Aaron Crossley eludes the last Lake-Lehman defender on his way to a 69-yard touchdown run that helped put the game away for Wyoming Area in the fourth quarter.
Tony Callaio | For Times Leader
Wyoming Area’s Aaron Crossley and Joe Marranca get airborne to try and swat a pass from Lake-Lehman’s Landon Schuckers on Friday.
Tony Callaio | For Times Leader
Wyoming Area running back Aaron Crossley tightropes the sideline before being knocked out of bounds by Lake-Lehman’s Landon Schuckers (7).
Tony Callaio | For Times Leader
New Warriors quarterback Michael Crane (23) tosses the football to the referee after scoring a touchdown as indicated by teammate Sam Rau (53).
Tony Callaio | For Times Leader
The Warriors’ Michael Crane (23) and Damian Lefkoski (7) close in on Lake-Lehman’s Gavin Paraschak (19) on Friday.
Tony Callaio | For Times Leader
WEST PITTSTON — Wyoming Area took the patient approach to erasing a 14-point, first-half deficit.
Similarly, Aaron Crossley used patience to complete the rally that kept the Warriors on top of Wyoming Valley Conference Division 2 football.
Crossley had three touchdown runs of 55 or more yards in the final 13 minutes for a 35-14 victory over visiting Lake-Lehman at Anthony “Jake” Sobeski Stadium.
“The kid was patient in his runs,” Lake-Lehman coach Jerry Gilsky said. “He just waited for his seams and hit it real hard.
“That’s what speed does.”
The state medalist track sprinter ran for 318 yards and 4 touchdowns on 25 carries. It was his second straight game over 300 yards.
“Aaron is an outstanding back; one of the premier running backs in our area and the state,” Wyoming Area coach Randy Spencer said. “As you get later in the game, a good ground game hopefully gets stronger.
“That’s something we certainly rely on.”
Wyoming Area’s only official pass attempt came on its third offensive play. There were two sacks and some scrambles by sophomore Michael Crane, who ran for 105 yards and a touchdown in his second start at quarterback.
“He did a great job in terms of running the offense, executing plays, managing the game,” Spencer said. “We had a couple passing plays called that he didn’t like, pulled it down and made some running yardage out of it.
“Right now, that’s in our best interest. He did a nice job and he’s going to continue to grow.”
Lake-Lehman countered with Landon Schuckers throwing to five different receivers while passing for 228 yards. He threw for a touchdown and two-point conversion along with running 32 yards for a score for a 14-0, second-quarter lead.
That held up until the last six minutes of the half.
The Black Knights were ahead for almost 27 of the game’s 48 minutes.
Crane and Crossley ran for second-quarter scores, but a missed extra point kept Lake-Lehman in front, 14-13.
One play after Wyoming Area held Lake-Lehman on downs, Crossley went off left tackle, bounced to the outside, broke a tackle four yards into the run and went 69 yards for the go-ahead score with 58.4 seconds left in the third quarter.
Crossley slipped through two tackles and stiff-armed another defender on the way to another 69-yard run with 4:58 left. He then ran 55 yards with 2:51 remaining.
“We have it all planned; we do it so much in practice,” Crossley said. “No matter what I see, I just know exactly where I’m going to go before it happens.”
Wyoming Area 35, Lake-Lehman 14
Lake-Lehman`6`8`0`0 — 14
Wyoming Area`0`13`8`14 — 35
First quarter
LL – Gavin Paraschak 7 pass from Landon Schuckers (kick failed), 3:40
Second quarter
LL – Schuckers 32 run (Ben Dowling pass from Schuckers), 10:41
WA – Michael Crane 2 run (Liam Burke kick), 5:54
WA – Aaron Crossley 3 run (kick failed), 4:12
Third quarter
WA – Crossley 69 run (Crane run), 0:58.4
Fourth quarter
WA – Crossley 69 run (Burke kick), 4:58
WA – Crossley 55 run (Burke kick), 2:51
Team statistics`LL`WA
First downs`14`15
Rushes-yards`23-54`46-433
Passing yards`228`0
Total yards`282`433
Passing`13-27-1`0-1-0
Sacked-yards lost`4-24`2-8
Punts-avg.`3-36.7`3-36.0
Fumbles-lost`2-0`2-0
Penalties-yards`7-53`6-61
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING — LL, Schuckers 14-45, Javon Borger 5-7, Hunter Lee 4-2. WA, Crossley 25-318, Crane 15-105, Lidge Kellum 5-11, Team 1-minus 1.
PASSING — LL, Schuckers 13-27-1-328. WA, Crane 0-1-0-0.
RECEIVING – LL, Paraschak 4-48, Borger 3-53, Christopher Sholtis 2-77, Gavin Wallace 2-30, Dowling 2-21. WA, None.
INTERCEPTIONS — LL, None. WA, Damien Lefkoski 1-0.
MISSED FGs – LL, None. WA, Burke 29 (wide right).
