel Feliciano (1-(-7)), Team (1-(-20))

PASSING: Northwest: Cole Cavuto (0-7-0-0-0), Mason Bilby (0-3-0-0-0); Milton: Paxton Humphrey (11-16-145-2-1), Kamryn Wilson (5-7-100-0-0)

RECEIVING: Northwest: None; Milton: Jhemzuel Feliciano (4-95-1), Luis Santos (4-58), Kamryn Wilson (4-42), Jacori Brown (2-27), Brady O’Rourke (1-18-1), Nehemiah Crawford (1-4)