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Hazleton Area holds on to top Valley West after late score, penalty

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Local jeweler makes medals for U.S. Women’s Wrestling team

LEHMAN TWP. &#8212; David Piestrak and Northwest knew the perfect way to knock out years of misfortune.They came out swinging.Piestrak finished Northwest&#8217;s opening drive with a 19-yard touchdown run, Jack Wessler kicked three field goals and the Rangers won for the first time in four tries this decade at Lake-Lehman by posting a 25-7 victory.&#8220;We haven&#8217;t beaten them at Lehman since 2009,&#8221; Piestrak said. &#8220;We didn&#8217;t underestimate them. We really wanted to come out and punch them in the mouth.&#8221;The shot connected.Northwest marched 60 yards with its opening possession and Piestrak capped it by scampering 19 yards into the end zone with a quarterback keeper that put the Rangers ahead to stay.Lehman never recovered.The Black Knights snapped the ball out of the end zone on a punt attempt later in the first quarter as Northwest took a 9-0 lead. And after Lake-Lehman running back Zack Kojadinovich closed the gap to 9-7 with a 15-yard scoring burst in the second quarter, the Rangers ended the first half with a one-two combination that proved to be a knockout punch.Jake Anderson blasted across the goal line from a yard out to restore Northwest&#8217;s nine-point lead, and after the Rangers recoevered an onside kick, Wessler nailed a 23-yard field goal to send Northwest into halftime with a 19-7 advantage.Wessler booted two more field goals in the second half, a 35-yarder in the third quarter and a 22-yarder in the fourth to set the final score.&#8220;Oh my gosh, it&#8217;s nice having a kicker who is consistent, especially at the high school level,&#8221; Piestrak said. &#8220;The safety really helped us, too. We had lot of plays on special teams.&#8221;The Northwest defense limited Lehman to just 60 rushing yards and 88 total offensive yards for the game.&#8220;Our defense played well,&#8221; Piestrak said. &#8220;Defense does win championships.&#8221;Piestrak finished with 107 rushing yards on 15 carries and hit for 126 passing yards on eight completions.&#8220;David&#8217;s just a tremendous athlete, just a tremendous player,&#8221; Northwest coach Lon Hazlet said. &#8220;He&#8217;s a winner, and you win with winners. We haven&#8217;t won here since 2009. To come up here to what they call the Black Turf and get a win is big.&#8221;BOXNorthwest 25, Lake-Lehman 7Northwest`9`10`3`3`&#8212;`25Lake-Lehman`0`7`0`0`&#8212;`7First quarterNW &#8212; David Piestrak 19 run (Jack Wessler kick), 7:48NW &#8212; Lehman punt snap out of end zone for safety, 3:00Second quarterLL &#8212; Zack Kojadinovich 15 run (Henry Selingo kick), 10:02NW &#8212; Jake Anderson 1 run (Wessler kick) 0:36NW &#8212; Wessler 23 FG, 0:00Third quarterNW &#8212; Wessler 35 FG, 3:41Fourth quarterNW &#8212; Wessler 22 FG, 7:00Team statistics`NWT`LLFirst downs`15`5Rushes-yards`43-176`26-60Passing yards`127`28Total yards`303`88Passing`8-21-1`3-10-1Sacked-yards lost`0-0`0-0Punts-avg.`5-24.4`6-24.3Fumbles-lost`1-0`0-0Penalties-yards`8-93`4-34INDIVIDUAL STATISTICSRUSHING &#8212; NW, David Piestrak 15-107, Jake Anderson 22-66, Beau Getz 2-5, Tyler Stevens 3-2, Brandon Hardiman 1- (minus 4). LL, Zack Kojadinovich 10-37, Trey Borger 10-35, Matt Kurtz 1-3, Nate LaBar 1-2, Jake Ferguson 1- (minus 1), Nate O&#8217;Donnell 2- (minus 1), TEAM 1- (minus 15).PASSING &#8212; NW, Piestrak 8-20-1-126, Hardiman 0-1-0. LL, O&#8217;Donnell 2-9-0-28, Ferguson 0-1-1.RECEIVING &#8212; NW, Connor Hazlet 4-65, Adam Bukavich 2-23, Zach Carr 1-15, Hardiman 1-7, Anderson 0-16. LL, Tyler Billotti 1-21, Borger 1-7.INTERCEPTIONS &#8212; NW, Hazlet 1-0. LL, Casey Kaminski 1-0.<style>
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<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta>By Paul Sokoloskipsokoloski@www.timesleader.com</bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta>Reach Paul Sokoloski at 570-991-6392 or on Twitter @TLPaulSokoloski</shirttailMeta></div>

Northwest makes a statement, beats Lake-Lehman