High school football: Meyers ends 2-game losing skid with win over Hanover Area

Citation issued after bare bottom exposed to woman

NANTICOKE &#8212; It&#8217;s the exact reason why the box score doesn&#8217;t always tell the truth.Nanticoke ripped through the Northwest defense to the tune of 514 yards, 417 of them coming mainly behind the legs of Alec Norton and Ocyrus Leemoni-Brown.The Trojans had almost double the plays and first downs.Yet, in the end, it was Northwest walking out of the stadium with an ugly victory.The Rangers used Garrett Reese&#8217;s 88-yard run in the opening quarter to get the scoring started, and needed a momentum-shifting 79-yard fumble return by Eric Evans to hold on for a 33-27 victory Friday night.&#8220;We didn&#8217;t perform up to our capabilities tonight, and that responsibility falls on me as the head coach,&#8221; Northwest coach Lon Hazlet said. &#8220;The boys played hard, but we looked sloppy. Those are things that I have to correct. The boys looked like they lost, but I told them it could be worse; that we actually could have lost. Hats off to Nanticoke because they played hard. All my respect goes to them.&#8221;Quite odd probably doesn&#8217;t describe the nearly three-hour affair.Norton rushed 34 times, almost the same number of plays ran by the Northwest offense in the entire gameThe flow just wasn&#8217;t there because of an abundance of yellow flags on the turf. Seventeen were tossed in the first half, 20 total, for a combined 160 yards.Heck, a member of the chain gang was even ejected by an official.Yet, in a bizarre contest, it was one third-quarter play that quite possibly changed the outcome.Nanticoke had trimmed a 19-7 halftime deficit to 19-14 after a 12-play, 80-yard drive to start the second half was capped off by a 9-yard jaunt by Norton, the first of two touchdowns for the Trojan back.After holding Northwest on its next possession, Nanticoke was back in business &#8211; driving deep in Ranger territory.But instead of putting points on the scoreboard, the Trojans found the worst possible fate. Brown took a pitch off the left side on the Northwest 29, and had plenty of space toward the sideline. From behind, a Ranger defender hit the ball out of Brown&#8217;s hands. The wet pigskin took one hop and was picked up by Evans &#8211; who alluded three tacklers down the sideline for the 79-yard score.Instead of possibly taking the lead, Nanticoke found itself down 25-14.&#8220;Eric is a young man that&#8217;s new to our program and has never played football before,&#8221; Hazlet said. &#8220;Eric was kind of forced into action tonight, and he performed well. We were definitely glad to have him.&#8221;The Trojans had one last chance. Norton&#8217;s short TD, a 1-yard burst up the middle, cut the deficit to 33-27 with less than two minutes left.Northwest recovered the onside kick, and Reese iced the game by picking up one first down. The senior back had an incredible game, gaining 229 yards on 19 carries with two scores.Norton wasn&#8217;t too bad himself, churning out 258 yards on 34 carries with two touchdowns. Brown also finished with 165 yards, crossing the goal line twice.Northwest 33, Nanticoke Area 27Northwest `13`6`6`8 &#8211; 33Nanticoke Area `7`0`7`13 &#8211; 27First quarterNW &#8212; Garrett Reese 88 run (Jeremy Walsh kick), 7:34NA &#8212; Ocyrus Leemoni-Brown 4 run (Eddie Lukowski kick), 3:54NW &#8212; Erza Judge 10 pass from Walsh (kick short), 1:34Second quarterNW &#8212; Jake Anderson 11 run (pass failed), 8:37Third quarterNA &#8212; Alec Norton 9 run (Lukowski kick), 6:05NW &#8212; Eric Evans 79 fumble return (pass failed), 2:10Fourth quarterNA &#8212; Brown 28 run (kick blocked), 11:52NW &#8212; Judge 17 pass from Walsh (Walsh pass to Judge), 4:33NA &#8212; Norton 1 run (Lukowski kick), 1:29Team statistics`NWT`NANFirst Downs `11`24Rushes-Yards `29-229 `59-417Passing Yards `42`97Total Yards `271`514Passing `3-7-1`10-19-1Sacked-Yards Lost `4-22`1-3Punts-Average `3-34`1-18Fumbles-Lost `2-1`4-3Penalties-Yards `10-75`10-85INDIVIDUAL STATISTICSRUSHING &#8212; NW, Garrett Reese 19-229, Erza Judge 1-14, Jake Anderson 1-11, Hayden Stancavage 1-3, Team 3-(minus 6), Jeremy Walsh 4-(minus 22). NA, Alec Norton 34-258, Ocyrus Leemoni-Brown 20-165, Matt Wrubel 3-3, Nick Littzi 1-(minus 3), Team 1-(minus 6).PASSING &#8212; NW, Jeremy Walsh 3-6-1, 42 yards; Eric Evans 0-1-0, 0 yards. NA, Matt Wrubel 9-18-1, 96 yards; Alec Norton 1-1-0, 1 yard.RECEIVING &#8212; NW, Erza Judge 2-27, Bryce Harrison 1-15. NA, Alec Norton 3-8, Justin Casey 2-28, Ocyrus Leemoni-Brown 2-15, Robert Roth 1-34, Matt Piontkowski 1-11, Nick Littzi 1-1.INTERCEPTIONS &#8212; NW, Eric Evans 1. NA, Robert Roth 1.MISSED FGs &#8212; None.<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta>By Tox FoxFor Times Leader</bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta>Reach Times Leader sports at 570-829-7143 or on Twitter @TLsports</shirttailMeta></div>

HS Football: Northwest hangs on to defeat Nanticoke