On a chilly late September Friday night under the lights on the black turf, the visiting Nanticoke Area Trojans were dominant from start to finish in their impressive 42-0 road shutout over the Lake-Lehman Black Knights.
The Trojans bounced back in a big way as their win snapped a three-game losing streak. Meanwhile, the Black Knights, who were coming off of a 43-19 road triumph last Saturday over Holy Redeemer to capture their first victory of the season, fell to 1-4 with the defeat.
“We just had to come out and actually play Trojan football,” Nanticoke Area coach Ron Bruza said. “Eliminate mistakes, get back to the fundamentals that we have been practicing all week. For the first time probably since Week 1 we had a great week of practice. Guys showed up, and came in and did what they needed to do.
“You know, we had a couple clunkers up at Wyoming Area, but they realized if we eliminate some of those mistakes we are a good football team. We just got to stop beating ourselves and play good football, and that’s what we were able to do tonight.”
Nanticoke Area started its scoring barrage on the game’s first play as senior Mykal Julian took the opening kickoff all the way to the house on an electrifying 86-yard touchdown return.
Then just a few minutes later, senior Ryan Wiaterowski barreled his way into the end zone from 5 yards out to increase Nanticoke Area’s lead to 15-0 with 8:08 remaining in the first quarter.
For the Trojans next score, senior standout tailback Zack Fox sprinted down the right sidelines for a lightning quick 61-yard touchdown run to give his club a 22-0 advantage with 3:18 left in the opening quarter.
For Nanticoke Area’s fourth and final score of the first period, the Trojan defense decided to get in on all the fun as Wiaterowski scored his second touchdown, this time intercepting Lehman’s junior quarterback Hayden Evans tipped pass at the line of scrimmage and returning it for a 38-yard score to stretch his team’s lead to 29-0 with just 1:49 left in the quarter.
In the second quarter, Nanticoke Area picked up right where it left off in the opening period as Wiaterowski scored his third touchdown of the night, this time bashing his way into the end zone from the 1-yard line to give the Trojans a 35-0 lead with 6:30 remaining in the half.
For Nanticoke’s sixth and final score of the evening, senior Seth Raymer took the snap at quarterback and connected through the air with fellow senior Jaidyn Johnson on a 34-yard touchdown pass to give the Trojans a 42-0 advantage with only 1:33 left in the first half of play.
Nanticoke Area’s rushing attack was led by Fox, who ran for a game-high 181-yards on just 14 carries to go along with his one touchdown score.
Nanticoke 42, Lake-Lehman 0
Nanticoke Area `29`13`0`0 — 42
Lake-Lehman`0`0`0`0 — 0
First Quarter
NA— Mykal Julian 86 kickoff return (Zack Fox run), 11:47.
NA — Ryan Wiaterowski 5 run (Giovanni Heratauro kick), 8:08.
NA — Zack Fox 61 run (Heratauro kick), 3:18.
NA — Ryan Wiaterowski 38 INT return (Heratauro kick), 1:49.
Second Quarter
NA — Ryan Wiaterowski 1 run (Heratauro kick), 6:30.
NA — Jaidyn Johnson 34 pass from Seth Raymer (Heratauro kick), 1:33.
Team statistics `NA `LL
First downs`17`4
Rushes-yards`41-292`15-105
Passing yards`34`8
Total yards`326`113
Passing’1-4-1-0`1-7-0-2
Sacked-yards lost`1-6`5-21
Punts-avg.`0-0`2-40
Fumbles-lost`1-1`5-3
Penalties-yards`9-105`6-35
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING — NA, Zack Fox 14-181, Ryan Wiaterowski 3-13, Stephen Armstrong 1-1, Treston Allen 5-17, Mike Stachowiak 3-7, Reagan Jackson 6-15 , Chris Julian 5-47, Mike Taylor 1-0, Eugene Gyle 3-11. LL, Gavin Shoemaker 3-17, Jim Mitkowski 5-12, Sam Plummer 2-34, Ben Dowling 4-32, Chris Yetter 1-10.
PASSING — NA, Mike Stachowiak 0-3-0-0-0, Seth Raymer 1-1-34-1-0. LL, Hayden Evans 1-6-8-0-2, Ben Dowling 0-1-0-0-0.
RECEIVING — NA, Jaidyn Johnson 1-34. LL, Ben Dowling 1-8.
INTERCEPTIONS — NA, Ryan Wiaterowski, Landon Lore.
Field Goals —none.
