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Williamsport closes regular season with shutout

Williamsport quarterback Frankie Morrone completed 12 of 15 passes for 196 yards and three touchdowns, and Williamsport bounced back from its first loss to shut out Dallas, 48-0, Saturday and claim the Wyoming Valley Conference championship.

Morrone went over 1,000 yards passing for the season in part because he found tight end Nassir Jones five times for 130 yards and a pair of touchdowns. Jones caught a 24 and 72-yard scoring pass on consecutive possessions to help the Millionaires break the game wide open.

The win came as Williamsport played its second game of the week without coach Chuck Crews, who is in quarantine. The players all wore “AveryStrong” T-shirts under their pads for teammate Avery Campbell, who suffered a serious neck injury in Tuesday’s loss to Harrisburg.

“All week was about Avery and Chuck and the loss. After the loss we said we owe Avery a great effort and we owe coach Crews a great effort,” offensive coordinator and interim coach Kevin Brown said. “I told them (Friday) the thing I always hated about football is when you lost you had to wait a week to get after somebody. With this crazy week we had three days before we could get somebody, so we had to take advantage of the opportunity.”

Williamsport never let Dallas’ offense breathe as Jones recorded 2 1/2 sacks, and Charles Crews was a menace in the Mountaineers’ backfield. Crews also ignited the Millionaires when he forced a first-quarter fumble and linebacker Riley Bower returned it 20 yards for a touchdown to open the scoring.

“I just saw an open gap and I went through it. I was just trying to help my teammates out,” said Crews, who has three sacks in two games this week. “That gave us a big lift.”

Williamsport plays in the District 4-6 Class AAAAAA championship game on Friday night against Altoona at Bald Eagle Area High School.

Jersey Shore 21,

Central Mountain 9

Jersey Shore survived a scare in its second meeting of the season with Central Mountain as Owen Anderson scored a pair of second-half touchdowns to lead the Bulldogs to a victory.

Jersey Shore secured the top seed for the District 4 Class AAAA playoffs and hosts Mifflinburg in the semifinals this week.

Central Mountain was leading Jersey Shore, 9-7, late in the third quarter when Anderson scored on a 2-yard run with 57 seconds to go in the third quarter to give Shore a 14-9 lead. Anderson then returned a punt for a TD midway through the fourth quarter to give the Bulldogs some cushion.

Anderson added a 10-yard touchdown reception in the first quarter and finished with a team-high five receptions for 98 yards. Brandon Wheary completed 13 of 27 passes for 220 yards for Jersey Shore.

Central Mountain got a 61-yard touchdown run from Ryan Pentz to give the Wildcats a third-quarter lead. Penty ran 24 times for 117 yards. Micah Walizer added 77 yards on 13 carries for CM.

MUNCY 42, Wyalusing 0

Muncy accumulated 502 yards of offense thanks to Ty Nixon’s game-high 213 rushing yards and Ethan Gush’s 131, and Muncy’s ground game led the Indians to a rout over Wyalusing, 42-0, Friday night.

The win secured Muncy a spot in the District 4 Class A championship game Saturday afternoon at Canton.

Quarterback Kaleb Meyer went 5 for 6 for 100 yards, including a touchdown pass, filling in for starter Branson Eyer.

“Whenever you get those 10 guys coming back and you get the full compliment of players back on offense and defense, it makes you better,” Muncy coach Sean Tetreault said. “Kaleb Meyer stepped up huge at quarterback. And those guys got back to basics and the small details to get us going.”

Muncy averaged more than 7.5 yards per carry and, of their 53 rushing attempts, just one went for negative yardage.

Gush scored the game’s first two touchdowns to put Muncy ahead, 14-0. Ty Nixon scored on a 1-yard run with 3:36 to play until halftime to make it a 21-0 lead. Muncy added one last score before the half when Meyer hit Chase Crawley for a 27-yard pass and a 28-0 lead.

“To be honest, I couldn’t even see (Crawley),” Meyer said. “But (Tetreault) said to hit the front pylon and that’s exactly where I put it and (Crawley) was there, thank God.”

Most of Meyer’s night was spent handing off to Nixon and Gush who combined for 344 of Muncy’s 402 rushing yards. Nixon was over 100 yards by halftime and Gush needed just three second-half carries to surpass the century mark.

“We knew we could lean on Ethan Gush and Ty Nixon and Eli Weikle and Paul Pepper in the backfield,” Tetreault said. “We know who we are and everybody else knows who we are. We’re going to be physical, and it was great to see those guys step up and take some pressure off Kaleb.”

LOYALSOCK 21,

LEWISBURG 14

Loyalsock secured a berth in the District 4 Class AAA playoffs with a win over Lewisburg in Selinsgrove. Chase Cavanaugh scored on a 1-yard run with 6:51 remaining in the game to break a 14-14 tie.

Cavanaugh proved to be huge for the Lancers, throwing for 172 yards and running for 99 more. He accounted for all three of Loyalsock’s touchdowns. He threw a 66-yard strike to Rian Glunk to tie the game with 2:22 to play until halftime.

“We’ve never missed the district playoffs since I’ve been here and I would have hated a pandemic to have caused us to miss it, so we’re in the tournament and when you’re in, things can happen and off you go, so we’re going to be ready to play,” Loyalsock coach Justin Van Fleet said.

Glunk’s touchdown came on a third-and-6 when Cavanaugh hit him on a short sideline pattern and turned it into a touchdown after Glunk evaded three Lewisburg defenders.

