DAVE KENNEDY/Sun-Gazette Correspondent Montoursville’s Logan Ott is tackled by Milton’s Tylar Boyer (2) and Joe Rodriquez (58) in the first half at Montoursville on Friday night.

MONTOURSVILLE — Hunter Shearer looked up to find Dylan Moll left alone behind the left side of the defense and floated a 21-yard pass with little effort so Moll could catch it in stride and walk into the end zone. It marked the second time Shearer and Moll connected and Shearer’s last pass of a four touchdown night.

At times, the Warrior offense made it look easy, but behind the stats were missed assignments and fundamental mistakes masked by a potent offense filled with weapons and an explosive defense that cruised to a 45-6 win over Milton (2-5) on homecoming night at Memorial Stadium Firday night.

In a matchup that featured two teams that were 0-8 when they squared off a year ago, seem to be going in two opposite directions this year. Montoursville (5-1) fresh off the Battle of the Bridge win over Loyalsock last week brought all of that momentum into Friday night.

“We had a tough schedule last year and were young too, it certainly made us better for this year,” A calm and collected Shearer (8 for 14 113, three touchdowns, INT) said after getting a quarter and a half rest being pulled midway through the third. “Everyone is working well together and its just something special this team has this year.”

The Warriors offense methodically worked the ball down the field to open up the game taking 6:13 off the clock with four first downs on 10 carries and 2 pass attempts before Colin Gorini split the uprights with a 34 yard field goal. Then the defense got an interception as Moll stepped in front of a Phil Davis pass intended for Qamar Bradley over the middle.

“We saw a lot of cover 3 this year and had a lot of film, I kind of knew what the defense was going to do against our routes,” Shearer said. “The line did a great job blocking for us and giving me time to throw, the running backs space to run, we have a lot of playmakers and depth this year to keep guys fresh and move the ball.”

It was a night that saw 397 yards of Montoursville offense compared to just 138 for Milton as the Black Panthers could not find the same rhythm Montoursville had. Some was brought on by the uneasiness from Davis in the pocket, some brought on by the pressure from Montoursville’s defense as it came away with four interceptions and a sack. Often times, Davis felt rushed to release the ball fast and sent bullets all over the field in a receivers’ direction. When Davis did have time in the pocket he threw well with a 44-yard pass and a 45 yard pass to Ethan Rowe and Qamar Bradley, respetively, which Bradley was tackled at the one yardline and Davis ran a quarterback keep for Milton’s lone touchdown.

“He hasn’t been able to get the most amount of reps in practice to be fully prepared for what he sees on Fridays,” Milton coach Phil Davis said. “It’s no excuse, he needs to make the proper adjustments, but Montoursville gave us so many coverages tonight that made it very confusing for (Phil).” Davis continued.

Montoursville coach JC Keefer did not let the score blindfold him from the little mistakes his team had with six fumbles on the night and missed blocks–one of which he was animated about on the sideline when Shearer was blindsided by 345-pound Mason Fisher and clobbered on a pass that fell incomplete.

“It was really ugly in my eyes as a coach,” Keefer said. “We missed blocks, dropped snaps, missed assignments and that cannont happen moving forward. Luckily our defense stepped up and played well.”

In light of the mistakes, Montoursville’s offense used nine different ball carriers on 53 attempts and two touchdowns from Logan Ott and Rocco Pulizzi to balance out the throwing performance from Shearer that wore out Milton’s defense.

“We are running the ball well and when we keep ahead of the chains the whole playbook is open. I like that we were able to execute on first and second down (Friday) which made it third and manageable. We did play hard and that was good to see from the team.” Keefer said.