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Hanover Area rallies to defeat Mid Valley

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CLINTON TWP. &#8212; Lackawanna Trail used a balanced offensive effort to defeat Northwest, 35-19, in a Lackawanna Football Conference/Wyoming Valley Conference crossover game on Friday night at Lions Pride Stadium.First, the Lions moved the ball through the air.Then, the running game became a big factor.Lackawanna Trail quarterback Nathan Rolka, who completed 9 of 15 passes for 158 yards, connected with fullback James Gillespie for a 20-yard touchdown to cap a 3-play, 65-yard drive to give the Lions a 7-0 lead with 9:25 remaining in the first quarter. Rolka found Matt Bergey for 34 yards on the first play of the possession.&#8220;That&#8217;s four weeks in a row that somebody scored on us during their opening drive,&#8221; Northwest Area head coach Lon Hazlet said.&#8221;We have to play better initially. We have a very young crew. We&#8217;re going through some growing pains, but the kids battled until the end tonight and I&#8217;m proud of their effort.&#8221;Lions running back Thomas Huffsmith, who gained 168 yards on 13 carries, punctuated a 7-play, 65-yard drive with a 40-yard touchdown run to give Lackawanna Trail a 14-0 advantage with 1:57 remaining in the first quarter.&#8220;I give credit to our offensive line,&#8221; Lackawanna Trail head coach Steve Jervis said. &#8220;Northwest was really switching up their defensive fronts and our kids did a good job recognizing the different fronts and Thomas had some fantastic runs.&#8221;Northwest got on the board when Ezra Judge scooped up a fumble by JJ Whitesell and ran 26 yards for a touchdown. After a failed two-point conversion attempt, the Rangers trailed 14-6 with 11:40 left in the second quarter.Huffsmith scored his second touchdown of the game on a 39-yard run with 7:17 remaining in the second quarter to stretch the Lions lead to 15 points.A key defensive stop helped set up Trail&#8217;s next touchdown.Lions linebacker Thomas Kohinsky stuffed Jake Anderson for a loss of four on 4th-and-1 from the Northwest 46-yard line.After a 42-yard run by Huffsmith, wing back Anthony Berrios scored on a 1-yard run to give the Lions a 28-6 lead with 3:52 left in the third quarter.Northwest responded on the ensuing drive when quarterback David Piestrak connected with Judge for a 54-yard touchdown.After Lackawanna gained 274 yards in the first half, Northwest limited the Lions to 118 yards in the final two quarters.&#8220;We talked about responding during halftime and we came out and played better than we did in the first half,&#8221; Hazlet said.The Lions did manage a second half touchdown when Rolka hit Bergey for a 12-yard score midway through the fourth quarter.Judge scored his third touchdown on an 11-yard run with 3:36 left in the game.Lackawanna Trail 35, Northwest Area 19Northwest`0`13`0`6`&#8212;`19Lackawanna Trail`14`14`0`7`&#8212;`35First quarterLT &#8212; James Gillespie 20 pass from Nathan Rolka (Rolka kick), 9:25LT &#8212; Thomas Huffsmith 40 run (Rolka kick), 1:57Second quarterNWT &#8212; Ezra Judge 26 run (conversion failed), 11:40LT &#8212; Huffsmith 39 run (Rolka kick), 7:17LT &#8212; Anthony Berrios 1 run (Rolka kick), 3:52NWT &#8212; Judge 54 pass from David Piestrak (Jack Wessler kick), 2:11Fourth quarterLT &#8212; Matt Bergey 12 pass from Rolka (Rolka kick), 6:35NWT &#8212; Judge 11 run (kick failed), 3:36Team statistics`NWT`LTFirst downs`9`18Rushes-yards`31-147`33-278Passing yards`123&#8217; 158Total yards`270`436Passing`9-17-123`9-15-158Sacked-yards lost`2-5`0-0Punts-avg.`6-31.5`2-40Fumbles-lost`1-0`2-2Penalties-yards`3-20`2-10INDIVIDUAL STATISTICSRUSHING &#8212; NWT, Anderson 12-48, Stancavage 2-13, Piestrak 11-28, Hardiman 1-8. LT, Huffsmith 13-168, Gillespie 13-87, Berrios 6-14, Rolka 1-11, team 1-(-2).PASSING &#8212; NWT, Piestrak 9-17-0-123. LT, Rolka 9-15-0-158.RECEIVING &#8212; NWT, Hardiman 2-33, Hazlet 2-13, Anderson 1-3, Judge 1-54, Womelsdorf 1-8, Whitesell 1-5, Bukavich 1-7. LT, Bergey 3-66, Cost 2-39, Huffsmith 2-21, Gillespie 2-32.INTERCEPTIONS &#8212; NoneMISSED FGs &#8212; None<style>
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<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta>By Robert Tomkavagertomkavage@www.timesleader.com</bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta>Reach Robert Tomkavage at 570-704-3941 or on Twitter @rtomkavage.</shirttailMeta></div>

Lackawanna Trail’s offensive attack too much for Northwest Area