Northern Tier League Roundup – Week 7

Written by: Ed Weaver on Sunday, October 12th, 2014. Follow Ed Weaver on Twitter.

After week 7, the North Penn Panthers have taken sole possession of the NTL Division 1 standings.

North Penn 44, Troy 33

The Panthers spoiled Troy’s Homecoming and knocked them from the ranks of the unbeatens in a back-and-forth game. After both team’s opening drives stalled North Penn opened the score fest as Panther quarterback Bo Burleigh connected with Bryce Zaparzynski on a three yard swing pass with 18 seconds left in the first to go up 6-0. Troy answered back on an eight yard run from Ben Sherman and would take a 7-6 lead after Nick Stephani’s extra point split the uprights.

North Penn would counter with a 10 play, 75 yard drive keyed by a 30 yard completion from Burleigh to Zaparzynski. Burleigh would then take it in himself from 3 yards out, and his 2-point conversion pass put them back on top 14-7 with 4:33 left till half. Troy bounced right back to tie up the game at 14-14 as Chance Lantz found the end zone from three yards out.

North Penn got the ball back and scored 90 seconds later as Burleigh connected with Luke Kelly on a 55-yard strike with Kelly dragging a Troy defender the final five yards into the end zone. Brad Pequignot ran in the two-point try, and it was 22-14 North Penn with only 34 seconds left until half. Troy’s Diante Jones answered back on a 65 yard burst to get the Trojans trailing within two points at 22-20.

North Penn started the second half with a 61 yard touchdown from Burleigh to Zaparzynski that would put the Panthers up 30-20. Jones brought the Trojans back to within 30-26 at the 7:12 mark of the third quarter with a 31 yard scoring sprint one play after returning the ensuing kick 50 yards. The Panther series saw Burleigh connect with Kelly again for a 66 yard gain that would set up another Zaparzynski run to go back up, 36-26.

Troy again bounced back thanks to a short field on a 55 yard run by Jones to trail 36-33 until North Penn would ice the game Burleigh found Dayton Wood for a 24 yard score.

Burleigh threw for a record 405 yards and 4 touchdowns passes and Luke Kelly had six catches for 171 yards and a score. Diante Jones had 14 carries for 175 yards and two scores for Troy.

Wellsboro 28, Bloomsburg 24

After getting knocked out the previous week against Troy with a shoulder injury, Wellsboro’s Michael Pietropola came off the sidelines for the final drive after Sophomore Quarterback Brandon Lamphier was sidelined to throw a game-winning 15 yard touchdown pass to Senior Kieron Smethers.

The Hornets found the end zone first on the night as Levi Mack ripped off a 52 yard run to go up 7-0 with 5:37 remaining in the first quarter following Jack Chambers‘ extra point. Bloomsburg would get on the scoreboard with 12 seconds remaining in the opening quarter as Sam Miller returned a Mack fumble for 64 yards. Wellsboro’s defense would block the extra point attempt to set the score at 7-6 Wellsboro.

The Hornets again traded offensive drives before the Lamphier found Smethers for a nine yard touchdown after Mack got the Hornets into the red zone after a 43 yard run. Following Chambers’ extra point with 1:27 remaining in the first half the Hornets led 14-6 at the half.

Bloomsburg came alive in the second half to score 18 unanswered points to eventually take the lead over Wellsboro. Quarterback Coty Kashner tied the game on a one yard run at 14-14 after a successful two-point conversion with 6:58 left in the third quarter. Bloomsburg took a 21-14 with 10:27 remaining in the game on a 34 yard pass from Kashner to Brandon Breisch. The Panthers added a 26 yard field goal with just over four minutes remaining to push their lead to 10 points before the Hornets got back into gear.

A 50 yard kick return up the Wellsboro sidelines by Marple energized the struggling Hornet offense as Lamphier threw his second touchdown pass, this one being a 36 yarder to Marple to bring the team within three points as the visiting team trailed 24-21 with 3:50 remaining. From that point on the Wellsboro defense came alive to force the Panthers to punt the ball back to Wellsboro for the final drive of the night.

The Hornets started at their own 25-yard line. Lamphier’s first down pass fell incomplete but the Sophomore gained 15 tough yards on second down to set the team up with a first down at the 40. Senior Dylan Widows caught an 11 yard Lamphier pass to give Wellsboro another first down before Lamphier would exit on the next play after getting sacked. Pietropola entered the game and connected with Smethers on a 42 yard pass to get the Hornets down to the Panthers’ 15-yard line before connecting with him for the game’s final touchdown with 57 seconds remaning to claim the 28-24 win.

Pietropola was 2-4 for 57 yards and one touchdown. Mack had his third 100 yard game as he put up 140 yards on 19 carries and a touchdown. Smethers caught five passes for 79 yards and two touchdowns and Marple caught two passes for 69 yards and a touchdown.

