TUNKHANNOCK — Wyoming Area held the ball for more than 10 ½ minutes of the first quarter without scoring Friday night.
The Warriors made up for it in a hurry in the second quarter.
Wyoming Area scored four touchdowns in less than eight minutes during a span of just five offensive plays on their first win, a 49-6 rout over host Tunkhannock in a Wyoming Valley Conference Class 3A game.
P.J. Angeli threw for two scores and ran for another during the outburst. The other score was produced by a 50-yard Brian Miles punt return.
Only an illegal block penalty that wiped out an apparent 86-yard Donovan O’Boyle kickoff return kept the Warriors from scoring four touchdowns in less than six minutes with just two offensive plays.
The Warriors and O’Boyle, however, easily shook off the penalty.
Miles ran for 18 yards, O’Boyle 20 and Angeli a 38-yard touchdown on the next play for a 28-6 halftime lead.
Then, O’Boyle found a way to produce an even longer touchdown.
After he made his second interception of the game at the 2 in the third quarter, the sophomore tailback raced 98 yards for a touchdown on the first Wyoming Area offensive play of the second half.
“We did a good job blocking,” Wyoming Area coach Randy Spencer said. “I think our skills guys ran hard.
“We were able to break some big plays.”
That’s precisely what the Warriors were lacking a week ago, when they controlled play throughout but fell to 0-3 when North Pocono came up with more big plays and a late rally for a 26-21 lead.
This time around, the Warriors controlled the ball and got the big plays.
Wyoming Area moved 86 yards on 17 plays for the first touchdown.
Steve Homza caught a slant pass to the left, then executed a spin to reverse direction into a 15-yard touchdown on third-and-nine on the first play of the fourth quarter. David Klaproth added the first of seven straight extra points for a 7-0 lead.
The Miles punt return made it 14-0 with 9:25 left in the half.
Tunkhannock, which lost its 20th straight, botched a punt snap and turned the ball over at its 18.
Wyoming Area scored again on the next play when Marc Anthony Minichello turned a wide receiver screen from Angeli into a touchdown.
The Tigers had just three yards total offense when they decided to try to convert fourth-and-three from inside their 30.
Ryan Cywinski caught a six-yard pass for his team’s initial first down, then raced 67 yards up the middle on the next play for Tunkhannock’s only touchdown.
Wyoming Area stuffed the two-point run attempt, then went right back to work, adding to its lead on Angeli’s run.
Miles scored his second touchdown on a 2-yard run in the third.
Homza wound up on the other end of a touchdown pass late in the game, throwing a 17-yarder to Jeff Urban with 2:29 left to close the scoring.
Wyoming Area 49, Tunkhannock 6
Wyoming Area`0`28`14`7`—`49
Tunkhannock`0`6`0`0`—`6
Second quarter
WA – Steve Homza 15 pass from P.J. Angeli (David Klaproth kick), 11:53
WA – Brian Miles 50 punt return (Klaproth kick), 9:25
WA – Marc Anthony Minichello 18 pass from Angeli (Klaproth kick), 8:10
TUN – Ryan Cywinski 67 run (run failed), 6:08
WA – Angeli 38 run (Klaproth kick), 4:08
Third quarter
WA – Donovan O’Boyle 98 run (Klaproth kick), 8:58
WA – Miles 2 run (Klaproth kick), 3:45
Fourth quarter
WA – Jeff Urban 17 pass from Homza (Klaproth kick), 2:29
Team statistics`WA`Tun
First downs`16`8
Rushes-yards`34-311`28-126
Passing yards`79`52
Total yards`390`178
Passing`6-9-0`10-19-2
Sacked-yards lost`0-0`2-20
Punts-avg.`1-0.0`2-30.0
Fumbles-lost`2-0`2-0
Penalties-yards`6-50`4-30
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING — WA, O’Boyle 9-153, Angeli 9-65, Brandon Charney 8-57, Miles 5-31, Homza 1-10, Justin Joseph 1-2, Team 1-minus 7. T, R. Cywinski 7-90, Logan Cywinski 16-69, Hunter Hopkins 1-2, Michael Taylor 2-minus 11, Team 2-minus 24.
PASSING — WA, Angeli 5-7-0-62, Homza 1-2-0-17. T, L. Cywinski 9-18-2-45, Hopkins 1-1-0-7.
RECEIVING — WA, Minichello 2-27, Urban 1-17, Homza 1-15, Anthony Saitta 1-14, Miles 1-6. T, Taylor 4-19, R. Cywinski 2-14, Jared Bernosky 2-10, Bryce Steele 1-7, Connor Munley 1-2.
INTERCEPTIONS — WA, O’Boyle 2-minus 10.
MISSED FGs — None
