H.S. Football: Wyoming Area routs Holy Redeemer behind Aaron Crossley

WEST PITTSTON — Touchdowns were scored on Wyoming Area’s first six possessions Friday night.

The Warriors scored five of them, but the one hiccup didn’t matter. Those points were more than enough in a 56-18 victory over Holy Redeemer in a Wyoming Valley Conference Division 2 football game.

Wyoming Area (4-0 Div. 2, 4-3 overall) remained atop the division. Redeemer fell to 2-2 in the division and 3-4 overall.

Wyoming Area’s gameplan seemed obvious all week. The Warriors ran Aaron Crossley at a Redeemer defense that hadn’t faced a standout running back all season. Crossley scored on touchdown runs of 87, 1, 29, 16 and 37 yards for the first five touchdowns. He added a 36-yard TD run to give Wyoming Area 42-12 lead at halftime.

Crossley carried just two times in the second half and scored his seventh TD on a 3-yard run at 9:50 of the third quarter. He finished with 328 yards on 16 carries and went over 1,000 for the season.

“He played well,” Wyoming Area coach Randy Spencer said. “Michael Crane stepping in at quarterback did a nice job. Up front, we did what we needed to do. It was nice to see that type of performance.”

As for Redeemer’s touchdown on a Wyoming Area possession, Darryl Wright scored it from 44 yards out after ripping the ball away after a short completion by the Warriors. Zach Perta also had a 93-yard kick return touchdown, picking up the ball after it appeared heading out of bounds and sprinting down the right sideline.

The Royals entered the game averaging a division-leading 369.7 yards per game. They finished with just 196.

Quarterback Jacob Hunter connected a couple times with Perta on Redeemer’s first possession to put the ball at the Wyoming Area 28-yard line. But a run for minus-9 yards from there sapped the energy from the drive. The Royals went three-and-0ut in their next three possessions.

Wyoming Area made a switch at the quarterback position by inserting Crane, a running back. He finished with 112 yards rushing on 13 carries.

“He’s played that in junior high and we worked him a little bit at times,” Spencer said. “But this is the first game as a varsity player I believe he took any snaps. He did a great job for his first game.”

Wyoming Area 56, Holy Redeemer 18

Holy Redeemer`12`0`6`0 — 18

Wyoming Area`21`21`14`0 — 56

First quarter

WA — Aaron Crossley 87 run (Liam Burke kick), 8:24

WA — Crossley 1 run (Burke kick), 4:30

HR — Zach Perta 93 kickoff return (pass failed), 4:17

HR — Darryl Wright 44 fumble return (run failed), 3:25

WA — Crossley 29 run (Burke kick), 1:39

Second quarter

WA — Crossley 16 run (Burke kick), 11:13

WA — Crossley 37 run (Burke kick), 3:54

WA — Crossley 36 run (Burke kick), 3:13

Third quarter

WA — Crossley 3 run (Burke kick), 9:50

HR — Lou Lussi 64 pass from Jacob Hunter (pass failed), 8:49

WA — Lidge Kellum 4 run (Burke kick), 5:38

Team statistics`HR`WA

First downs`8`19

Rushes-yards`18-39`50-556

Passing yards`157`6

Total yards`196`562

Passing`8-23-1`2-7-1

Sacked-yards lost`0-0`2-16

Punts-avg.`4-20`0-0

Fumbles-lost`5-3`4-1

Penalties-yards`6-61`3-25

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING —Redeemer, Luke Kopec 5-17, Perta 3-(minus-14), Hunter 9-37. Josh Wesneski 1-(minus-1). Wyoming Area, Crossley 16-328, Keegan Rusyn 3-21, Michael Crane 13-112, Kellum 4-59, Matt Rukoski 1-3, Oliver Bolin 6-27, John Turner 6-15, Brady Jones 2-(minus-9).

PASSING —Redeemer, Hunter 8-23-1-157. Wyoming Area, Crane 2-6-1-6, team 0-1-0-0.

RECEIVING — Redeemer, Perta 5-77, Lussi 1-64, Wesneski 2-16. Wyoming Area, Kellum 1-(minus-1), Garret Pocceschi 1-7.

INTERCEPTIONS — Redeemer, Wesneski 1-20. Wyoming Area, Damian Lefkoski 1-0.

MISSED FGs — none.