Next week, the Hornets, 6-1 (1-1 NTL Division 1), take to the road for the final time in 2014 against Wyalusing.

Athens 34, Wyalusing 28

Athens ended a five-game losing streak as they defeated the Rams on the road. Wyalusing’s Dylan Otis scored from one yard out with 5:21 remaining in the first quarter to put Wyalusing up 7-0. The Rams increased their lead to 14-0 with 11:06 left in the first half as Luke Jennings scored on a 10 yard run.

Athens would get on the scoreboard with 3:38 remaining in the first half. Tyler Forbes connected with Kalen Kealthley on a 66 yard pass to bring the Wildcats to within 14-6 after the extra point bounced off the uprights.

Athens came back to tie the game up at 14-14 in the third quarter when Brandon Sturzenegger found the end zone from six yards out. From there, it was a score fest as Wyalusing quickly answered back. Jennings scored on an 11 yard run with 2:27 left in the quarter to put the Rams up 20-14. Keathley then took the ensuing kick and returned it 75 yards to tie the game at 20-20 for the Wildcats.

Keathley scored another touchdown, this time on a 45 yard pass from Forbes to go up 28-20 after the Rams had a short punt after being stopped on third down. The Rams would score again on their next drive as Justin Haley would complete the 53 yard touchdown pass to Jennings with 9:32 remaining in the game.

Athens would go for the winning score on the following drive. A key pass from Forbes to Lister set Athens up at the Wyalusing 27, which would soon prove to be good scoring position. A few plays later, and on third and fifteen, Forbes would complete another pass, this time to Bill Bennett, for the score with 5:59 remaining in the fourth quarter.

Athens (2-5, 1-3 NTL Division 1) will travel to Cowanesque and Wyalusing will host Wellsboro in week 8.

Canton 51, Montgomery 6

Canton racked up over 500 yards of total offense while holding Montgomery to just 159 to take the NTL Division 2 win. Canton was led both offensively and defensively by junior Noah Barnett. Barnett rushed 11 times for 113 yards and three touchdowns. He also had 56 receiving yards and a receiving touchdown to bring his total to four scores on the game. He also came up big on the defensive side of the ball with an interception.

Canton’s senior quarterback, John Bowman threw the ball efficiently all evening. He completed all but one pass going 6-for-7 for 173 yards and two scores. Barnett and Malachi Washington were on the receiving ends of Bowman’s touchdown passes.

Canton scored just three plays into the game as Bowman tossed a ball to his right into the hands of Barnett who would go 56 yards untouched for the opening touchdown of the game. Tyler Cole scored the second Warrior touchdown after Montgomery was held on third down. Cole took the ball from Bowman five yards out, lowered his shoulder knocking down a Montgomery defender as he stepped into the end zone.

Canton scored again just a few plays later as Barnett scored from five yards out to extend the Warriors lead. Canton pushed their lead to 26-0 as Malachi Washington caught a 70 yard Bowman pass over a Red Raider defender. The Canton defense held Montgomery to another three-and-out and on the following punt, Tyler Cole took the punt on the left side of the field, changed directions, hit the right side corner as he picked up a few key blocks and would take the punt 60 yards into the end zone.

The Warriors led 45-0 at halftime, and would add another touchdown at the beginning of the fourth quarter as Bryce Cole would rattle off a 30 yard touchdown run to put Canton up 51-6 after Montgomery scored on a run by Montgomery quarterback Sergi Cole.

Canton (3-4, 2-2 NTL Division 2) will host North Penn next Friday and Montgomery (2-5, 1-1 NTL Division 2) will host Sayre.

Muncy 34, Sayre 8

Muncy ran for 368 yards as they easily defeated Sayre for the NTL Division 2 victory. Dakota Nixon led the Indians with 23 carries for 195 yards and Junior Ramos gained 160 yards on 12 carries.

Ramos started the scoring at 7:20 of the first half on a 12-yard run and Nixon keyed the drive with 41 yards on four carries. Nixon scored on a one-yard run at :57 of the quarter after a one yard Sayre punt gave Muncy the ball at the Sayre 20-yard line. Nixon scored on a two-yard run at 9:34 of the second quarter and Nixon had the two-point run. Ramos scored on a six-yard run at 1:38 and the kick was good to make it 27-0.

Ramos had a 23-yard touchdown run in the fourth at 3:16 and Nixon hit the extra point for the final Muncy score. Muncy’s drive was keyed by the 23-yard scoring run and also a 31-yard run by Ramos.

Sayre scored with 2:56 left when J.P. Harbst hit Chris Ray on a 55-yard touchdown on a halfback option pass.

