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H.S. Football: Lake-Lehman shuts down Wyoming Area in second half

No.. 17 SMU beats Tulane 37-34 in OT to improve to 5-0

DALLAS TWP. &mdash; Stunned on the fourth play of the game Friday night, the Hazleton Area Cougars decided there was no need to panic.
				They were absolutely correct about that.
				Hazleton Area dominated from that point on, controlling every aspect on the way to a 37-12 victory over Dallas in a Wyoming Valley Conference Division 1 game.
				Hazleton Area improved to 3-1 in the division and 4-2 overall with its fourth consecutive win. Dallas fell to 3-1 in the division and 3-2 overall.
				The Cougars racked up 456 yards and 25 first downs, running 67 plays compared to 30 by the Mountaineers. They also forced three turnovers.
				&ldquo;Last year, we went through a very, very rough time and weren&rsquo;t getting the outcome we wanted,&rdquo; said Hazleton Area quarterback Kellen Warner, who threw for two touchdown passes to give him eight on the year and the same he threw last season. &ldquo;It didn&rsquo;t start off the way we wanted this season, but we just continued to trust, love and commit like coach (Dennis) Buchman said.
				&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a different feel this year and we knew that.&rdquo;
				It looked like old times &mdash; as in last season&rsquo;s two-win campaign &mdash; for Hazleton Area early on.
				Dallas&rsquo; RJ Wren hit Ben Fife for a 45-yard touchdown pass four plays into the game, giving the Mountaineers a 6-0 lead. But that was the extent of Dallas&rsquo; offense for the most part.
				Hazleton Area went on scoring drives of 65, 67, 71 and 76 yards of its first four possessions to seize control. The final one ended with a diving catch by Evan Matyas on a 16-yard pass from Warner for a 23-6 lead with 0:34 left until halftime.
				&ldquo;We came back last week against Berwick,&rdquo; Warner said. &ldquo;We were down two scores and we ended up winning the game.&rdquo;
				The Cougars chewed up much of the clock on those drives as Dallas ran just 12 plays after the touchdown pass to Wren. Running back Matt Buchman, the coach&rsquo;s brother, kept the chains moving with 124 of his 185 rushing yards in the first half.
				&ldquo;They didn&rsquo;t forget what happened last year,&rdquo; Hazleton Area coach Dennis Buchman said of the 41-13 loss to Dallas last season. &ldquo;We were flat out embarrassed at home. We knew it was (Dallas&rsquo;) homecoming and wanted to make sure we played and gave our best effort today.&rdquo;
				Dallas cut the deficit to 23-12 on a 10-yard touchdown pass from Wren to Fife late in the third quarter. But the Wren-to-Fife combination was about the only thing clicking on offense. The running game sputtered to a season-low 54 yards and Fife was the only Mountaineers to catch a pass.
				Hazleton Area answered Dallas&rsquo; second touchdown with another time-eating drive capped by a 25-yard touchdown pass to Matt Cusatis on a short flip in the backfield by Warner. Dallas then fumbled away the ball on the ensuing kickoff and Cusatis added an interception a bit later to end any comeback hopes.
				Senior fullback Dante Matarella capped the Cougars&rsquo; scoring with a 2-yard run with 3:35 to play.
				The victory vaulted Hazleton Area from third to first in the District 2 Class 6A standings. The top-two teams will play for the district championship the weekend of Oct. 30-31, which was scheduled to be the final weekend of the regular season.
				<ins>Hazleton Area 37, Dallas 12 </ins>
				<ins>Hazleton Area`6`17`0`14&mdash; 37 </ins>
				<ins>Dallas`6`0`6`0 &mdash; 12 </ins>
				<ins>First quarter </ins>
				<ins>DAL &mdash; Ben Fife 45 pass from RJ Wren (kick blocked), 10:32 </ins>
				<ins>HA &mdash; Kevin Meluskey 3 run (kick failed), 7:45 </ins>
				<ins>Second quarter </ins>
				<ins>HA &mdash; Luke Russo 30 FG, 9:19 </ins>
				<ins>HA &mdash; Matt Buchman 33 run (Russo kick), 5:28 </ins>
				<ins>HA &mdash; Evan Matyas 16 pass from Kellen Warner (Russo kick), 0:34 </ins>
				<ins>Third quarter </ins>
				<ins>DAL &mdash; Fife 10 pass from Wren (kick failed), 1:29 </ins>
				<ins>Fourth quarter </ins>
				<ins>HA &mdash; Matt Cusatis 25 pass from Warner (Russo kick), 7:05 </ins>
				<ins>HA &mdash; Dante Matarella 2 run (Russo kick), 3:35 </ins>
				<ins>Team statistics`HA`DAL </ins>
				<ins>First downs`25`8 </ins>
				<ins>Rushes-yards`42-289`14-54 </ins>
				<ins>Passing yards`167`160 </ins>
				<ins>Total yards`456`214 </ins>
				<ins>Passing`15-25-1`8-16-1 </ins>
				<ins>Sacked-yards lost`0-0`0-0 </ins>
				<ins>Punts-avg.`1-35`3-34.3 </ins>
				<ins>Fumbles-lost`2-0`2-2 </ins>
				<ins>Penalties-yards`5-38`7-45 </ins>
				<ins>INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS </ins>
				<ins>RUSHING &mdash; Hazleton Area, Buchman 24-185, Meluskey 6-33, Warner 5-36, Cusatis 1-1, Ryan Matyas 2-8, Matarella 4-26. Dallas, Rocco Ormando 6-17, Wren 5-33, Fife 2-9, Duane Craig 1-(minus-5). </ins>
				<ins>PASSING &mdash; Hazleton Area, Warner 15-25-1-167. Dallas, Wren 8-16-1-160. </ins>
				<ins>RECEIVING &mdash; Hazleton Area, Connor Shamany 6-42, Cusatis 3-67, Buchman 2-21, Matarella 1-10, Evan Matyas 3-27. Dallas, Fife 8-160. </ins>
				<ins>INTERCEPTIONS &mdash; Hazleton Area, Cusatis 1-29. Dallas, Nikolus Gashi 1-42. </ins>
				<ins>MISSED FGs &mdash; none. </ins>

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H.S. Football: Hazleton Area controls the ball, controls Dallas on way to win