Hanover Area riddled in loss to Panther Valley

H.S. football: Despite penalties, Wyoming Valley West rolls past Hazleton Area

BERWICK &#8212; Anthony Cicini had a quiet night on the back line of the defense as the Berwick front seven dominated Pittston Area.Offensively, well, that was a different story.Cicini ripped off for 114 yards on the ground and three scores, while the Bulldogs&#8217; defense held the Patriots to a mere four yards and three first downs in a 27-0 victory Friday night at Crispin Field.Berwick improves to 6-2 heading toward a Week 9 showdown with Coughlin. It also marks the second straight year the Bulldogs have held Pittston Area scoreless.&#8220;All week in practice, playing big on the offensive line was stressed,&#8221; Cicini said. &#8220;They just blew people right off the ball. Without those 10 other guys, I&#8217;m not going anywhere. I owe them a lot of credit. We were up 13-0 at halftime, but we knew that we could play much better football. I think we played our game in the second half. That&#8217;s all you can really ask for.&#8221;The stat really didn&#8217;t shock George Curry too much.When asked about how dominating his defense was, the Berwick head coach wasn&#8217;t surprised at all.&#8220;They&#8217;ve been doing that all year,&#8221; Curry said. &#8220;They are quick kids.&#8221;On the field, the Patriot faith in attendance were probably stunned.Pittston went three-and-out on its five possessions in the first half, and had negative yardage for the first 24 minutes.It got a little better in the third quarter, where two defensive pass interference penalties aided the Patriots&#8217; best drive &#8211; advancing down to the Berwick 42.They would go no further. A short gain on a first-down run by Ryan Davis, and two straight incomplete passes stopped the productive 11-play drive, forcing the Patriots to punt.&#8220;Our offense kind of gets going in spurts,&#8221; Pittston Area head coach Jim Norris said. &#8220;Obviously tonight, we just didn&#8217;t perform. We are trying to get better at the things that we do best, and I think that&#8217;s the way you have to approach high school games. I watched coach Curry&#8217;s film when I played against him 10 years ago, and they are doing the same stuff. It&#8217;s not about putting different wrinkles in every game. It&#8217;s about getting better at the things that you do.&#8221;Offensively, Berwick wasn&#8217;t as sharp as normal.While the Bulldogs were able to move the ball on the turf, churning out almost 300 rushing yards, there was a zero in the passing column.Starting quarterback Jared Marshman didn&#8217;t connect on any of his six attempts, while Mike Force&#8217;s lone throw was wiped out on offensive pass interference &#8211; one of eight times Berwick was whistled by the officials.&#8220;They were saying they couldn&#8217;t grip the ball. Like it was misty,&#8221; Curry said. &#8220;We have to be able to have a passing game because we have speed.&#8221;The ground game proved to be enough.Taking the opening kickoff, Berwick needed just four plays and less than two minutes to move the ball 59 yards. A 35-yard keeper off the left side by Marshman put the ball near the Patriots&#8217; red zone. Two plays later, Daquan Hellenthal took the sweep and went 19 yards nearly untouched for the early, 7-0 lead with 10:10 left in the quarter.Cicini took over from there.His 6-yard second-quarter score gave the Bulldogs a 13-0 lead at the break, and he crossed the goal line twice in the fourth on back-to-back runs of 11 and 61 yards. The 61-yard TD was especially pretty as it appeared Pittston had the shifty athlete bottled up near the sideline before he squeezed through a crack and shot like a bullet in front of the home stands.&#8220;I was just as amazed as everyone else,&#8221; Cicini said. &#8220;I just saw a cut, hit one after another, and 60-some yards later, I was in the end zone. There was some great blocking down field, and I was able to make some cuts off of them.&#8221;Pittston couldn&#8217;t recover in the fourth, going three-and-out on its lone two possessions.&#8220;Our kids show a lot of character, and they come to work hard every day,&#8221; Norris said. &#8220;We are not practicing like an 0-7 team. We are playing a lot of young guys, and they are getting better each week. But it&#8217;s tough against their defense. They are big and fast.&#8221;Berwick 27, Pittston Area 0Pittston Area`0`0`0`0`&#8211;`0Berwick`7`6`0`13`&#8211;`27First QuarterBER &#8212; Daquan Hellenthal 19 run (Jordan DiValerio kick), 10:10Second QuarterBER &#8212; Anthony Cicini 6 run (kick wide), 2:38Fourth QuarterBER &#8212; Cicini 11 run (Mike Force run), 7:52BER &#8212; Cicini 61 run (run failed), 5:44Team statistics`PA`BERFirst Downs `3`11Rushes-Yards`24-(-11) `43-290Passing Yards`16`0Total Yards`4`290Passing`3-9-0`0-6-0Sacked-Yards Lost`1-13`1-5Punts-Average`9-32.7`5-39.4Fumbles-Lost`1-1`3-0Penalties-Yards`2-10`8-70INDIVIDUAL STATISTICSRUSHING &#8212; PA, Tyler Ferlick 1-5, Niko Cinquegrani 5-4, Ryan Davis 6-2, Walter Coles 7-0, Team 1-(-2), Rich Wallace 2-(-5), Keemar Woodruff 2-(-15). BER, Anthony Cicini 12-114, Daquan Hellenthal 10-60, Alex Koch 7-46, Mike Force 9-39, Jared Marshman 2-30, Harrison Kuchka 2-3, Len Wyda 1-(2).PASSING &#8212; PA, Walter Coles 2-8-0, 6 yards; Niko Cinquegrani 1-1-0, 10 yards. BER, Jared Marshman 0-6-0, 0 yards.RECEIVING &#8212; PA, Kevin Krawczyk 1-10, Ryan Davis 1-5, Rich Wallace 1-1. BER, none.INTERCEPTIONS &#8212; NoneMISSED FGs &#8212; NoneRECORDS &#8212; PA 0-8, BER 6-2<div class="metaInfo"><subheadMeta>H.S. football: Berwick holds Patriots to 4 yards in victory</subheadMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta>By Tom FoxFor Times Leader</bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta>Reach Times Leader sports at 570-829-7143 or on Twitter @TLsports</shirttailMeta></div>

H.S. FootballBerwick holds Patriots to 4 yards in victory