H.S. Football: Wyoming Area makes opening statement, grinds down Hazleton Area

HAZLETON — It was ground and pound all night long for Wyoming Area, with three different rushers accounting for five touchdowns as the Warriors rolled past Hazleton Area 35-7 on Friday night at Harman-Geist Memorial Stadium.

“You had all three of our guys running really hard behind an exceptional offensive line,” Wyoming Area coach Randy Spencer said after his team’s win. “I thought our line did great and got stronger as the game went on.”

Junior Drew Mruk led the way with 99 yards and a pair of touchdowns on 12 carries for the Warriors, including his very first run of the night.

“We wanted to make a statement our first game,” Mruk said. “We came out and we made plays.”

Complementing Mruk in the Warrior backfield were Leo Haros and Aaron Crossley, who provided different looks and were able to keep the Cougar defense reeling all night.

Crossley scored twice and rushed for 52 yards; Haros ran for 75 yards and a 10-yard touchdown of his own.

Controlling the ground game the way the Warriors did allowed for the offense to eat up large chunks of the clock and keep Hazleton Area’s offense on the sidelines for most of the night.

Most indicative of this — a third-quarter Warrior touchdown drive that started deep in their own territory, and ended with a Costello touchdown after more than eight minutes of game time had gone by.

“We had hoped that would be one of our strengths,” Spencer said of his team’s ability to run the clock. “Again, it comes down to our offensive line and our three guys running the football.”

The Warriors established control of the game right off the bat, bottling up Hazleton’s offense on their first drive of the game. On the ensuing punt, Rocco Pizano took the return deep into Cougar territory, setting up Mruk for the first score of the season.

From there, Hazleton couldn’t find a rhythm offensively: the Cougars punted on five of their six drives, and the one drive that Hazleton took deep into Warrior territory was snuffed out on a bad exchange from Cougar quarterback Tyler Wolfe to his rusher, resulting in a fumble recovered by Wyoming Area’s Jayden Rusyn.

Wolfe, settling in as the starting quarterback after the departure of Kellen Warner, seemed to get a bit more comfortable as the game went on. He finished 11-for-20 with 139 yards, connecting with junior wideout Connor Shamany five times for 96 yards.

The Warriors will look to ride this wave of momentum into next weekend’s contest, a Saturday afternoon showdown with Wilkes-Barre Area.

Hazleton Area will take a long road trip next Friday to take on Harrisburg.

Wyoming Area 35, Hazleton Area 7

Wyoming Area`7`14`14`0 — 35

Hazleton Area`0`0`0`7 — 7

First quarter

WA — Drew Mruk 22 run (Jayden Rusyn kick) 9:55

Second quarter

WA — Mruk 1 run (Rusyn kick) 8:38

WA — Leo Haros 10 run (Rusyn kick) 1:54

Third quarter

WA — Aaron Crossley 6 run (kick failed) 3:29

WA — Crossley 7 run (Mruk run) 1:35

Fourth quarter

HAZ — Matthew Buchman 14 run (Russo kick) 8:05

Team statistics`WA`HAZ

First downs`17`6

Rushes-yards`44-283`12-59

Passing yards`22`139

Total yards`305`197

Passing`1-4-0`11-20-0

Sacked-yards lost`0-0`0-0

Punts-avg.`1-31`5-43

Fumbles-lost`2-0`2-1

Penalties-yards`3-15`7-55

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING — WA, Mruk 12-99, Crossley 8-51, Haros 11-75, Blaise Sokach-Minnick 2-5, Rich Hyzinski 1-3, Rocco Pizano 1-14, Keegan Rusyn 1-3, Michael Crane 4-9, Damian Lefkoski 2-15, Matthew Rutkowski 2-7. HAZ, Matthew Cusatis 1-11, Buchman 6-28, Tyler Wolfe 4-17, Ryan Matyas 1-3.

PASSING — WA, Sokach-Minnick 1-4-22-0. HAZ, Wolfe 11-20-139-0.

RECEIVING — WA, Mruk 1-22. HAZ, Mitchell Masten 1-6, Matyas 1-17, Buchman 1-5, Connor Shamany 5-96, Cusatis 2-15, Christian Price 1-(-1).

INTERCEPTIONS — none.

MISSED FGs — none.