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Lopez and defense lead Berwick past Williamsport in defensive struggle

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Kelley leads Dallas to win over Hazleton Area

<p>UNION TWP. &#8212; The visiting Wyoming Area Warriors started out slow on the road Friday night, but picked it up and ran away with a dominant 34-3 Wyoming Valley Conference victory over the Northwest Rangers to remain undefeated.</p><p>Coming into the ball game both squads were red hot, as Northwest was 2-0 after squeaking out an 8-7 win over Lackawanna Trail in its opener and last week crushing Holy Redeemer 43-7. Meanwhile, Wyoming Area was riding high after two blowout wins to start the season, as the Warriors routed Mid Valley 56-13 in their opener and then last week shut out Scranton Prep 34-0.</p><p>Northwest controlled the entire first quarter and even the first minutes of the second stanza. Its lengthy and impressive opening drive lasted all the way until 10:26 left in the second quarter, when kicker Jack Wessler connected on a 33-yard field goal to give the Rangers a 3-0 lead.</p><p>Not only was Northwest&#8217;s offense rolling and controlling the clock, the Rangers ate up so much time earlier on in the contest that they helped their defense by not allowing the Wyoming Area offense to take the field for a big chunk of the game.</p><p>However, that early Northwest momentum would be short lived, as Wyoming Area ripped off 34 unanswered consecutive points.</p><p>The Warriors started off quickly, as they took their first kickoff return all the way to the Northwest 22-yard line. That set up a quick 16-yard touchdown scamper from senior running back Corey Mruk on just the team&#8217;s second play on offense in the game to snatch the lead at 6-3 with 9:29 left in the first half.</p><p>Less than four minutes later, Mruk was heard from again, as he took another 16-yard rush all the way to the house to up his club&#8217;s advantage at 12-3, a lead the Warriors took into halftime.</p><p>Another big turning point in the game was after Northwest successfully surprised Wyoming Area and recovered the opening second half onside kick. The Rangers offense gave that momentum back when Wyoming Area&#8217;s Darren Rodney picked off a pass.</p><p>Wyoming Area took advantage of that mistake and Mruk electrified his sideline with a 56-yard touchdown run with 10:42 left in the third period to up the Warriors lead at 20-3. On the evening, Mruk ran for a game high 104-yards on just six carries and scored three touchdowns all coming from the mighty ground game.</p><p>The game was finally clinched and broken open, when senior Dillon Williams intercepted another pass just as Northwest was driving deep into enemy territory and on the verge of tightening up the ball game. Williams jumped in front of a would-be high arching screen pass to Rangers tailback George May, and sprinted down the sidelines for a 79-yard interception touchdown return to increase the Wyoming Area lead to 27-3 just 38 seconds into the fourth and final quarter of play.</p><p>The final score came with just 2:47 left in regulation when senior signal caller Dominic DeLuca hooked up in the end zone on a 41-yard touchdown bomb through the air to fellow senior Riley Rusyn.</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">COLLEGE PARK, MD - NOVEMBER 15:  Footballs sit lined up on the field before a college football game between the Michigan State Spartans and the Maryland Terrapins at Byrd Stadium on November 15, 2014 in College Park, Maryland.  (Photo by Mitchell Layton/Getty Images)</div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/web1_GettyImages-459047790-775x465.jpg</photo0><caption0>COLLEGE PARK, MD - NOVEMBER 15:  Footballs sit lined up on the field before a college football game between the Michigan State Spartans and the Maryland Terrapins at Byrd Stadium on November 15, 2014 in College Park, Maryland.  (Photo by Mitchell Layton/Getty Images)</caption0><photoCredit0></photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Ross Turetsky</p><p>For Times Leader</p></bylineMeta></div>

H.S. Football: Wyoming Area overcomes slow start to overwhelm Northwest