And well, it caught Pearson off guard, but in a good way.

Giovanni White took the handoff from his quarterback Tevin Williams, cut to his right right, and made a few quick moves with Hazleton defenders nearby. He was then off to the races 74 yards untouched for a touchdown just 19 seconds into the game.

It was quick offensively and it was exciting for the fans, but more importantly, it set a tone early in a game Pearson knew would be tough.

“That was a nice way to start. It caught me off guard, I was like ‘wait, what are we doing here?” Pearson said. “He hit the hole and he was gone.”

Tevin Williams of Williamsport and Daniel Colon of Hazleton both dive for a ball late in the game at Williamsport High School. The ball flew past the players grasp. Williamsport won, 28-7. DAVE KENNEDY/Sun-Gazette

It was a stellar night for White and the defense shined in big moments as Williamsport defeated rival Hazleton at home, 28-7, on Friday night to improve to 2-0.

White was a player that Hazleton’s defense struggled to contain. The Millionaire had 17 carries for 218 yards and scored the team’s first three touchdowns.

“You could see all the stats and everything, but realistically it was all a team effort,” White said. “I mean you don’t have that many rushing yards without the line, the other running backs making really good blocks and coming in when I needed a break. It’s really a whole offensive effort, it’s not just one person.”

White’s first touchdown put the Millionaires ahead 7-0 with 11:41 to play in the first quarter. After a drive ended with an interception and then a punt after seven plays, Williamsport used a five-play drive in Hazleton territory to score on a 15-yard White touchdown run for a 14-0 lead with 5:00 to play until halftime.

“That’s exactly how you got to start a football game. There’s nothing better you can do there,” White said.

Brayden Ungard of Williamsport knocks the ball loose from the grasp of quarterback Freddy Corrado of Hazleton in the first quarter at Williamsport High School. Williamsport won, 28-7. DAVE KENNEDY/Sun-Gazette

Hazleton struggled early in the game.

An 11-play opening drive by Hazleton which started on their own 27 got down into the red zone on Williamsport’s 12, but ended with an unfortunate touchdown that led to a Millionaire touchdown. That drive featured a 37-yard touchdown pas from Corrado to Jose Lopez down the right-hand side of the field, but a flag called the play back before the eventual interception.

The next possession was a three-and-out with a punt followed by another interception, this time after nine plays got into Williamsport territory.

But after those three drives, the Cougars finally were able to break through and put together a solid 10-play, 80-yard drive which saw Freddy Corrado take a quarterback sneak for a touchdown and cut the deficit to 14-7 after the successful extra point kick.

However that was the closest Hazleton came to rallying and tying the game as Williamsport didn’t allow the Cougars to score again.

Ashton Thomas of Williamsport has the ball picked off by Jose Lopez of Hazleton in the first quarter at Williamsport High School. Williamsport won, 28-7. DAVE KENNEDY/Sun-Gazette

“I never relaxed, not at all, just because of their toughness and how well they’re coached and their level of talent. We knew to get a win tonight, it was going to be hard-fought from start to finish,” Pearson said about Hazleton. “There was no relaxing in that game at all and I don’t think that’s a mystery. Williamsport and Hazleton, we’re good rivals, we’ve been slugging it out for several years now. last year we saw each other twice and that’s always in the back of your mind. This is great, this could possibly be Chapter 1 of our rivalry.

“It’s a good rivalry. I think Hazleton kids are great kids, our kids are great kids,” Pearson continued. “They just love to get after each other. There was no relaxing. I’m not even relaxed now, I don’t think I’ll be relaxed until lunch time tomorrow because that was a high-pressure game.”

Corrado is a quarterback who can make plays constantly, either with his feet or his arm. But Williamsport did outstanding in limiting his offense. Corrado ended the game going 17 for 41 for 140 yards and Williamsport forced 11 incompletions on his final 13 pass attempts by applying great pressure in the backfield and forcing him to scramble and attempt to make plays on the run. While that pressure was solid, so was Williamsport’s secondary in covering receivers well.

The Millionaires also forced two interceptions by Ungard and Lucas Naughton, who nearly had a 60-plus yard pick-six but a penalty flag negated the potential score.

“He’s super talented and the only way you have a chance against him is to create some type of pressure because if he needs to throw it, he’s fantastic,” Pearson said. “We were really humbled to get out of here the way we did because we were very, very aware of how good he is.”

Quarterback Tevin Williamsport of Williamsport gets the ball snapped to him against Hazleton at Williamsport High School. Williamsport won, 28-7. DAVE KENNEDY/Sun-Gazette

Hazleton had its chances to score on Friday, but the Cougars just came up shy a few times. After a three-and-out possession, Hazleton caught a break when Williamsport fumbled a block punt and the Cougars retained the ball, but the Cougars would run four plays before giving the ball back to Williamsport.

That was followed by a blocked punt late in the third quarter and then three consecutive drives which ended on turnover on downs to close out the game.

“Last week, the pass rush for us just wasn’t there, we made some adjustments this week and you saw what happened,” White said. “That’s all we needed.”

The Millionaires out-gained the Cougars 394-257.

While the Millionaires came away with the win, Williamsport did have 100 yards in penalties and gave Hazleton extra chances throughout the game.

Logan Parrish of Williamsport sacks Hazleton quarterback Freddy Corrado at Williamsport High School. Williamsport won, 28-7. DAVE KENNEDY/Sun-Gazette

Tevin Williams ended the game with 62 passing yards for Williamsport, 43 of which went to Ungard on two receptions, including a touchdown. Naughton ran for 56 yards on seven carries.

Hazleton’s Xavier Heck had a good performance on the ground by rushing for 95 yards on 13 carries in the loss.

The win puts the Millionaires at 2-0 on the season and both White and Pearson are glad for the solid start with two victories early in the year.

“I’m thankful that we’re starting 2-0, but people that know Williamsport football know the level of competition we play from start to finish,” Pearson said. “This is not a schedule for the faint of heart, we have a long way to go, but at 2-0, we can kind of watch film and come up for air and figure out our personnel and figure out what we have to do to figure out the rest of the schedule.”

“It’s great, but it’s only just the start,” White added. “We got to continue this throughout the rest of the season.”

Brayden Ungard of Williamsport has the ball knocked loose by Jaxon Johnson of Hazleton during the third quarter at Williamsport High School. Williamsport won, 28-7. DAVE KENNEDY/Sun-Gazette

Kamar Stroud of Williamsport recovers a punt attempt by Hazleton late in the game at Williamsport High School. Williamsport won, 28-7. DAVE KENNEDY/Sun-Gazette

Brayden Ungard (3) of Williamsport celebrates with team mates after scoring a touchdown late in the game against Hazleton at Williamsport High School. Williamsport won, 28-7. DAVE KENNEDY/Sun-Gazette