BRETT R. CROSSLEY/Talk Williamsport
South Williamsport’s Gideon Green breaks for a run as Loyalsock’s Hunter Webb closes in for a tackle. Green rushed for 195 yards in South Williamsport’s 20-7 win over Loyalsock.
BRETT R. CROSSLEY/Talk Williamsport
South Williamsport’s Gideon Green runs for a big gain against Loyalsock’s defense.
BRETT R. CROSSLEY/Talk Williamsport
A.J. Flick, who runs out of the pocket against Loyalsock, completed just one pass against the Lancers, but it went for a touchdown as South Williamsport picked up a 20-7 win.
BRETT R. CROSSLEY/Talk Williamsport
Loyalsock’s Cole Cavanaugh attempts to get away from a host of South Williamsport tacklers. Cavanaugh struggled to find room all night against the Mountaineers’ defense.
BRETT R. CROSSLEY/Talk Williamsport
Loyalsock’s Cole Cavanaugh takes a knee next to his sister Callie before the coin toss against South Williamsport. Callie was an honorary captain for the game.
By BRETT R. CROSSLEY
WILLIAMSPORT–Fourth down and five yards to go as sheets of rain fell down on the field during the opening minutes of the fourth quarter.
South Williamsport had the ball at the 34-yard-line and it was decision time for the Mountaineers and their coaches.
Up by seven points, South Williamsport surprised nearly everyone in attendance as it elected to pass the ball.
The surprise play-call worked perfectly as A.J. Flick hit Hunter Finn in stride for a 34-yard touchdown. The Mountaineers added another insurance score late to defeat the Lancers 20-7 to claim the battle of 4-1 teams.
“We don’t run a lot of stuff, but when we do we take pride in doing it correctly,” South Williamsport coach Chris Eiswerth said. “We sucked them up and boy he popped. The blocking was good and the pass was right on and Finn pulled it in. It was great.”
The scoring play stunned the Lancers, who went three-and-out on their next possession.
South Williamsport then went three-and-out before Loyalsock scored its first points of the game. Connor Watkins found Marcus Williams behind the defense for a 63-yard touchdown.
Gideon Green scored on the Mountaineers next possession in response to the 63-yard pass.
“We try to control the line of scrimmage and burn clock,” Eiswerth said. “The defense came up huge and it’s just an all around team win.”
Only one of the Lancers’ ten drives ended in points, and that was on the 63-yard pass to Williams.
In the other nine drives, South Williamsport forced two three-and-outs, four punts, and two turnovers on downs. Loyalsock also ran out of time at the end of the game as it attempted to mount a comeback.
“They did a good job. There’s no sugarcoating it,” Loyalsock coach Justin Van Fleet said. “They controlled the line of scrimmage. They didn’t have careless penalties and they took care of the ball. They did their game plan and went up and down the field. There’s a lot for us to work on for this upcoming week.”
South Williamsport opened the game with a 12-play, 80-yard drive that featured all runs.
Ashton Martin carried the ball three times, capping the drive with an eight-yard run through the middle of Loyalsock’s defense.
Green finished with 195 yards on 40 carries. He capped South Williamsport’s final drive of the night with a five-yard run through the heart of Loyalsock’s defense.
“We know we are a run dominant team, but it takes everybody,” Green said. “It’s all of our players working together. I put all my trust in my offensive line and I have all the confidence in them.”
South Williamsport 20, Loyalsock 7
SOUTH WILLIAMSPORT 7 0 0 13-20
LOYALSOCK 0 0 0 7-7
FIRST QUARTER
SW-Ashton Martin 8 run (Aaron Guerrisky kick) 6:48
FOURTH QUARTER
SW-A.J. Flick 34 pass to Hunter Finn (Guerrisky kick) 7:24
LOY-Connor Watkins 63 pass to Marcus Williams (Andrew Czap kick) 3:08
SW-Gideon Green 5 run (kick blocked) 1:01
SW LOY
First Downs 15 9
Total Yards 337 264
Rushes-yards 57-303 31-135
Passing 34 129
Comp.-Att.-Int. 1-3-0 6-19-1
Fumbles-Lost 0-0 0-0
INDIVIDUAL STATS
RUSHING-SOUTH WILLIAMSPORT: Gideon Green 40-195 TD, Ashton Martin 11-88 TD, A.J. Flick 6-20. LOYALSOCK: Cole Cavanaugh 10-42, Marcus Williams 4-5, Connor Watkins 14-74, Alden Mileto 2-6, Eric Holz 1-8.
RECEIVING-SOUTH WILLIAMSPORT Hunter Finn 1-34 TD. LOYALSOCK: Marcus Williams 1-63 TD, Brock Hepler 2-50, Gerald Ross 2-21, Cole Cavanaugh 1-12, Jacob Waltz 1-14.
PASSING-SOUTH WILLIAMSPORT: A.J. Flick 1-34 TD. LOYALSOCK: Connor Watkins 6-19-1 129.
INTERCEPTIONS-SOUTH WILLIAMSPORT Ashton Martin. LOYALSOCK: none.
RECORDS: South Williamsport 5-1. Loyalsock 4-2.
