web1_TTL090118HSF-WVW-HazArea_5.jpg

WVC football: Garner, Valley West block Hazleton Area’s comeback bid

web1_Erik-Swanson-mug.jpg

RailRiders’ Erik Swanson delivers in ‘must-win game’

<p>WILKES-BARRE &#8212; If it were as easy as Meyers running back Nazir Dunell made it sound, every football team would follow the same strategy.</p><p>&#8220;We had a talk (at halftime) about we needed to execute certain plays more,&#8221; Dunell said. &#8220;We talked about the things that we did wrong and we got it right and came out and just did it.&#8221;</p><p>And with that, Meyers turned a five-point lead at halftime into a 53-14 rout of Northwest in a Wyoming Valley Conference Division 3A-A game Friday night.</p><p>Meyers improved to 1-1, while Northwest fell to 0-2.</p><p>Dunell, a PIAA gold medalist in the 110 hurdles, scored on TD runs of 33 and 49 yards in the third quarter. Darrian Tyson added a 50-yard touchdown run early in the fourth. Even the reserves got into the act as backup quarterback Joevanney Martinez scored the Mohawks&#8217; fifth second-half touchdown on a 72-yard run midway through the fourth quarter.</p><p>The point-after try following Martinez&#8217;s run summed up the second half for Northwest. Holder Talee Sweeney had to scoop up a bad snap and then was able to run into the end zone for a two-point conversion.</p><p>Meyers&#8217; final rushing numbers were staggering &#8212; 517 yards on 50 carries. Tyson, a transfer from Wyoming Valley West, led the way with 144 yards on nine rushes despite having a long TD wiped out via penalty. Dunell carried the ball 10 times for 141 yards. Kevin Dessoye had 16 rushes for 105 yards.</p><p>&#8220;All the runners got the ball and ran hard,&#8221; Meyers coach Jeff Labatch said. &#8220;It wasn&#8217;t like the blocking was always perfect. The line did a great job, but sometimes they made contact early and our guys kept going.&#8221;</p><p>The passing game wasn&#8217;t needed much, but still produced a 49-yard touchdown from Sweeney to receiver Najese Hood in the second quarter.</p><p>Hood&#8217;s touchdown gave Meyers a 13-7 lead at 10:14 of the second quarter. Northwest, though, answered back to take a 14-13 lead.</p><p>The Rangers needed eight plays, three Meyers penalties and a bit of good fortune to march 68 yards.</p><p>The good luck came on a third-and-9 play where a pass from quarterback David Piestrak hit off the hands of receiver Connor Hazlet, then off a Meyers defense and landed back into Hazlet&#8217;s hands for a first down.</p><p>Two plays later, Meyers gave up 17 yards in penalties on offside and unsportsmanlike conduct penalties. Piestrak then scored on an 11-yard run for a 14-13 lead at 7:30 of the second.</p><p>Meyers rallied to take a 19-14 into halftime on a 14-yard run by Dunell.</p><p>Despite the 39-point win, all wasn&#8217;t smooth for the Mohawks. Two point-after kicks were blocked and two punts were partially blocked by Hazlet. Some center-quarterback exchanges were adventurous. And Meyers was penalized 14 times for 122 yards.</p><p style="text-align: center;"><ins><strong>Meyers 53, Northwest 14</strong> </ins></p><p><ins><strong>Northwest`7`7`0`0 &#8212; 14</strong> </ins></p><p><ins><strong>Meyers`6`13`19`15 &#8212; 0</strong> </ins></p><p style="text-align: center;"><ins><strong>First quarter</strong> </ins></p><p><ins>MEY &#8212; Kevin Dessoye 3 run (kick failed), 1:53 </ins></p><p><ins>NWT &#8212; George May 8 run (Jack Wessler kick), 0:37 </ins></p><p style="text-align: center;"><ins><strong>Second quarter</strong> </ins></p><p><ins>MEY &#8212; Najese Hood 49 pass from Talee Sweeney (David Kasper kick), 10:14 </ins></p><p><ins>NWT &#8212; David Piestrak 11 run (Wessler kick), 7:30 </ins></p><p><ins>MEY &#8212; Nazir Dunell 14 run (kick blocked), 3:11 </ins></p><p style="text-align: center;"><ins><strong>Third quarter</strong> </ins></p><p style="text-align: left;"><ins>MEY &#8212; Kevin Dessoye 2 run (run failed), 8:21 </ins></p><p style="text-align: left;"><ins>MEY &#8212; Dunell 33 run (Kasper kick), 5:53 </ins></p><p style="text-align: left;"><ins>MEY &#8212; Dunell 49 run (kick blocked), 1:33 </ins></p><p style="text-align: center;"><ins><strong>Fourth</strong> quarter </ins></p><p><ins>MEY &#8212; Darrian Tyson 50 run (Michael Deutsch-Jones kick), 11:51 </ins></p><p><ins>MEY &#8212; Joevanney Martinez 72 run (Sweeney run), 5:39 </ins></p><p><ins><strong>Team statistics`NWT`MEY</strong> </ins></p><p><ins>First downs`12`20 </ins></p><p><ins>Rushes-yards`32-148`50-517 </ins></p><p><ins>Passing yards`63`73 </ins></p><p><ins>Total yards`211`590 </ins></p><p><ins>Passing`6-20-1`3-7-0 </ins></p><p><ins>Sacked-yards lost`1-4`0-0 </ins></p><p><ins>Punts-avg.