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Cougars claw past Coughlin in opener

Millionaires are money in debut

TUNKHANNOCK &#8212; Athens had a strong second half to defeat Tunkhannock 43-12 on the opening night of Wyoming Valley Conference football action on Friday.Tunkhannock quarterback Logan Cywinski set the tone early with a 32-yard run in the first quarter. Ten plays later, the sophomore scored on a 12-yard touchdown run to put the Tigers up 6-0 with 6:45 remaining.&#8220;We started strong in the first half, but things seemed to go down from there,&#8221; Logan Cywinski said.With 8:51 to go in the second quarter, Tunkhannock botched a snap in shotgun formation that led to an 18-yard loss. Athens got the ball on the 24 and responded in the second quarter with a 5-yard Zach Jayne touchdown to put Wildcats up 7-6 with 3:14 left in the first half.At the end of the third quarter, Tunkhannock&#8217;s Logan Cywinski ran down the sideline for a 63-yard Tiger touchdown and a 20-12 lead.The score was set up on the previous play, a 17-yard scamper by his brother, senior running back Ryan Cywinski.The turning point in the game came with 10:45 to go in the third quarter when Tunkhannock was hit with three straight penalties. Athens sacked Tunkhannock on the next play, which was followed by a fourth penalty in five plays.The Wildcats&#8217; Zach Jayne led the running game in the fourth quarter, racing 26 yards to set up a 6-yard Aaron Barry touchdown pass to Austin Lister to make it 36-12 with 5:47 left in the game.&#8220;We have hopes, we just can&#8217;t make mistakes and we just have to fix them,&#8221; Ryan Cywinski said.The Wildcats finished the scoring with a 5-yard run with 1:15 left in the game.&#8220;This is only week one. We have nine more games to go,&#8221; Tunkhannock coach Jan Cechak. &#8220;The enthusiasm is different this time around. We will take one game at a time.&#8221;Athens 43, Tunkhannock 12Athens 0`7`13`23`&#8212;43Tunkhannock`6`0`0`6`&#8212;`12First quarterTUNK &#8212; Logan Cywinski 12 run (kick failed)Second quarterATH &#8212; Zach Jayne 5 run (Lister kick)Third quarterATH &#8212; Jayne 5 run (Lister kick)ATH &#8212; Jayne 15 run (Lister kick)Fourth quarterTUNK &#8212; Logan Cywinski 63 run (kick failed)ATH &#8212; Jayne 28 run (Lister kick)ATH &#8212; SafetyATH &#8212; Aaron Barry 6 pass to Lister (Lister kick)ATH &#8212; Nate Bradley 5 run<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta>By Max StevensFor Times Leader</bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta>Reach Times Leader sports 570-829-7143 or on Twitter @TLsports</shirttailMeta></div>

Second-half struggles doom Tigers