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H.S. Football: Williamsport too much for Hazleton Area

Upset hopes slip away from Coughlin in District 2 loss to Valley View

<p>UNION TWP. &#8212; These things aren&#8217;t always a bad omen. Especially not in the unpredictable District 2 playoffs.</p><p>But when Northwest put the ball on the ground on the first play from scrimmage, it was the start of a long Friday night.</p><p>Lackawanna Trail went up top for a touchdown pass on the very next play and kept firing away from there. The Lions scored on their first six drives of the game to capture the District 2 Class A championship with a 45-14 win over the Rangers.</p><p>&#8220;I&#8217;ve never been more proud of a group of kids,&#8221; Trail coach Steve Jervis said. &#8220;If you told me we&#8217;d be here &#8230; I just really believe they&#8217;ve been fighting. Small roster. Tough kids. I think tonight the deal was we were able to stay pretty balanced on offense.&#8221;</p><p>The Lions (8-3) will face the winner of Saturday&#8217;s District 1 Class A final between Jenkintown and Delco Christian next week with a spot in the state tournament on the line. Northwest&#8217;s season ended at 7-4.</p><p>Trail needed just 18 seconds to take the lead, recovering a fumble at the Rangers&#8217; 35-yard line. Quarterback Nathan Rolka immediately threw deep on play action, hitting Tyler Baltrusaitis for the touchdown.</p><p>And though Northwest would answer on the next drive with a 39-yard scoring burst by standout Jake Anderson, the Rangers couldn&#8217;t stop the Lions offense from there.</p><p>Rolka threw for 134 yards and the tandem of Thomas Huffsmith (120 yards) and James Gillespie (78) scored two touchdowns apiece in the first half.</p><p>&#8220;We couldn&#8217;t tackle them earlier in the year and we couldn&#8217;t tackle them tonight,&#8221; said Northwest coach Lon Hazlet, referencing the Lions&#8217; regular season win over the Rangers. &#8220;My kids played hard. We just didn&#8217;t tackle well. We weren&#8217;t as physical as we needed to be. They certainly were. Credit to the victor.&#8221;</p><p>Not helping matters was an uncharacteristically tough night for the Rangers&#8217; punting game, which had kicks of 14, 11 and 10 yards in the first half to set up Lions&#8217; touchdowns. A line drive kick in the third quarter was returned 52 yards by Baltrusaitis to paydirt.</p><p>Anderson led Northwest with 118 yards on the ground and a score. Fullback Jack Stancavage added a 1-yard plunge for a touchdown to close out the scoring.</p><p>Despite the tough finish, the Rangers had won six straight games after losing to the Lions back in September to win a conference title and qualify for the playoffs.</p><p>Northwest will have most of its skill position players returning for 2017 to try and take another run at a district title with Hazlet.</p><p>&#8220;We didn&#8217;t expect to be here tonight, and we certainly didn&#8217;t expect to play as poorly as we did tonight,&#8221; Hazlet said. &#8220;But at the same time, it was a great year, and I&#8217;m proud of the boys.</p><p>&#8220;We don&#8217;t lose a lot, and our goal will be to get back. &#8230; You can see that this hurt a lot. We&#8217;ve got a good group, they work hard and they need to have a tremendous offseason to get back to this point a year from now.