Cougars fall in highly-ranked women’s soccer match

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Breaking Benjamin and Sevendust rock The Pavilion at Montage Mountain

SCRANTON &#8212; Scranton Prep came into Saturday&#8217;s game ranked fourth in the Times Leader District 2 Top 15 Rankings and the Cavaliers showed why.After a Tunkhannock touchdown in the first quarter, Scranton Prep responded by putting up 62 unanswered points en route to a 62-7 victory over the Tigers in Scranton.Scranton Prep (3-0) was coming off a convincing 42-13 win over Wyoming Area last week.&#8220;They just physically outmanned us today,&#8221; Tunkhannock coach Jan Cechak said. &#8220;They&#8217;re a veteran team.&#8221;Tunkhannock (0-3) came out hard and capitalized on a fumble recovery by Connor Munley and a couple of Prep penalties (roughing the punter and personal foul) midway through the first quarter to grab an early 7-0 lead.Junior running back Mike Taylor&#8217;s 17-yard run with 7:24 left in the first proved to ultimately be the lone Tigers score of the day.&#8220;They came ready to play,&#8221; Prep coach Nick Donato said. &#8220;In the beginning we gave them an opportunity and they took advantage of it.&#8221;Prep&#8217;s Braden Burrier rambled for a 17-yard touchdown, but Tunkhannock still led 7-6 wth 6:04 in the first after the point after was missed.Senior fullback Tyler Stafursky put Prep up 14-7 after a 9-yard touchdown and the 2-point conversion.From that point on, Prep was on a roll. Ricky Morgan and Will Mulligan each toted the rock to the end zone and Stafursky 12-yard touchdown put the Cavaliers up 36-7 at halftime.&#8220;Our kids played well. When we&#8217;re executing we&#8217;re pretty tough,&#8221; Donato said. &#8220;I think we&#8217;ll get a better idea on how good we are on Friday night (against Scranton).&#8221;Prep&#8217;s special teams got in on the action in the second half as Junior Mario Giannone took two punts to the house behind a wall of blockers, both times up the left sideline. The first went for 45 yards and the second for 32 yards.&#8220;They were a big, strong, physical team and they just handled the line of scrimmage and we&#8217;re not very deep,&#8221; Cechak said. &#8220;We&#8217;re going to be OK, we&#8217;ll just have to persevere and keep going.&#8220;We just want make sure we&#8217;re ready for our next game against Wyoming Area. We&#8217;re going to stay positive and work through it.&#8221;Scranton Prep 62, Tunkhannock 7Scranton Prep 14`22`20`6`&#8212; 62Tunkhannock`7`0`0`0`&#8212;`7First quarterTUN&#8212; Mike Taylor 17 run (Muckin kick), 7:24SP &#8212; Braden Burrier 17 run (kick failed), 6:04SP &#8212; Tyler Stafursky 9 run (Stafursky run), 2:49Second quarterSP &#8212; Ricky Morgan 12 run (D&#8217;Apollonio kick), 10:44SP &#8212; Will Mulligan 18 run (D&#8217;Apollonio kick), 7:03SP &#8212; Stafursky 12 run (Horvath run), 1:02Third quarterSP &#8212; Mario Giannone 45 punt return (D&#8217;Apollonio kick), 10:08SP &#8212; Ricky Morgan 2 run (D&#8217;Apollonio kick), 4:29SP &#8212; Giannone 32 punt return (Bryce Steel blocked kick), 1:35Fourth quarterSP &#8212; Jimmy Tierney 28 run (kick failed), 7:22<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta>By Max StephensFor Times Leader</bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta>Reach Times Leader sports at 570-829-7143 or on Twitter @TLsports</shirttailMeta></div>

Tunkhannock strikes first, Scranton Prep responds in 62-7 win