UNION TWP. — On a beautiful Friday night under the lights, the visiting Lake-Lehman Black Knights football squad cruised to a wire-to-wire 59-0 dominant victory over the hometown Northwest Area Rangers.
The Black Knights captured their first win of the young season after dropping their first two contests with a 24-7 home loss in the opener to an improved Berwick team and in Week 2 a 49-7 road defeat to a formidable Shamokin squad.
Meanwhile, the Rangers from Northwest also came into this Week 3 battle 0-2, as they lost their opener on the road at Canton 17-6 and in Week-2 they fell at home to Athens by a score of 49-20.
Lehman kicked off their scoring barrage with 3:47 left in the first quarter when junior signal caller Anthony Magnotta scampered into the end zone from 30 yards out to give the Knights an early 7-0 advantage.
After being held to only seven points by the Northwest defense in the first quarter, Lehman broke out in the second in a big way, tallying 32 points.
Magnotta increased Lehman’s lead to 14-0 with 10:43 remaining in the second quarter, when he barreled his way for the 2-yard rushing touchdown.
Then about three minutes later, Knights senior tailback Jaydon Skipalis punched it in from 1 yard out to give his team the 21-0 advantage with 7:39 left in the first half.
For the Knights’ next score, Magnotta got it done on the other side of the ball as well, as he picked off Northwest sophomore quarterback Mason Bilby’s pass and returned it for a lightning-quick 27-yard touchdown to give Lehman a 27-0 lead with 6:20 remaining in second.
Then less than two minutes later, it was Magnotta once again, as he picked off junior Loegan Diltz’s pass for a 10-yard touchdown return to increase Lehman’s lead to 33-0 with 4:47 left in the half.
For the Knights’ sixth touchdown of the contest, junior wideout Alex Smith ran it in from 5 yards out to give his team a 39-0 lead with 2:44 remaining in the half, a score they would take into the halftime break.
In the second half, Lehman kept up its scoring prowess, outscoring the Rangers 20-0 in the game’s final 24 minutes of action.
For the next score, senior wideout Chris Yetter sprinted into the end zone for a 20-yard rushing touchdown to enhance his team’s lead to 46-0 with 8:41 left in the third.
Lehman would score again about five minutes later, when the defense rose up for another pick-six. This time sophomore Valentino Cassano wrestled the ball away from a Northwest receiver and returned it for a 40-yard touchdown to give the Knights a 52-0 lead with 3:32 remaining in the third.
For Lehman’s ninth and final score of the evening, sophomore Cordyn Harris ran it into the end zone from 15 yards out to give his team a 59-0 advantage with 11:49 left in regulation, a lead they would celebrate at the final whistle.
Lehman coach Jerry Gilsky was happy to see the whole team contribute and come together to earn their first win of the season.
“Yeah, it’s a game to get on track,” Gilsky said. “Get some positives out of this, especially going into next week against a tough Riverside team. So we love our schedule and it’s only going to get us better, especially when it comes down to the end of the season and the postseason.
“So we have to take every week at a time, like I said at the beginning of the year, and we just have to have tough grit and get after it and pay attention to details.”
While the 1-2 Black Knights will look to make it two straight wins when they host a solid Riverside squad next Friday night, Northwest coach Vito Malacari and his 0-3 Rangers will look to bounce right back and seize their first victory of the 2025 campaign when they host conference foe Muncy next Friday under the lights.
Lake-Lehman 59, Northwest 0
Lake-Lehman`7`32`13`7 — 59
Northwest`0`0`0`0 — 0
First Quarter
LL — Anthony Magnotta 30 run (Hunter Palka kick), 3:47.
Second Quarter
LL — Magnotta 2 run (Palka kick), 10:43.
LL — Jaydon Skipalis 1 run (Aiden Gallagher kick), 7:39.
LL — Magnotta 27 INT return (pass failed), 6:20.
LL — Magnotta 10 INT return (pass failed), 4:47.
LL — Alex Smith 5 run (kick failed), 2:44.
Third Quarter
LL — Chris Yetter 20 run (Gallagher kick), 8:41.
LL — Valentino Cassano 40 INT return (kick failed), 3:32.
Fourth Quarter
LL — Cordyn Harris 15 run (Gallagher kick), 11:49.
Team statistics`Lehman`Northwest
First downs`20`8
Rushes-yards`29-277`28-136
Passing yards`5`13
Total yards`282`149
Passing`1-1-0-0`2-9-0-4
Sacked-yards lost`0-0`3-61
Punts-avg.`0-0`2-36
Fumbles-lost`1-0`1-1
Penalties-yards`4-40`4-50
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING — LL, Jaydon Skipalis 5-39, Chris Yetter 6-94, Alex Smith 2-28, Anthony Magnotta 2-32, Cordyn Harris 7-57, Vincenzo Sparacio 1-0, Dylan Heinrich 1-5, Lukas Conte 1-6, Benjamin Brelsford 1-3, Rennen Smith 2-7, Jesse Strenfel 1-6. NW, Loegan Diltz 12-67, Ben Bonham 3-11, Mason Bilby 3-8, Shane Hempel 8-44, Cole Cavuto 2-6.
PASSING — LL, Anthony Magnotta 1-1-5-0-0. NW, Mason Bilby 2-7-13-0-3, Loegan Diltz 0-2-0-0-1.
RECEIVING — LL, Jaydon Skipalis 1-5. NW, Loegan Diltz 1-8, Zaiden Meeker 1-5.
INTERCEPTIONS — LL, Anthony Magnotta 2-37, Valentino Cassano 1-40, Devon Albee 1-0.
MISSED FGs —None.
