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Pittston Area defense steps up to stop GAR

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Coughlin ground game too much for Honesdale

PALMYRA TWP. &#8212; It took almost 30 minutes for Wallenpaupack to grab its first lead.It lasted a mere 20 seconds, thanks to Damon Horton.The Hazleton Area back fielded the kick at his own 1-yard line, and 99 yards later the Cougars were off and running &#8211; scoring 22 unanswered points en route to a 34-13 victory over the Buckhorns Friday night in Pike County.Hazleton Area improves to 3-2 on the season and has matched its win total from last season.&#8220;This is hard work, and we&#8217;ve put a lot of time into this,&#8221; Hazleton Area coach Mike Brennan said. &#8220;At halftime, we talked about how much time we&#8217;ve put into this. It&#8217;s been a process, and I explained to the kids that it&#8217;s never going to be easy. I see the toughness. I see the attitude. We are never out of a game. I love how our kids prepare and the way we handle ourselves. I love to watch this team compete on Friday nights.&#8221;Horton single-handedly flipped momentum. Although it didn&#8217;t look the prettiest at the onset.Wallenpaupack (2-3) grabbed its first lead on a 1-yard sneak by quarterback Tom McCormick with 7:38 left in the third quarter. Horton went back to his own goal line, and bobbled the ensuring kickoff at his own 1-yard line.Calmly, the back picked up the ball and took off. He got two really good blocks between the 20- and 25-yard lines, and made two tacklers miss. Once he hit the 40, it was good night for the Buckhorns &#8211; who couldn&#8217;t match Horton&#8217;s speed for the final 60 yards.Ninety-nine yards later, Hazleton Area was up for good.&#8220;I just wanted to do what I can,&#8221; Horton said. &#8220;I was surprised that I went all the way, Once I saw that the hole open up, I knew that I was gone.&#8221;The Cougars and quarterback Sparky Wolk never lost that momentum. The signal-caller scored on a 25-yard keeper early in the fourth quarter, and put it away on a pretty touch-pass to wide-open Adrian Otero down the left sideline for a 39-yard score with 6:19 left.Wolk was on fire. He completed 15 of 29 for 212 yards, while rushing for another 78.&#8220;We were on our heels a little bit until that kickoff return,&#8221; Brennan said. &#8220;We felt that we were in control in the first half. That changed this game. We knew this was going to be a tough game. Wallenpaupack is a big team. We knew that we were going to have to work. We were concerned about our special teams because we lost our kicker earlier in the week. We had to go for two every time, and we couldn&#8217;t even kick a field goal. For us to make a big play like that, it&#8217;s huge.&#8221;It looked like it might be a short night in the opening quarter. Hazleton Area took the opening kickoff and put together a picturesque 14-play, six-minute drive &#8211; capped off by a 2-yard burst by Otero. The Cougars needed just five plays to score on its second series. Two big Wolk passes to Otero and Horton set Hazleton Area up on a first-and-goal from the 1 as a quarterback keeper put the Cougars up 12-0 after one.<ins>Hazleton Area 34, Wallenpaupack 13 </ins><ins>HA `12`0`8`14 &#8211; 34 </ins><ins>WALL `0`7`6`0 &#8211; 13 </ins><ins>First Quarter </ins><ins>H: Adrian Otero 2 run (pass failed), 6:15 </ins><ins>H: Sparky Wolk 1 run (run failed), 0:34 </ins><ins>Second Quarter </ins><ins>W: Joe Ingulli 3 run (Zach Maldacker kick), 9:09 </ins><ins>Third Quarter </ins><ins>W: Tom McCormick 1 run (run failed), 7:38 </ins><ins>H: Damon Horton 99 kickoff return (Wolk run), 7:18 </ins><ins>Fourth Quarter </ins><ins>H: Wolk 25 run (Wolk pass to Nolan Schneider), 9:12 </ins><ins>H: Otero 39 pass from Wolk (run failed), 6:19 </ins><ins>Team Statistics `HA`WALL </ins><ins>First Downs `21`16 </ins><ins>Rushes-Yards `30-209 `31-138 </ins><ins>Passing Yards `212`156 </ins><ins>Total Yards `421`294 </ins><ins>Passing `15-27-1`8-29-0 </ins><ins>Sacked-Yards Lost `0-0`1-4 </ins><ins>Punts-Average `2-17.5`3-42 </ins><ins>Fumbles-Lost `2-0`0-0 </ins><ins>Penalties-Yards `4-53`8-78 </ins><ins>Individual Statistics </ins><ins>RUSHING &#8212; HA, Sparky Wolk 7-78, Damon Horton 9-75, Adrian Otero 11-55, Josh Zukoski 2-3, Team 1-(-2). W, Joe Ingulli 22-98, Tom McCormick 4-22, Exzavier Warner 2-10, Nicholas Ruggieri 3-8. </ins><ins>PASSING &#8212; HA, Sparky Wolk 15-27-1, 212 yards. W, Tom McCormick 8-29-0, 156 yards </ins><ins>RECEIVING &#8212; HA, Adrian Otero 3-85, David Smith 4-64, Damon Horton 5-41, Jacob Hunsinger 3-22. W, Ty Holbert 3-51, Eric Smith 2-40, Joe Ingulli 1-35, Adam Haupt 1-16, Aiden Maldacker 1-14. </ins><ins>INTERCEPTIONS &#8212; W, Michael Burk 1. </ins><ins>MISSED FG &#8212; W, Zach Maldacker 2 (26, blocked; 37, wide right) </ins><style>
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<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta>By Tom FoxFor Times Leader</bylineMeta></div>

Damon Horton’s huge return boosts Cougars, 34-13