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Hanover Area falls hard in opener

Wyoming Valley West’s huge rally falls short in loss at Scranton

NANTICOKE &#8211; New LED lights illuminated Nanticoke&#8217;s field much like a boxing ring.Fittingly, the focus was on two heavy hitters &#8211; Tunkhannock&#8217;s Logan Cywinski and Nanticoke&#8217;s Eric Jeffries &#8211; who both fed off the limelight, seemingly one-upping each other on each possession.But Jeffries and his Trojans squad prevailed for a 33-21 victory over the Tigers Friday to open the season. The Nanticoke halfback stole the show with two touchdowns and 214 yards.&#8220;Our strength is our ground game,&#8221; Nanticoke coach Ron Bruza said. &#8220;We want to run the football, control the clock, do what we have to do. We wanted to feed Dawson (Hughes) more but it wasn&#8217;t his night. You&#8217;re going to see him in the future. Eric is a great kid, ran a great game, and has a great heart.&#8221;After reaching the district playoffs for the first time this millennium, Nanticoke had to fend off a much-improved Tunkhannock team to start the year, one whom ousted the Trojans 20-10 in last year&#8217;s opener and featured one of the top rushers in the league in Cywinski.&#8220;More or less, all offseason we stressed finish-finish-finish,&#8221; Bruza said. &#8220;That&#8217;s where we struggled last year.&#8221;Nanticoke mixed it up to start the game by going to the air. Quarterback Matt Wrubel hit his target, Darren Boseman, right in the numbers for a 43-yard gain, which led to a quarterback sneak to give the Trojans a lead on their first possession of the season.But the Trojans had no answers for Cywinski, who ran for 159 yards on just 11 carries in the first half. Cywinski burst open for 59 yards to set up a rushing touchdown to even the score seconds before the first quarter&#8217;s conclusion. Just three minutes later, Cywinski eluded defenders for 44 yards down the sideline to even the score again at 14-14.Jeffries kept the momentum on Nanticoke&#8217;s side with a 75-yard rushing touchdown on the first play of the second quarter. On a third and five in Nanticoke territory, Jeffries found a hole in the line and raced to the end zone. He later punched in a 2-yard touchdown to give the Trojans a 20-14 lead going into the second half.Nanticoke&#8217;s defense held Cywinski and the Tigers offense at bay for the second half. The Tigers back gained 40 yards on 14 carries to finish his night with 199 yards and three touchdowns.&#8220;We went into the locker room and said we have to be relentless,&#8221; Bruza said. &#8220;He&#8217;s one of the best backs we are going to see all year. We just have to wrap him up and be relentless. He&#8217;s not going to go first, second or third hit.&#8221;Trailing by 12, Tunkhannock opted to punt with 10 minutes left in the game. Nanticoke ate five minutes off the clock and punctuated the victory with a 10-yard bootleg score from Wrubel.The Trojans&#8217; Joe Ammons recorded two sacks. On the offensive end, he also caught a 29-yard touchdown toss from Wrubel in the third quarter.Nanticoke 33, Tunkhannock 21Tunkhannock`7`7`0`7`&#8212;`21Nanticoke`7`13`6`7`&#8212;`33First quarterN &#8212; Matt Wrubel 2 run (Ricky Klepadlo kick), 7:46T &#8212; Logan Cywinski 7 run (Billy Prebola kick), :57Second quarterN &#8212; Eric Jeffries 75 run (Klepadlo kick), 11:48T &#8212; Cywinski 44 run (Prebola kick), 10:17N &#8212; Jeffries 2 run (kick failed), 3:35Third quarterN &#8212; Joe Ammons 29 pass from Wrubel (pass failed), 8:44Fourth quarterN &#8212; Wrubel 10 run (Klepadlo kick), 5:07T &#8212;Cywinski 3 run (Prebola kick), 1:45Team statistics`T`NFirst downs`14`19Rushes-yards`32-220`53-289Passing yards`67`96Total yards`287`391Passing`6-13-0`5-7-1Sacked-yards lost`2-10`1-10Punts-avg.`5-27.6`1-40Fumbles-lost`1-0`1-0Penalties-yards`10-62`4-41INDIVIDUAL STATISTICSRUSHING &#8212; TUN, Cywinski 30-199, Garrett Hopkins 5-22, Zach Rogers 2-(minus-1). NAN, Dawson Hughes 17-71, Jeffries 31-214, Matt Wrubel 4-5, TEAM 1-(minus-1)PASSING &#8212; TUN, Rogers 6-13-0-67. NAN, Wrubel 5-7-1-96RECEIVING &#8212; TUN, Jake Stephens 2-18, Evan Turner 1-10, Cywinski 1-5, Hopkins 2-34. NAN, Jeffries 2-6, Darren Boseman 1-43, Joe Ammons 2-47INTERCEPTIONS &#8212; TUN, Dennie Robinson 1-0<style>
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<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta>By Jay MonahanFor Times Leader</bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta>Reach Times Leader sports at 570-829-7143 or on Twitter @TLSports</shirttailMeta></div>

Nanticoke prevails in ground war with Tunkhannock