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Ground game propels South Williamsport to road win against Muncy

By Jon Gerardi 5 min read

MUNCY -- If there's one thing South Williamsport is known for historically when it comes to football on Friday nights in the fall, it's the ground and pound offense. The Mounties run the ball constantly and usually have a lot of success.

On Friday at Stanley T. Schuyler Stadium, the Mounties offense did what they do best: ran it at will.

South Williamsport ran the ball 55 times on Friday night, routinely picking up huge chunks of yardage and keeping Muncy's offense on the sidelines as South Williamsport secured a 28-6 win against Muncy. It's the first time the Mounties have beaten Muncy in consecutive seasons since a stretch from 2011-17.

"I tell ya, we really worked hard to get back to where we're building that offense line. Those guys are working hard in the weight room, doing their running. They mastered a handful of plays. When you can control the clock, that's a tremendous form of defense," South Williamsport coach Chris Eiswerth said. "We've won a lot of games over here by doing that. They have an explosive team. They run no huddle, they throw the ball, they're talented kids. (Nathan Rogers) is a magnificent player and you know, we knew we wanted to try to shorten the game and the offensive line, they really came up big."

The offensive line paved the way for nearly 300 rushing yards as South Williamsport ran it 55 times for 279 yards. Majority of that offense came via Cade Lusk and Garrett Lorson. Lusk carried it 26 times for 141 yards while Lorson ran it 14 times for 79 yards.

South Williamsport opened the game with a nice 11-play, 65-yard drive in typical fashion, eating up nearly six minutes on the opening possession to go down and punch in a two-yard score from Lusk. After a three-and-out on South's following possession, the Mounties used seven plays to go 49 yards and punched in a score with 8:40 remaining in the second quarter when Lusk again found the endzone from two yards out.

It put Muncy in a hole early and the Indians struggled offensively.

In the first half, Muncy had its first four possessions result in three-and-outs with a punt and then one play before the end of the half. The Indians had less than 10 yards of total offense in the first half and couldn't get any rhythm established.

"It's tough to get in a rhythm when you go three-and-out, then touch it six minutes later. Then three-and-out, have the ball five-and-a-half minutes later. I bet we had ball less than four minutes in the first half," Muncy coach Chris Persing said. "Hard to get rhythm and they dictated what was going on and that caries over into the defense. Unfortunately, we're on opposite side of it. Credit to them, they ran it very efficiently and pushed us around a bit up front. They're a good team, but it was a rough first half. There's no doubt about that."

With 3:13 to play until halftime, South Williamsport's Eli White punched in a score and gave the Mounties a 21-0 lead after a successful two-point conversion.

While Muncy's offense did struggle, the Indians did a solid job not letting South Williamsport put the game out of hand early in the first half, trailing by just 21 points to South Williamsport.

"We really have run the ball really well this year. Cole (Gerber) was out last week, so Garrett Lorson palyed some quarterback. I liked what he did so much we thought 'hey, lets play them both tonight,'" Eiswerth said. "So that was a new thing, I like it. I think there's great potential because they both have things they can both do."

Eiswerth noted that entering Friday's game, he knew that Muncy's two quarterbacks Noah Walters and Noah Weikle were players they had to focus on defensively. The Mounties did just that, preventing Muncy from getting any passing game going until the second half.

"We knew we had to contain the quarterbacks. They're both quick kids. As they went through the second half, they came up with some big passes and some big plays. We came up with a big pick. I mean they could have scored, cut it to 14, get an onside kick and they're back," Eiswerth said. "I can't say enough about them."

Samir Moy had a clutch interception on Muncy's final possession with 7:06 to play, preventing the Indians from scoring inside the red zone after they had a touchdown drive the possession prior. That's when Walters had a 3-yard touchdown run to cut the deficit to 28-6 with 9:50 to play.

"Samir Moy, he comes up with another pick in the endzone. He picked one last year as a freshman over in that corner and won 28-21," Eiswerth said. "You look at that and you say 'boy, they're really growing up.'"

In the second half, Walters started getting into a rhythm for Muncy as he finished with 111 passing yards and helped the team put together a nine-play possession late in the third and a seven-play touchdown possession before getting to the 11 and having a turnover late.

"I think for us we just found a way to finally get the ball in Nate's hands to get things going. He's a dynamic player. Not saying anything people playing us don't know already, so found a way to get him involved," Persing said. "We did some things better up front to allow our quarterbacks time to make some plays and tempo helped us there. Little less thinking and a little more running the offense."

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