TUNKHANNOCK — Wyoming Area coach Randy Spencer said opening night football games are more about avoiding mistakes than making big plays.
Once the Warriors corrected some early mistakes Friday night, they were positioned to come up with the big plays that carried them to a 49-0 rout of Tunkhannock in a Wyoming Valley Conference Division 2 game.
Wyoming Area led just 7-0 almost 15 minutes into the game before Aaron Crossley broke a 69-yard touchdown run for the first of five touchdowns in a span of less than 18 minutes.
Crossley, who is already committed to play NCAA Division I football at Lehigh University, ran 25 yards for a touchdown on his only carry of the second half. He finished with 194 yards and four scores on 17 carries.
“He’s a great kid; he’s a great player,” said former Wyoming Valley West coach Pat Keating, who was making his debut leading the Tigers. “He’s going to do a lot of great things this year.
“I’m proud of the way our kids fought. I just told them, ‘We got beat by a really good football team and there’s no shame in that.’”
Crossley carried seven times and caught a pass on the opening drive, which he capped with a 2-yard run.
Tunkhannock’s only defensive stop of the game came on the next possession when a pass went off the hands of a Wyoming Area receiver and was picked off by Austin Holliday.
“We were a little slow out of the gate for this first game,” Spencer said. “It was a little hot and humid for both teams.
“ … I think we made our share of mistakes early, but I think the kids did a good job of settling down in the game.”
Strong safety Jacob Morgan made eight first-half tackles, three of them at the line of scrimmage, to lead a Wyoming Area defense that limited Tunkhannock to five first downs and 80 yards total offense.
Wyoming Area broke the game open with two scores in the last 3:12 of the half, both after taking advantage of good field position following short punts.
Michael Crane ran three yards on fourth-and-two to set up quarterback Anthony Delucca’s 6-yard quarterback sneak.
Crossley ran 19 yards through a big hole on the left side in the last minute of the half.
After Crossley displayed his power by running over a defender on his way to a 25-yard touchdown, Lidge Kellum showed off his speed in a 45-yard sprint down the left sideline for a 42-0 lead after three quarters.
Freshman Luke Kopetchny added the final score on a quarterback sneak.
Wyoming Area 49, Tunkhannock 0
Wyoming Area`7`21`14`7 — 49
Tunkhannock`0`0`0`0 — 0
First quarter
WA – Aaron Crossley 2 run (Liam Burke kick), 7:44
Second quarter
WA – Crossley 69 run (Burke kick), 9:23
WA – Anthony Delucca 6 run (Burke kick), 3:12
WA – Crossley 19 run (Burke kick), 0:53
Third quarter
WA – Crossley 25 run (Burke kick), 9:05
WA – Lidge Kellum 45 run (Addison Yankovich kick), 1:31
Fourth quarter
WA – Luke Kopetchny 1 run (Yankovich kick), 3:27
Team statistics`WA`TUNK
First downs`18`5
Rushes-yards`37-344`28-49
Passing yards`35`31
Total yards`379`80
Passing`3-9-1`5-8-0
Sacked-yards lost`0-0`0-0
Punts-avg.`0-0`6-23.8
Fumbles-lost`0-0`1-0
Penalties-yards`2-15`2-20
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING — WA, Crossley 17-194, Kellum 3-62, Oliver Bolin 6-35, Delucca 4-30, Michael Crane 4-13, Koptechny 2-6, Aidan Allardyce 1-4. TUNK, David Hoff 3-20, Joey Ross 11-17, Caden Simmers 2-8, Evan Montross 9-8, Randall Paxton 1-0, Ethan Dominick 1-minus 1, Team 1-minus 3.
PASSING — WA, Delucca 2-7-1-23, Kopetchny 1-1-0-12, Brady Jones 0-1-0-0. TUNK, Jross 5-8-0-31.
RECEIVING – WA, Kevin Wiedl 1-12, Ryan Jones 1-12, Crossley 1-11. TUNK, Paxton 2-10, Logan Ross 1-13, Simmers 1-6, Austin Holliday 1-2.
INTERCEPTIONS — WA, None. TUNK, Holliday 1-2.
MISSED FIELD GOALS – None.
