LEHMAN TWP. — On a warm Friday night under the lights in the Back Mountain, the visiting Western Wayne Wildcats kicked off their 2023 season with a decisive 35-13 road triumph over the Lake-Lehman Black Knights.

Junior standout tailback Josh Vinton led the way for his Wildcats with an awe-inspiring performance that saw him rack up a game-high 177-yards on just 16 carries to go along with four rushing touchdowns in the contest.

Western Wayne started its scoring barrage early after junior Lance Maiocco picked off an opening drive pass from Lehman junior signal caller Hayden Evans. On the very next play, Vinton sprinted down the sidelines for a lightning-quick 52-yard rush to get the ball deep into Black Knights territory.

On the next snap, the Wildcats turned that turnover into points when Vinton barreled into the end zone from 8 yards out to give his squad a 7-0 advantage with 5:55 left in the first quarter.

After a short Lehman punt set the Wildcats up in great scoring position at the 18-yard line to begin their next drive, Vinton smashed in from the 1-yard line for a touchdown to up his team’s lead to 14-0 with only 1:19 remaining in the opening quarter.

The Wildcats’ final points of the first half came with 6:45 left in the second quarter when Vinton scored on a clutch fourth-and-1 run from the 10-yard line that gave Western Wayne a 21-0 lead.

The Black Knights would show some grit and resiliency of their own to close out the first half when they got on the scoreboard on a nice 7-yard touchdown pass from Evans to fellow junior wideout Christopher Sholtis to cut the deficit to just two scores at 21-7 with 2:27 left before the break.

In the third stanza it was all Western Wayne, as the Wildcats regained control of the ball game by outscoring Lehman 14-0.

The Wildcats took the second half kickoff and scored in less than two minutes, as Vinton found the end zone again, this time on a 55-yard rushing touchdown to up his squad’s advantage to 28-7 with 10:09 left in the third quarter.

Finally, senior quarterback Frankie Leyshon took it in himself and scampered into the end zone from 8 yards out to give the Wildcats a 35-7 lead with just 2:32 remaining in the third.

In the final quarter, the hometown Black Knights would fight back once more to close out the game on a positive note, as they held the Wildcats scoreless in the period. Evans connected with Sholtis once again through the air, this time on a 15-yard touchdown pass to cut the deficit to 35-13 with only 1:28 left before the final buzzer.

Western Wayne head coach Shane Grodack was impressed with his team’s effort in a solid road victory to start off the season.

“Like I told our players before the game, we had to do our job,” Grodack said. “Eleven players on the field simultaneously doing their job — we will have success. Positive plays and it worked out for us.

“The key for our solid running game tonight was making blocks up front. We worked at it all summer long. We plugged in three new guys on the offensive line this year, and just for them to gel and understand the blocking schemes, and for our running back to hit the hole hard, which he did tonight. It’s good to build some momentum and that’s what we needed.”

Now Grodack and his 1-0 Wildcats will look to stay perfect on the young season when they play their home opener next Friday night against the North Pocono Trojans.

Meanwhile the Black Knights will look to bounce back and capture their first win of the year when they travel on the road next Friday to take on Lackawanna Trail.

Western Wayne 35, Lake-Lehman 13

Western Wayne`14`7`14`0 — 35

Lake-Lehman`0`7`0`6 — 13

First Quarter

WW — Josh Vinton 8 run (Carter Mistishin makes extra pt.), 5:55.

WW — Josh Vinton 1 run (Mistishin makes extra pt.), 1:19.

Second Quarter

WW — Josh Vinton 10 run (Mistishin makes extra pt.), 6:45.

LL — Christopher Sholtis 7 pass from Hayden Evans (Ben Vanook makes extra pt.), 2:27.

Third Quarter

WW — Josh Vinton 55 run (Mistishin makes extra pt.), 10:09.

WW — Frankie Leyshon 8 run (Mistishin makes extra pt.), 2:32.

Fourth Quarter

LL — Christopher Sholtis 15 pass from Hayden Evans (Connor Spencer misses extra pt.), 1:28.

Team statistics `WW `LL

First downs`18`14

Rushes-yards`33-315`24-79

Passing yards`42`225

Total yards`357`304

Passing`5-8-0-0`14-20-2-1

Sacked-yards lost`0-0`2-13

Punts-avg.`0-0`2-30

Fumbles-lost`3-2`1-1

Penalties-yards`1-10`8-50

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING — WW, Josh Vinton 16-177, Connor Bryant 1-3, Vinny Silon 9-52, Frankie Leyshon 2-29, Landon Wargo 2-19, Alex Lucke 3-35. LL, Gavin Shoemaker 4-19, Jim Mitkowski 6-7, Hayden Evans 7-11, Sam Plummer 6-32, Ben Dowling 1-10.

PASSING — WW, Frankie Leyshon 5-8-42-0-0. LL, Hayden Evans 14-20-225-2-1.

RECEIVING — WW, Carter Mistishin 1-21, Ethan Grodack 2-2, Josh Vinton 1-12, John Pyatt 1-7. LL, Christopher Sholtis 9-196, Ben Dowling 3-28, Sam Plummer 1-1, Jim Mitkowski 1-0.

INTERCEPTIONS — WW, Lance Maiocco 1-10.

MISSED FGs — None.