PA-StHou-Contested

web1_BLOTTER.jpg

Traffic stop leads to two men facing drug charges

<p>Sometime in the future Coughlin and Meyers will no longer exist. The two Wilkes-Barre Area high schools will be rolled into one at a new building to be built on the site where Coughlin currently resides.</p><p>And with that will come one football team as well. Speculation on when that will happen will be put on hold Friday as Meyers (4-2) and Coughlin (3-3) play at 7 p.m. at Wilkes-Barre Memorial Stadium.</p><p>&#8220;I don&#8217;t know,&#8221; Meyers coach Jeff Labatch said. &#8220;I don&#8217;t know if they&#8217;re going to wait until the end of the (two-year) cycle or when the new school is done. You hear different things. Nothing has come to me from a reliable source. Nobody has said what exactly is going to happen.&#8221;</p><p>High school schedules are made in two-year blocks that correspond with the PIAA issuing new enrollment classifications. So if the school district waits until the current two-year cycle is complete, Coughlin and Meyers will have one more year on the football field.</p><p>Count Coughlin coach Ciro Cinti among the uninformed as well. Unlike Labatch who teaches at Meyers, Cinti is even farther out of the loop. He&#8217;s employed as a school social worker at Wyoming Valley West.</p><p>&#8220;You&#8217;re guess is as good as mine,&#8221; said Cinti, a former Coughlin standout. &#8220;I have no idea. I haven&#8217;t been privy to that information. I really don&#8217;t know. That&#8217;s up to our athletic committee to decide what to do.&#8221;</p><p>The Coughlin players are also in a unique situation with the seniors and juniors attending school at the annex connected to the high school while the freshmen and sophomores take classes at the former Mackin Elementary School. The split has affected the roster as Coughlin has just four sophomores on the team, the lowest total among the 17 Wyoming Valley Conference squads.</p><p>&#8220;We had a very low sophomore class turnout,&#8221; Cinti said. &#8220;I&#8217;m not saying that&#8217;s the only reason because we have it in all sports with our sophomore class where it&#8217;s a little bit low with turnouts. But it does affect us, especially this year because we don&#8217;t even have a JV schedule because the lack of numbers.&#8221;</p><p>Speculation aside, there&#8217;s a football game to play. An important football game.</p><p>Meyers is in fourth place in the District 2 Class 3A standings and trying to gain one of four postseason berths. Coughlin appears heading to the D2-4A playoffs as eight of 11 teams make the tournament and four of them are struggling mightily.</p><p>But if the Crusaders want a home game, they need to keep winning to jump from fifth to inside the top-four spots. The task has become more difficult with West Scranton and Valley View out of the Lackawanna Conference picking up the pace recently.</p><p>Cinti cites a lack of consistency as a problem. The results have backed that theory as the Crusaders haven&#8217;t won or lost two games in a row this season. Perhaps having running back Jake Cole back will help. He was injured in a 38-14 loss to Wyoming Area &#8212; a game Coughlin led 14-0 &#8212; and missed the 49-13 win the following week at Honesdale.</p><p>Cole returned last Friday and rushed for 116 yards and a touchdown in a 17-9 loss to Berwick. He and elusive Vincent Todd are the team&#8217;s main threats.</p><p>Meyers was consistent to start the season, but not in a good way. The Mohawks didn&#8217;t score in the first half in their first four games. They still haven&#8217;t scored in the first quarter. But when they do so, it comes in a flash and that&#8217;s something that concerns Cinti.</p><p>Meyers has nine scoring plays of 50 yards or more. They&#8217;ve come from all directions &#8212; via pass, run, interception and kickoff return. The uptick started when Jannsen Wilborn took over at quarterback when starter Willie Wallace was injured in the first half against Nanticoke.</p><p>Wilborn rallied the team past Nanticoke with touchdown runs of 60 and 62 yards.</p><p>&#8220;He is performing well and Willie is at receiver now,&#8221; Labatch said. &#8220;It&#8217;s really a good fit because Willie has some of the best hands on the team.&#8221;</p><p>Wallace showed that by hauling in a 60-yard TD pass in the fourth quarter in a 36-35 comeback victory over Dallas last Friday. Wilborn chipped in with a 60-yard touchdown run and a 90-yard kick return TD.</p><p>&#8220;I knew we had athletes,&#8221; Labatch said, &#8220;but I didn&#8217;t know who was going to step up. Our line I thought was our big question mark coming in and our line has performed really, really well.&#8221;</p><style>
.neFileBlock {
	margin-bottom: 20px;
}
.neFileBlock p {
	margin: 0px 0px 0px 0px;
}
.neFileBlock .neFile {
	border-bottom: 1px dotted #aaa;
	padding-bottom: 5px;
	padding-top: 10px;
}
.neFileBlock .neCaption {
	font-size: 85%;
}
</style>
<div class='neFileBlock'>
<div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/web1_WVCMediaDay-Coughlin_6.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Cinti </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/web1_WVCMediaDay-Coughlin_6.jpg</photo0><caption0>Cinti </caption0><photoCredit0></photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/web1_MEY-Labatch.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Labatch </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/web1_MEY-Labatch.jpg</photo1><caption1>Labatch </caption1><photoCredit1></photoCredit1></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><subheadMeta>Schools expected to merger in near future</subheadMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By John Erzar</p><p>jerzar@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><factboxMeta><p><strong>WEEK 7 SCHEDULE</strong></p><p><strong>Friday</strong></p><p><strong>(7 p.m.)</strong></p><p>Dallas at Wallenpaupack</p><p>GAR at Wyoming Area</p><p>Hanover Area at Northwest</p><p>Hazleton Area at Scranton</p><p>Meyers at Coughlin</p><p>Pittston Area at Berwick</p><p>Tunkhannock at Crestwood</p><p><strong>Saturday</strong></p><p>Wyo. Val. West at Abington Hts., 1 p.m.</p><p>Williamsport at Delaware Valley, 4 p.m.</p></factboxMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach John Erzar at 570-991-6394 or on Twitter @TLJohnErzar</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Coughlin, Meyers remain foes for now