&#8221;</p><p style="text-align: center;"><strong>District 2 Class A championship</strong></p><p style="text-align: center;"><strong>Lackawanna Trail 45, Northwest 14</strong></p><p><strong>Lack. Trail`16`22`7`0`&#8212;`45</strong></p><p><strong>Northwest`7`0`7`0`&#8212;`14</strong></p><p style="text-align: center;"><strong>First quarter</strong></p><p>LT &#8212; Tyler Baltrusaitis 35 pass from Nathan Rolka (Rolka kick), 11:42</p><p>NW &#8212; Jake Anderson 39 run (Jack Wessler kick), 8:19</p><p>LT &#8212; Rolka 32 FG, 5:46</p><p>LT &#8212; James Gillespie 23 run (kick failed), 2:17</p><p style="text-align: center;"><strong>Second quarter</strong></p><p>LT &#8212; Thomas Huffsmith 37 run (Rolka kick), 11:26</p><p>LT &#8212; Gillespie 9 run (Rolka kick), 8:43</p><p>LT &#8212; Huffsmith 9 run (Berrios run), 6:31</p><p style="text-align: center;"><strong>Third quarter</strong></p><p>LT &#8212; Baltrusaitis 52 punt return (Rolka kick), 6:41</p><p>NW &#8212; Jack Stancavage 1 run (Wessler kick), 2:21</p><p><strong>Team statistics`LT`NWT</strong></p><p>First downs`16`10</p><p>Rushes-yards`37-221`40-149</p><p>Passing yards`134`47</p><p>Total yards`355`196</p><p>Passing`5-10-0`3-7-1</p><p>Sacked-yards lost`0-0`0-0</p><p>Punts-avg.`1-22.0`5-19.2</p><p>Fumbles-lost`2-1`2-2</p><p>Penalties-yards`10-105`7-61</p><p><strong>INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS</strong></p><p><strong>RUSHING</strong> &#8212; LT, Thomas Huffsmith 14-120, James Gillespie 10-78, Justin Carey 3-14, Anthony Berrios 5-10, Quinn Jagoe 2-3, Nathan Rolka 2-0, Jordan Edwards 1-(minus-4). NW, Jake Anderson 18-118, David Piestrak 13-18, Jack Stancavage 3-8, Colton Babcock 4-8, Ezra Judge 1-0, Zach Carr 1-(minus-3).</p><p><strong>PASSING</strong> &#8212; LT, Rolka 5-10-0-134. NW, Piestrak 3-7-0-47, Brandon Hardiman 0-1-1-0.</p><p><strong>RECEIVING</strong> &#8212; LT, Matt Bergey 2-58, Tyler Baltrusaitis 1-35, Huffsmith 1-22, Zac Cost 1-19. NW, Dylan Womelsdorf 1-26, Judge 1-24, Connor Hazlet 1-(minus-3).</p><p><strong>INTERCEPTIONS</strong> &#8212; LT, Bergey.</p><p><strong>MISSED FGs</strong> &#8212; None.</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Northwest quarterback David Piestrak is tackled by Lackawanna Trail defensive end Zac Cost in the first quarter of the District 2 Class A championship game Friday. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/web1_nw_lt1_faa.jpg</photo0><caption0>Northwest quarterback David Piestrak is tackled by Lackawanna Trail defensive end Zac Cost in the first quarter of the District 2 Class A championship game Friday. </caption0><photoCredit0>Fred Adams | For Times Leader </photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/web1_nw_lt2_faa.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Northwest running back Jake Anderson runs behind his blockers on his way for the only touchdown in the first half for the Rangers. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/web1_nw_lt2_faa.jpg</photo1><caption1>Northwest running back Jake Anderson runs behind his blockers on his way for the only touchdown in the first half for the Rangers. </caption1><photoCredit1>Fred Adams | For Times Leader </photoCredit1></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/web1_nw_lt3_faa.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Lackawanna Trail kicker Nathan Rolka has his extra point blocked by Northwest&#8217;s Tyler Stevens (2) after the Lions&#8217; second touchdown in the first quarter. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo2>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/web1_nw_lt3_faa.jpg</photo2><caption2>Lackawanna Trail kicker Nathan Rolka has his extra point blocked by Northwest&#8217;s Tyler Stevens (2) after the Lions&#8217; second touchdown in the first quarter. </caption2><photoCredit2>Fred Adams | For Times Leader </photoCredit2></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Derek Levarse</p><p>dlevarse@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Derek Levarse at 570-991-6396 or on Twitter @TLdlevarse</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Northwest falls in D2-A title game