Michael Ward led Sayre with 13 carries for 75 yards and Harbst ran for 75 yards on seven carries. Garrett Weaver had six carries for 17 yards, William Hudock ran for seven yards and Matthew Ingrassia gained five yards.

Harbst was 1-for-1 for 55 yards for Sayre and Marshall Felt was 1-for-8 for four yards, while Gavin McCutcheon was 3-for-7 for 19.

Jeff Fry was 4-for-15 for 53 yards passing for Muncy, with Maurice Brown grabbing three balls for 53 yards.

Towanda 38, Central Columbia 28

The Black Knights were led by a trifecta of seniors offensively who accounted for all of the team’s offense on the night. Noah Huff ran for 186 yards and three touchdowns on 21 carries and also threw for 40. Fellow senior captain Steven Yates also went over the century mark on the ground, going for 101 while senior Dylan Bates ran for 65 yards and two touchdowns and also hauled in three of Huff’s seven completions on the evening.

The first half was back-and-forth with the game being tied at 21-21 at halftime. In the second half, Towanda received the opening kick and put together a 10 play, 64 yard drive that took over four minutes was capped by Bates’ second touchdown of the game to put Towanda up for good at 28-21.

Central had to punt on its ensuing drive and Towanda got a 27 yard return from Yates to set up their drive from the Central 27-yard line. Central stopped the Black Knights inside the 5 and Towanda settled for a 22-yard field goal by Tyler Basse to go up two scores, 31-21.

The Blue Jays answered back just before the end of the third quarter with a short drive capped by Koch’s second touchdown run of the night from 15 yards to cut the lead to three, 31-28.

From there, Towanda put together another 10-play drive but this one was stopped by Central when Williams intercepted Huff, giving Central the ball at its own 15. The Blue Jays then put together a near 5-minute drive that featured two outstanding catches by Williams, including one for 26 yards that was a simultaneous possession with the Towanda defensive back to set up Central at the Towanda 48. But from there, the drive stalled as Williams was dropped for a loss on a second down running play and then Shannon was sacked by a blitzing Kalob Benjamin on fourth down.

Rather than trying to run out the clock, with Central still having two timeouts remaining, Huff ended up getting loose up the middle for a 31-yard run for his third touchdown of the night to put the game away with just over two minutes left.

Towanda (5-2, 1-1 NTL Division 1) will now host Troy in week 8.

South Williamsport 56, Cowanesque Valley 19

The South Williamsport Mounties (6-1, 2-0 NTL Division 2) scored 56 first half points as they defeated Cowanesque 56-19 on Friday, October 10.

Riley Thomas got South on the scoreboard early as he caught a 53 yard touchdown from Matt Boone just 10 seconds in and Logan Wein made the extra point to make it 7-0.

Dominick Bragalone broke the 2,000 yard barrier for the second consecutive year as the standout running back tallied 161 yards and two scores on only seven carries. The senior scored the next two South touchdowns, the first on a 26 yard run and the second on a 46 harder to put South up 21-0 with 5:36 remaining in the first quarter.

Thomas found the end zone for a second time on the night at the 3:18 mark of the first quarter on a 70 yard punt return to put South up 28-0 and John Peters scored on a 35 yard run with one second left in the quarter to make it 35-0 South.

South went to the air in the second quarter as Boone would throw for three scores before the half ended. With 9:17 left in the opening half as Tyler Schonewolfe caught an 11 yard touchdown from Boone to make it 42-0. With 6:04 remaining, Thomas caught a nine-yard pass from Boone to make it 49-0 following the extra point, and Brock Jones caught a 26 yard pass with 2:54 remaining to put South up 56-0.

The Indians found the end zone for the first time with 2:16 remaining in the third quarter as Connor Callaman scored on a 45 yard run. Zane Fuller’s extra point attempt failed and CV trailed 56-6. CV scored twice more on an 11 yard run by Joey Brown and Cory Wells caught a 37 yard pass from Brown to bring the final score to 56-19.

Boone was 10-for-13 passing for 186 yards and four scores for South and Brown was 3-for-7 for 78 yards and a score for CV.

Bragalone ran for 161 yards and two scores on seven carries and Peters had three carries for 75 yards and a score. Brendan Bell had 10 carries for 20 yards for CV, Callaman had 53 yards on seven carries and Caleb Robbins ran four times for 29 yards.

Thomas hauled in five passes for 122 yards and two scores and Jones had two catches for 38 yards and a score for South. Wells caught a pass for 37 yards and a score for CV, Dakota Corwin had a catch for 24 yards and Ben Brubaker had a catch for 17 yards for CV.

South Williamsport hosts Muncy and CV hosts Athens in week 8.

Ed Weaver is the creator of WellsboroAthletics.com and WellsboroFootball.com. You can follow him on Twitter, friend him on Facebook, or add him to your circles on Google+.

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