CHAPMAN LAKE — Two-touchdown deficit and all the momentum residing with a quality opponent on its home field?
Apparently, that’s no problem for the Wyoming Area football team.
Jack Gravine provided the offensive spark and Donavon Miller led the defensive turnaround Friday night as the unbeaten Warriors put together their second come-from-behind victory in three weeks with a 38-14 win at Lakeland.
Two weeks ago, Wyoming Area scored the game’s last 20 points in a 27-20 victory over two-time defending Wyoming Valley Conference Division 1 champion Dallas.
Friday night, it was the final 38 points in the only game of the night matching a pair of 3-0 District 2 teams.
Lakeland looked like it was clearly the better team when it took a 14-0 lead in the first 13½ minutes.
“We were able to stem the tide with the big play, then cleaned it up a little bit and started to play better,” Warriors coach Randy Spencer said. “ … Credit to Lakeland for coming out. There was great energy tonight with the crowd and their Salute to Service and military appreciation.
“ … Defensively, we were able to make a lot of stops in the second quarter and it carried through to the second half.”
Lakeland had the game’s first seven first downs when Wyoming Area faced third-and-three early in the second quarter.
Gravine found Drew Keating for nine yards and the initial Wyoming Area first down, then took off on a 45-yard touchdown run on the next play.
The pass completion launched a sequence of 19 plays that produced 247 yards, 10 first downs and Wyoming Area’s first 41 points.
Lakeland drove to the Wyoming Area 9, looking to restore its two-touchdown lead, but Miller’s fourth-down pass coverage turned away that threat.
The plays that ended the drive also began a stretch of 18 snaps through the end of third quarter during which the Chiefs produced a net of minus-22 yards offense.
“None of us hang our heads,” said Miller, who had seven tackles, including a sack, along with five assists, a pass rush and two broken-up passes. “We talk to each other and we fix things.”
Gravine kept the offense moving with his legs on a night when the Wyoming Area passing game could not beat the Lakeland secondary. He ran for 175 yards and two touchdowns on 14 carries and produced the game’s longest play with a 72-yard run to get the Warriors out of a hole and set up the go-ahead score.
“They were similar plays,” Gravine said of the 72-yarder and the two touchdowns straight-ahead runs out of shot-gun formation. “… Coach told me it was there on the inside and I hit the hole.”
Gravine broke to the outside on the long run to the 14 and Nick Ciampi scored from there on the next play.
Luke Kopetchny took a low extra-point snap and threw the go-ahead, two-pointer to Josh Mruk with 2:22 left in the half.
The Warriors held, took over in Chiefs territory and stretched their lead to 22-14 on the last play of the half when Kopetchny then started out as holder and threw a pass. The throw on the fake field goal went to Miller, who got to the corner and stretched the ball past the pylon for a 9-yard touchdown as time expired.
Gravine ran 23 yards for a third-quarter score and Mruk turned his only carry into a 50-yard, fourth-quarter touchdown.
Wyoming Area 38, Lakeland 14
Wyoming Area`0`22`9`7 — 38
Lakeland`7`7`0`0 — 14
First quarter
LAKE – David Naniewicz 1 run (Nicholas Jankosky kick), 2:02
Second quarter
LAKE – Chase Rosenkrans 21 pass from Naniewicz (Jankosky kick), 10:30
WA – Jack Gravine 45 run (Gavin Feeney kick), 8:20
WA – Nick Ciampi 14 run (Josh Mruk pass from Luke Kopetchny), 2:22
WA – Donavon Miller 9 pass from Kopetchny (Feeney kick), 0:00
Third quarter
WA – Safety (punter kneel down in end zone following bad snap), 10:52
WA – Gravine 23 run (Feeney kick), 7:03
Fourth quarter
WA – Mruk 50 run (Feeney kick), 7:43
Team Statistics`WA`LAKE
First downs`13`14
Rushes-yards`36-385`32-32
Passing yards`18`163
Total yards`403`195
Passing`2-9-0`13-25-1
Sacked-yards lost`0-0`1-7
Punts-avg.`5-27.6`3-30.7
Fumbles-lost`2-0`2-0
Penalties-yards`8-70`7-50
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING — WA – Gravine 14-175, Nicholas Kondrosky 5-58, Ciampi 7-53, Mruk 1-50, Trustin Johnson 7-32, Jordan Rosario 2-17. LAKE – Naniewicz 13-38, Gavin Roberts 5-10, Evan Lonzinski 5-7, Caden Cuozzo 5-6, Rosenkrans 1-1, Mason Mushel 1-1, Jackson Pochas 1-minus 1.
PASSING — WA, Gravine 1-8-0-9, Kopetchny 1-1-0-9. LAKE, Naniewicz 13-24-1-163, Mushel 0-1-0-0.
RECEIVING – WA, Drew Keating 1-9, Miller 1-9. LAKE, Rosenkrans 6-118, Pochas 3-21, Rocco Spataro 2-13, Roberts 1-4, Nathan Boyarsky 1-4.
INTERCEPTIONS — WA, Max Getzie 1-1. LAKE, none.
MISSED FIELD GOALS – None.
