UNION TWP. — Northwest coach Lon Hazlet could not explain why his defense finally decided to show up midway through the third quarter. He might just leave it up to mystery, perhaps comb over the videotape Monday to figure out.
Either way, Northwest is heading to the district championship.
Northwest scored three unanswered touchdowns to seal a 49-35 victory over Tunkhannock Friday in the Wyoming Valley Conference regular-season finale. The Class A Rangers are the only team to have faced (and defeated) a team three classifications higher in Class 4A Tunkhannock.
Top-seeded Northwest will host Lackawanna Trail in the district championship on Friday. The Rangers lost to the Lions 35-19 on the road in Week 4. Northwest has won its past six games.
Tunkhannock scorched the Rangers’ defense to the tune of five touchdowns in two-and-a-half touchdowns. Once again, Northwest buckled up in the late stages of the game to keep the Tigers out of the end zone.
The Rangers came back from seven points down in the second half largely on the back of Jake Anderson. Anderson posted three rushing and one receiving touchdowns, including the two go-ahead scores in the fourth quarter.
Anderson came into the contest with limited touches in the game plan; however, he carried the ball 31 times for a resounding 273 yards. He punched in a 6 and a 10 yard rushing touchdown that proved to be the difference in the game.
Northwest quarterback David Piestrak evened the score at 35 apiece with 4:10 left in the third quarter. The Rangers decided to run the clock down with rushing plays. Piestrak pulled off a naked bootleg to the left to go into the end zone untouched.
It was yet another close game for the Rangers that have yet to have any breathing room this season. Northwest’s previous wins versus Meyers (one point), GAR (three), and Hanover Area (six) were all within one possession.
Tunkhannock’s passing game was nearly unstoppable for much of the game. Zach Rogers completed 19 of 27 passes for 298 yards and three touchdowns. Even more impressively, the Tigers’ Brian Muckin had eight catches for 141 yards and a touchdown.
The two teams combined for 38 points in the second quarter.
Northwest 49, Tunkhannock 35
Tunkhannock`7`21`7`0`—`35
Northwest`11`17`7`14`—`49
First quarter
T — Sam Rice 3 run (Billy Prebola kick), 6:24
N — Jack Wessler 25 field goal, 4:08
N — Jake Anderson 33 pass from David Piestrak (Connor Hazlet pass from Piestrak), 1:28
Second quarter
T — Logan Cywinski 47 run (Prebola kick), 11:49
N — Anderson 45 run (Wessler kick), 11:09
T — Brian Muckin 46 pass from Zach Rogers (Prebola kick), 8:34
N — Wessler 25 field goal, 5:15
T — Jake Stephens 39 pass from Rogers (Prebola kick), 3:56
N — Dylan Womelsdorf 25 pass from Piestrak (Wessler kick), 1:51
Third quarter
T — Mike Taylor 58 pass from Rogers (Prebola kick), 9:07
N — Piestrak 16 run (Wessler kick), 4:10
Fourth quarter
N — Anderson 6 run (Wessler kick), 9:46
N — Anderson 10 run (Wessler kick), 1:32
Team statistics`TUN`NWT
First downs`17`22
Rushes-yards`23-97`51-367
Passing yards`298`146
Total yards`395`513
Passing`19-27-2`7-12-0
Sacked-yards lost`2-13`1-7
Punts-avg.`2-33`1-35
Fumbles-lost`2-0`1-0
Penalties-yards`7-40`2-8
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING — TUN, Cwynski 14-84, Rogers 5-16, Rice 1-3, TEAM 3-(minus-6). NW, Anderson 31-273, Tyler Stevens 7-35, Piestrak 7-34, Jack Stancavage 5-27, TEAM 1-(minus-2).
PASSING — TUN, Rogers 19-27-2-298. NW, Piestrak 7-12-0-146.
RECEIVING — TUN, Muckin 8-141, Mike Taylor 8-87, Stephens 1-39, Cwynski 2-9, Connor Munley 1-19 NW, Anderson 1-33, Ezra Judge 1-28, Womelsdorf 1-25, Brandon Hardiman 3-42, Hazlet 1-18.
INTERCEPTIONS — NW, Hazlet 1-0, Judge 1-4.
