web1_images.jpeg

WVC football: Hanover Area, GAR fall; Northwest earns first win

web1_football_stock_crop380w.jpg

Tunkhannock defeats Coughlin for first win

HAZLETON &#8212; With eyes turned tortuously skyward and his face filled with anguish, Hazleton Area running back Damon Horton looked like he&#8217;d just lost his best friend as he slowly walked off Harman Geist Field.His team lost a third straight game.But not because of him.Joe Fagnano threw a 54-yard touchdown pass, then crashed across the goal line with the two-point conversion as Williamsport barely survived a 299-yard rushing day and seven-touchdown performance from Horton in a 64-63 shootout Friday at Harman Geist.&#8220;Pretty good feeling,&#8221; Horton said of his performance. &#8220;But if we didn&#8217;t come out with a win, I&#8217;m not satisfied.&#8221;His Cougars came out on the short end mainly because Marcus Simmons, who took the winning touchdown toss into the end zone as a wide receiver, pounced on a fumble at the defensive end with 41 seconds to play. His recovery came after a 15-yard completion by Cougars quarterback Sparky Wolk moved the ball to the Hazleton Area 44-yard line.It was one of the few defensive stops either team made in a wild and wacky shootout that featured nine touchdowns by both teams, a combined 1,168 yards of offense, with 23 penalties and lasted over 3:20.Williamsport quarterback Fagnano ran for 91 yards and two touchdowns and threw for 265 yards and two more scores, on bombs of 43 and 54 yards.Hazleton Area&#8217;s Sparky Wolk wound up with 259 passing yards, including a 39-yard touchdown strike to David Smith and a 71-yard bomb to Smith that set up Horton&#8217;s first touchdown, and scored on an 8-yard run to tie the game at 42-42 in the third quarter.Horton said he&#8217;d never been part of such a wild affair &#8212; &#8220;I have not,&#8221; he said with his eyes cast downward &#8212; but he sure did his part to keep the Cougars in the game.Horton scored on runs of 7, 1, 4, 43, 37, 24 and 7 yards while twice rallying Hazleton Area from a two-touchdown deficit. He carried eight times for 52 yards on a 67-yard march, including his 37-yard burst to the end zone that gave Hazleton Area its first lead with 1:17 remaining in the third quarter and a 7-yard touchdown sprint that put the Cougars up 63-56 with 91 seconds to play in the game.&#8220;I&#8217;m not quite sure how Damon Horton doesn&#8217;t have anything right now,&#8221; Hazleton Area coach Mike Brennan said of his star running back&#8217;s college prospects. &#8220;There are a whole lot of schools that should start taking a look.&#8221;Horton rolled up his 299 yards on 32 carries. His counterpart, Williamsport&#8217;s Minnesota-bound Treyson Potts, also carried 32 times for 257 yards and scored on touchdown runs of 6, 40, 27 and 44 yards and brought back a 75-yard kick return for another score.&#8220;You got your money&#8217;s worth,&#8221; Williamsport coach Chuck Crews said. &#8220;Those two young men played one heck of a football game. I&#8217;d like to have them both. I&#8217;ve got one, I&#8217;d like to have the other one, too.&#8221;Williamsport 64, Hazleton Area 63Williamsport`0`0`0`0 &#8212; 0Hazleton Area`0`0`0`0 &#8212; 0First quarterW &#8212; Joe Fagnano 40 run (Sam Hillman kick), 7:19Second quarterW &#8212; Treyson Potts 6 run (Hillman kick), 10:15H &#8212; Damon Horton 7 run (Will Garcia kick), 9:37W &#8212; Potts 40 run (Hillman kick), 9:22H &#8212; Horton 1 run (Garcia kick), 6:51W &#8212; Potts 75 kick return (Hillman kick), 6:34H &#8212; Horton 4 run (Garcia kick), 4:56H &#8212; Horton 43 run (Garcia kick), 1:01Third quarterW &#8212; Fagnano 1 run (Hillman kick), 9:23W &#8212; Nassir Jones 43 pass from Fagnano (Hillman kick), 6:36H &#8212; David Smith 39 pass from Sparky Wolk (Garcia kick), 4:56H &#8212; Wolk 8 run (Garcia kick), 2:34H &#8212; Horton 37 run (Garcia kick), 1:17W &#8212; Potts 27 run (Hillman kick), 0:47Fourth quarterH &#8212; Horton 24 run (Garcia kick), 9:50W &#8212; Potts 44 run (Hillman kick), 6:37H &#8212; Horton 7 run (Garcia kick), 1:31W &#8212; Marcus Simmons 54 pass from Fagnano (Fagnano conversion run), 1:16Team statistics`WIL`HAFirst downs`27`20Rushes-yards`52-331`37-313Passing yards`265`259Total yards`596`572Passing`17-28-0`10-18-1Sacked-yards lost`5-25`2-9Punts-avg.`3-22.7`2-32.5Fumbles-lost`2-1`3-2Penalties-yards`14-101`9-63INDIVIDUAL STATISTICSRUSHING &#8212; WIL, Treyson Potts 32-257, Joe Fagnano 16-91, Marcus Simmons 1- (minus 12), TEAM 3- (minus 5). HAZ, Damon Horton 32-299, Sparky Wolk 5-14.PASSING &#8212; WIL, Fagnano 17-28-0-265. HAZ, Wolk 10-18-1-259.RECEIVING &#8212; WIL, Marcus Simmon 4-78, Nassir Jones 3-83, Brock Moyer 3-32, Isaac Ritter 3-13, Potts 2-37, Braedon Mazzante 2-22. HAZ, David Smith 5-155, Jacob Hunsinger 4-72, Horton 1-32.INTERCEPTIONS &#8212; WIL, Dallas Griess 1-20.MISSED FGs &#8212; HAZ, Will Garcia, 23-WR.<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_images-5.jpeg">
<div class="neCaption"></div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/web1_images-5.jpeg</photo0><caption0></caption0><photoCredit0></photoCredit0></div></div>
<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>

Potts, Williamsport outlast Hazleton Area, 64-63