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Wyoming Area football routs Tunkhannock

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Candle light vigil held in Plains Township to mourn, remember murdered loved ones

CHAPMAN LAKE &#8212; Eric Ferko couldn&#8217;t thank his line enough.The Lakeland fullback, a big body himself, had no issues hitting any holes, averaging close to 20 yards per carry Friday night. His backfield running mates pretty much followed suit.Taking advantage of a physical offensive line, the Chiefs scored early and often, rolling out to a four-score lead at halftime, and invoking the mercy rule on the first play of the third quarter as Lakeland cruised to a 43-7 victory over Nanticoke.&#8220;Our line was awesome. Those holes were huge,&#8221; said Ferko, who finished with 58 yards on four carries. &#8220;I saw those holes, made my cuts and just kept pumping my legs. We were coming off some real tough losses. We just practiced hard. We have to win from here on out. There is no room for error.&#8221;Up front, Lakeland was too physical for the young Trojans to handle.The first quarter summed it up.The Chiefs ran nine plays, reaching first downs on four of them.Cyril Babcanec took a pitch around the left side and went 37 yards untouched down the sideline on the Chiefs&#8217; third play of the game.On its next series, Lakeland drove 48 yards in just six plays &#8211; five of them rushes by Mike Lowry. And the 6-foot-2 junior back capped it off with a short 1-yard plunge across the goal line as the Chiefs were off and running to a 14-0 lead with 1:27 left in the quarter.&#8220;Up front, we knew they were a little inexperienced, but they will get better,&#8221; Lakeland head coach Jeff Wasilchak said. &#8220;Give Nanticoke credit because they played hard. That&#8217;s what we want to do. We want to run the ball. We needed this win badly. We lost a tough one against Old Forge, and our offense was just horrid against Valley View last week. We needed to get our offense moving a little bit.&#8221;Lakeland racked up 400 yards of total offense, 307 on the ground, and scored on four of its first five possessions. Nanticoke, which suited just six seniors Friday, had 217 yards total &#8211; 107 of them from bruising back Alec Norton.&#8220;I enjoy playing Lakeland because they are a physical team, and it shows our kids where the physicality needs to be,&#8221; Nanticoke head coach Ron Bruza said. &#8220;I&#8217;m glad that our kids saw a quality football team. We can build off this.&#8221;The Chiefs increased their lead one minute into the second quarter. Cody Rupp, on the play-action fake, rolled to his left and found a wide-open Gino Setta streaking down the middle of the field for the 35-yard score.Lakeland got its final touchdown in the half with less than four minutes left. Taking over after Nanticoke kicker Eddie Lukowski just missed connecting on a 48-yard field goal, the Chiefs took just five plays to drive 80 yards &#8211; thanks to two big passes to Setta and Kevin Johnson. On a first-and-10 from the Nanticoke 19, Lowry took the pitch left, broke two tackles and went 19 yards to the end zone for the 28-0 lead.Nanticoke put together its best possession in the fourth quarter. After converting on a short, fourth-and-3 to begin the final 12 minutes, the Trojans ran Norton six straight times, getting down to the Lakeland 21. Dawson Hughes and Matt Wrubel took them the final 21 yards &#8211; capped off by a short quarterback sneak by Wrubel.The shutout was averted.&#8220;Norton has been a bright spot for us all season,&#8221; Bruza said. &#8220;He never quits, and he&#8217;s a great all-around kid. I think it was great that we got some points on the board late. It&#8217;s good for our confidence. We have a young team, so it gives us something to build on. We can work on the positives, and put the negatives behind us.&#8221;Norton finished with a game-high 25 carries, while Justin Casey caught all four completions for 47 yards,Lakeland 43, Nanticoke Area 7NAN`0`0`0`7 &#8211; 7LAK`14`14`8`7 &#8211; 43First QuarterLAK: Cyril Babcanec 37 run (Colin Cooper kick), 7:14LAK: Mike Lowry 1 run (Cooper kick), 1:27Second QuarterLAK: Nick Setta 35 pass from Cody Rupp (Cooper kick), 11:30LAK: Lowry 19 run (Wes Strong kick), 3:27Third QuarterLAK: Babcanec 22 run (Rupp to Setta pass), 11:38Fourth QuarterNAN: Matt Wrubel 1 run (Eddie Lukowski kick), 5:37LAK: Tyler Bylotas 70 run (Strong kick), 3:47Team Statistics `NAN`LAKFirst Downs `15`11Rushes-Yards `45-170 `27-307Passing Yards `47`93Total Yards `217`400Passing `4-13-2`3-5-0Sacked-Yards Lost `2-9`1-7Punts-Average `4-33.2`2-28Fumbles-Lost `2-0`1-1Penalties-Yards `6-40`4-25INDIVIDUAL STATISTICSRUSHING &#8212; NAN, Alec Norton 25-107, Mark Walters 3-27, Dawson Hughes 4-19, Ocyrus Leemoni-Brown 5-15, Nick Littzi 2-7, Team 1-(minus 1), Matt Wrubel 5-(minus 3). LAK, Mike Lowry 11-86, Tyler Bylotas 2-77, Cyril Babcanec 4-65, Eric Ferko 4-58, Cody Rupp 4-11, Paul Sokoloski 2-7.PASSING &#8212; NAN, Matt Wrubel 4-13-2, 47 yards. LAK, Jake Gross 2-2-0, 58 yards; Cody Rupp 1-3-0, 35 yards.RECEIVING &#8212; NAN, Justin Casey 4-47. LAK, Nick Setta 2-75, Kevin Johnson 1-18.INTERCEPTIONS &#8212; LAK, Luke Pettinato 1, Garth Estadt 1.MISSED FGs &#8212; NAN, Eddie Lukowski 1 48S.<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta>By Tom FoxFor Times Leader</bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta>Reach Times Leader at 570-829-7143 or on Twitter @TLsports</shirttailMeta></div>

Nanticoke buried by Lakeland run game