KINGSTON — In a battle of teams looking to break into the win column, it was Lake-Lehman who emerged, finding their groove offensively to rout Holy Redeemer 43-19 at Spartan Stadium.
“Our guys came out with a lot of energy today,” said Lake-Lehman head coach Jerry Gilsky. “They knew we had to turn the page from our first three games, and focus a bit more on conference play.”
In a tough stretch to open the year, the Black Knights scored just 26 points total in losses to Lackawanna League foes Western Wayne, Lackawanna Trail and Scranton Prep.
Lehman almost doubled that in one half on Saturday, scoring all 43 of their points before halftime as the Holy Redeemer defense struggled to stop the Black Knights from moving the ball at will.
It was the run game that got things going for Lehman; on their first offensive drive, the Black Knights needed just three plays to score, all runs from Jim Mitkowski, who scored on a one-yard rush after ripping off gains of 19 and 18 yards the two plays prior.
Mitkowski finished with 79 yards, while fellow running back Gavin Shoemaker had 90 yards and a touchdown, and quarterback Hayden Evans added a 22-yard touchdown run, to boot.
Evans didn’t need to throw too much on Saturday, but he was definitely efficient; the junior threw only two passes, but they both went for touchdowns to Benjamin Dowling.
Dowling got way behind the Redeemer defense for 43 yards and a score in the first quarter, and then went up and got a jump ball for a 25-yard score in the second quarter.
“It feels good, going out there and having my teammates in the right places at the right time,” Evans said. “All offseason, me and him [Dowling] have been working out together…he’s a guy you could just throw it up to, and he’ll come down with it.”
The Black Knights led 22-0 after the first quarter, and 43-6 at the half. Holy Redeemer’s lone score of the first half came on a 25-yard fourth down pass from Thomas Dugan to Kyaire McClean, with the receiver making a nice adjustment to find the ball in the corner of the end zone.
Dugan took his lumps and was routinely forced to scramble or throw under pressure as the Lehman pass rush made it a tough day for the quarterback.
“We just wanted to be aggressive,” Gilsky said of his defense.
It was a much better second half for Dugan, albeit with much of the Lake-Lehman starters done for the day; he ran in a quarterback sneak in the third quarter and found McClean in the fourth quarter for the duo’s second touchdown connection of the day.
In all, Dugan threw for 83 yards, two touchdowns and an interception; he ran for 34 more yards, the only Holy Redeemer ball-carrier not to finish with negative rush yardage.
“For him [Dugan], he got to watch a great quarterback in Jacob Hunter the last two years…these first couple games, he was trying to be Jacob Hunter,” said Holy Redeemer coach Tyson Kelley. “I had to remind him, ‘why don’t you be Tommy Dugan’…we worked on a bit of timing this week to get him to pull the trigger a bit faster.”
With the win, Lake-Lehman improves to 1-3, and gets to 1-0 in Division 2 of the Wyoming Valley Conference. They’ll be back at home next week against Nanticoke Area.
Holy Redeemer (0-4, 0-2 Division 2) will continue to look for their first win, heading on the road to take on Milton.
Wyoming Seminary 40, Kiski Prep 7
Host Wyoming Seminary rallied from a 14-7 halftime deficit to defeat Kiski Prep.
Nic Andews scored touchdowns rushing and receiving to lead the Blue Knight attack. Chief Montalvo also had a receiving touchdown, while Malichi Greaves and Alex Roman both scored on the ground.
Gavin Green and Justin Denson each returned an interception for a touchdown. Denson had two interceptions.
Tanner Ferguson recovered two fumbles for the Seminary, which turned in a stout defensive effort for the second week in a row.
Lake-Lehman 43, Holy Redeemer 19
Lake-Lehman`22`21`0`0 — 43
Holy Redeemer`0`6`6`7 — 19
First quarter
LL — Jim Mitkowski 1 run (Hayden Evans run) 8:29
LL — Benjamin Dowling 43 pass from Evans (Gavin Shoemaker run) 6:32
LL — Shoemaker 6 run (run failed) 0:22
Second quarter
HR — Kyaire McClean 25 pass from Thomas Dugan (run failed) 7:28
LL — Dowling 15 pass from Evans (Ben Wnuk kick) 5:42
LL — Logan Deyo 0 fumble return (Wnuk kick) 5:33
LL — Evans 22 run (Reilley Kirkutis kick) 2:32
Third quarter
HR — Dugan 1 run (kick failed) 5:47
Fourth quarter
HR — McClean 8 pass from Dugan (kick good) 8:28
Team statistics`LL`HR
First downs`9`4
Rushes-yards`27-296`22-14
Passing yards`58`83
Total yards`354`97
Passing`2-4-0`6-19-1
Sacked-yards lost`1-10`2-21
Punts-avg.`2-12.5`5-28
Fumbles-lost`2-2`1-1
Penalties-yards`11-116`3-25
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING — LL, Mitkowski 6-79, Shoemaker 6-90, Sam Plummer 4-38, Evans 1-22, Keagan Bennett 7-65, Hunter Lee 2-(minus-1), Anthony Magnotta 1-3. HR, DJ McDermott 2-(minus-5), Dugan 9-34, Ryan Garvin 9-(minus-6), Anthony Falcon 2-(minus-9).
PASSING — LL, Evans 2-4-58-0. HR, Dugan 6-19-83-1.
RECEIVING — LL, Dowling 2-58. HR, Garvin 1-1, Tristan Block 1-22, McClean 3-59, McDermott 1-1.
INTERCEPTIONS — LL, Landin Bardo 1-0.
MISSED FGs — none.
