TUNKHANNOCK — On the last Friday night under the lights for September, the host Tunkhannock Tigers held on to win by the slimmest of margins, 13-12, over the Lake-Lehman Black Knights.
The Tigers bounced back in a big way with a nail-biting one point victory after coming off a 51-6 blowout defeat at the hands of Honesdale just one week ago. Meanwhile, the Black Knights came into this game after getting trounced by the Nanticoke Area Trojans last Friday evening in a 42-0 shutout loss.
Tunkhannock’s Logan Ross led the way all night long with his bruising ground game, as he put up a game-high 166-yards rushing on 39 carries to go along with a game-winning touchdown in the third quarter.
First-year Tigers coach Pat Keating was proud of his team’s effort and highlighted his squad’s key special teams plays, including a kickoff return that set up the lone touchdown, as a big reason for the victory.
“I just told our kids it takes a lot of guts to win a game like that,” Keating said. “Especially it was a tied game at halftime, then to start the second half they came down on the opening drive and scored, we were able to respond with the special teams play on the kick to set us up, we were able to go ahead by a point.
“Special teams played a huge difference for us tonight. Also stopping Lehman on both two-point conversions. It’s huge, it’s a big part of the game, we stress it.”
Tunkhannock senior Joey Ross came up big in the special teams facet of the contest, as he got his Tigers on the scoreboard first when he booted a 17-yard field goal for an early 3-0 advantage with 6:13 remaining in the first quarter.
Lehman would come storming back after being held scoreless in the first, as quarterback Hayden Evans connected with fellow junior Ben Dowling, who was wide open in the end zone, for a 20-yard scoring strike on fourth-and-10 to give his squad a 6-3 lead with 9:44 left in the second quarter.
Tunkhannock would bounce right back before halftime, as Joey Ross connected on another field goal, this one from 30 yards out, to knot up the proceedings at 6-6 with 4:27 left in the second period.
In the second half, Dowling, who ran for 70 yards on 11 carries on the day, barreled into the end zone from 3 yards out to allow his team to retake the lead at 12-6 with 7:29 remaining in the third quarter.
The Tigers would come roaring back just about three minutes later, when Joey Ross would take the kickoff and go on an electrifying return all the way down to Lehman’s 15-yard line, setting up Logan Ross’ 4-yard touchdown run to regain the lead at 13-12 with 4:25 left in the third. Senior kicker Paige Adams made the extra point for the decisive score.
Both sides would go scoreless in the fourth quarter, as the Tigers would continue their strong groud game to help run out the clock and clinch their fourth victory of the season.
“Just really proud of our guys in the way they fought tonight,” Keating said. “We are learning how to win. We are in close games and we are learning how to win, and that’s really important as we move forward.”
Now Keating and his 4-2 Tigers will look to continue their winning ways when they go on the road next week to take on Nanticoke Area.
Meanwhile, the 1-5 Black Knights will look to bounce back from this defeat when they go on the road next Friday night to face off with Pittston Area.
Tunkhannock 13, Lake-Lehman 12
Lake-Lehman`0`6`6`0 — 12
Tunkhannock`3`3`7`0 — 13
First Quarter
TUN — Joey Ross 17 field goal, 6:13
Second Quarter
LL — Ben Dowling 20 pass from Hayden Evans (run failed), 9:44
TUN — Joey Ross 30 field goal, 4:27
Third Quarter
LL — Dowling 3 run (run failed), 7:29
TUN — Logan Ross 4 run (Paige Adams kick), 4:25
Team statistics`LL`TUN
First downs`11`15
Rushes-yards`29-142`45-193
Passing yards`27`48
Total yards`169`241
Passing’2-11-1-0`6-10-0-0
Sacked-yards lost`3-11`1-3
Punts-avg.`4-34`2-39
Fumbles-lost`0-0`0-0
Penalties-yards`9-55`10-90
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING — LL, Gavin Shoemaker 3-10, Jim Mitkowski 5-7, Sam Plummer 2-25, Ben Dowling 11-70, Hayden Evans 8-30. TUN, Logan Ross 39-166, Joey Ross 6-27.
PASSING — LL, Hayden Evans 2-10-0-27, Ben Dowling 0-1-0-0. TUN, Joey Ross 5-9-0-42, Zack Latwinski 1-1-0-6.
RECEIVING — LL, Ben Dowling 2-27. TUN, Austin Holliday 3-32, Joey Ross 1-6, Carter O’Neill 1-1, Randall Paxton 1-9.
INTERCEPTIONS — None.
MISSED FGs — None.