Lewisburg had a chance to score and tie the game and possibly force overtime when it had a fourth-and-3 from their own 44. Cam Michaels took a handoff and was met by a wall of Loyalsock defenders. He tried to reverse field and get the first down around the left side, but was stopped just shy for a 2-yard gain.

“That fourth-down stop was a thing of beauty,” Van Fleet said. “We had a freshman corner sprint across the field. We had a defensive tackle, Jeffrey Hamilton, go from his interior tackle position, run as hard as he could to make him (Michaels) think and then Jalen Andrews zipped across the field and made a great play.”

ATHENS 35, MONTGOMERY 7

Montgomery lost its regula season finale to playoff-bound Athens. The Red Raiders’ lone score came on a Devon Deem 10-yard screen from Logan Almeida in the second quarter.

Kaide Drick led Montgomery with 76 yards on 18 rushes, and Almeida ran it four times for 50 yards.

“Our boys played hard, I just don’t think we had the complete game we had last week,” Montgomery coach Paul Bozella said. “Our defense kept us in this, but when you give up a pick-six to start against a team like Athens, that’s hard to beat.”

After Caleb Nichols returned an interception 35 yards for an early 7-0 lead, Shayne Reid then added a touchdown on a 48-yard run right before the end of the first quarter to make it 14-0. Montgomery cut the deficit when Deem scored, but Nichols scored again for Athens near the end of the quarter to put the Wildcats back up by two.

South Williamsport 48, Towanda 22

Zack Miller ran for 139 yards and a trio of touchdowns on just 13 carries as South Williamsport earned a spot in the District 4 Class AA playoffs with the win. Miller helped the Mounties take a 35-0 lead at halftime as he scored on runs of 10 and 4 yards.

Landon Lorson tossed a pair of first-half touchdown passes, including a 35-yarder to Grant Bachman and a 22-yarder to Jake Casella. Lorson also intercepted a pass and returned it 52 yards for a score. Bachman caught three passes for 59 yards.

Clayton Swarthout added 87 rushing yards on nine carries for South Williamsport.

Cowanesque Valley 67, CMVT 12

Quarterback Jacob Schmitt threw six touchdown passes, three of them to Elliott Good as the Indians scored 47 points in the first half in a victory over CMVT. Schmitt three a pair of touchdown passes in each of the first three quarters as he complete 9 of 15 passes for 179 yards.

Schmitt also added a rushing touchdown for Cowanesque Valley, which had three players run for a score. Good led the Indians with 98 rushing yards to go with his four receptions for 109 yards and three scores.

Cowanesque Valley took advantage of three CMVT turnovers to post its second win of the year. The Rams were held to just 77 rushing yards on 28 carries.

MONTOURSVILLE 71,

WARRIOR RUN 0

Montoursville pummeled Warrior Run, 71-0. The Warriors led 50-0 at halftime and held the Defenders to minus-19 yards rushing and 55 yards of total offense.

Heath Jones led Montoursville with 92 rushing yards and a score and C.J. Signor had 49 yards and three touchdowns on just five carries.

Madix Dalena had 99 passing yards and had two touchdown passes ni the first quarter, throwing a 56-yard TD strike to Nick Reeder and a 12-yard TD pass to Dillon Young.

Montoursville had 296 rushing yards and 486 yards of total offense in the win. The Warriors scored on a 48-yard run by Dylan Blackwell with 2:43 remaining in the third quarter to eclipse the 70-point margin.

MIFFLINBURG 28,

HUGHESVILLE 0

Mifflinburg held Hughesville to less than 40 passing yards and just 81 rushing yards in a 28-0 win. The Wildcats ran the ball with ease, accounting for 368 yards as a team.

Colin Miller led the Wildcats with 172 rushing yards and a touchdown and Tyler Foltz added 88 rushing yards.

Miller scored on a 95-yard run to put Mifflinburg ahead, 7-0, midway through the first quarter before a 35-yard run by John Darrup early in the second made it a 13-0 lead.

Mifflinburg made it a 15-0 lead on the next possession with a safety and then Jacob Reitz found Cannon Griffith for an 18-yard strike.

CANTON 39, WELLSBORO 13

Canton scored two touchdowns in both of the first quarters to take a 26-point lead into the half and didn’t allow the Green Hornets to score until the game was out of reach.

Riley Parker ran for 111 yards for Canton and Cooper Kitchen did damage with his arm, throwing for four touchdowns on just five completions for 106 yards.

Isaac Keane threw for 134 for Wellsboro. Wellsboro’s Conner Adams ran for a 35-yard touchdown with 4:15 left in the game to avoid the shutout and Nick Smith had a touchdown as time expired.

SHIKELLAMY 41, MILTON 0

The Black Panthers remained winless, falling to 0-7, after losing to Shikellamy. Gage Wolfe scored on a 1-yard run to put the mercy rule into effect. At halftime, Milton had just 55 yards of total offense on 22 plays. Shik quarterback Drew Balestrini had over 300 yards of offense — 212 passing, 90 rushing — after the first two quarters.

Jason Valladares led Milton with 44 rushing yards, but the Black Panthers had just seven first downs.

CURWENSVILLE 36,

BUCKTAIL 0

Bucktail lost to Curwensville, 36-0. It’s the third straight loss for the Bucks and drops them to 1-6 for the season.

Bucktail held the ball the entire first quarter with a 23-play drive, but couldn’t score as the Bucks turned it over on fourth-and-7 at the Tide’s 35.

Curwensville responded with an 11-play, 96-yard drive to score the only touchdown of the first half.

Gage Sutliff ran for 141 yards on 26 carries for Bucktail, and Dylan Cross ran for 67. Curwensville was led by Dan McGarry, who threw for 134 yards and a touchdown.

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