`4-36.8`3-25.7 </ins></p><p><ins>Fumbles-lost`5-0`4-0 </ins></p><p><ins>Penalties-yards`3-10`14-122 </ins></p><p><ins><strong>INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS</strong> </ins></p><p><ins><strong>RUSHING</strong> &#8212; Northwest, Tyler Stevens 4-7, Piestrak 13-82, May 10-63. Colton Hashagan 2-(minus-5), Darrien Saunders 3-1. Meyers, Dessoye 16-105, Sweeney 3-25, Dunnel 10-141, Tyson 9-144, Reese Patronik 6-49, Martinez 2-78, Alfredo Cartegena 1-(minus-1), team 3-(minus-24). </ins></p><p><ins><strong>PASSING</strong> &#8212; Northwest, Piestrak 6-17-1-38, Stevens 1-1-0-25, Ryan Wassel 0-1-0-0. Meyers, Sweeney 3-7-0-73. </ins></p><p><ins><strong>RECEIVING</strong> &#8212; Northwest, Lucas Acronley 1-5, Stevens 1-3, Connor Hazlet 4-30, Piestrak 1-25. Meyers, Hood 1-49, Dessoye 1-19, Tyson 1-5. </ins></p><p><ins><strong>INTERCEPTIONS</strong> &#8212; Meyers, Tyson 1-0. </ins></p><p><ins><strong>MISSED FGs</strong> &#8212; None. </ins></p><p><ins><strong>^</strong> </ins></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/2018/09/web1_m-nw6faa.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Northwest&#8217;s Connor Hazlet partially blocks a punt by Meyers&#8217; David Kasper. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/web1_m-nw6faa.jpg</photo0><caption0>Northwest&#8217;s Connor Hazlet partially blocks a punt by Meyers&#8217; David Kasper. </caption0><photoCredit0>Fred Adams | for Times Leader  </photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/web1_m_nw4_faa.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Meyers running back Kevin Dessoye is tackled by Ryan Wassel after an 18-yard gain in the second quarter Friday night. l </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/web1_m_nw4_faa.jpg</photo1><caption1>Meyers running back Kevin Dessoye is tackled by Ryan Wassel after an 18-yard gain in the second quarter Friday night. l </caption1><photoCredit1>Fred Adams | for Times Leader  </photoCredit1></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/web1_m_nw1_faa.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Northwest wide receiver Connor Hazlet leans forward to pick up a first down after catching a pass that deflected off a Meyers defender. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo2>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/web1_m_nw1_faa.jpg</photo2><caption2>Northwest wide receiver Connor Hazlet leans forward to pick up a first down after catching a pass that deflected off a Meyers defender. </caption2><photoCredit2>Fred Adams | for Times Leader  </photoCredit2></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/web1_m_nw2_faa.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Northwest running back George May powers his way through Meyers&#8217; Kevin Dessoye for an 8-yard touchdown run in the first quarter Friday night. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo3>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/web1_m_nw2_faa.jpg</photo3><caption3>Northwest running back George May powers his way through Meyers&#8217; Kevin Dessoye for an 8-yard touchdown run in the first quarter Friday night. </caption3><photoCredit3>Fred Adams | for Times Leader  </photoCredit3></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/web1_m_nw5_faa.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Meyers running back Kevin Dessoye dashes past Northwest defensive back Connor Hazlet on the way to a 3-yard touchdown run in the first quarter Friday night. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo4>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/web1_m_nw5_faa.jpg</photo4><caption4>Meyers running back Kevin Dessoye dashes past Northwest defensive back Connor Hazlet on the way to a 3-yard touchdown run in the first quarter Friday night. </caption4><photoCredit4>Fred Adams | for Times Leader  </photoCredit4></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/web1_m_nw3_faa.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Meyers running back Nazir Dunell eludes Northwest defensive backs Curtis Gregory (4) and J.T. Brubaker in the second quarter Friday night. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo5>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/web1_m_nw3_faa.jpg</photo5><caption5>Meyers running back Nazir Dunell eludes Northwest defensive backs Curtis Gregory (4) and J.T. Brubaker in the second quarter Friday night. </caption5><photoCredit5>Fred Adams | for Times Leader  </photoCredit5></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By John Erzar</p><p>jerzar@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach John Erzar at 570-991-6394 or on Twitter @TLJohnErzar</p></shirttailMeta></div>

WVC football: Meyers uses big second half to defeat Northwest