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Pittston Area football

October 25

Patriots fall in the slop at Hanover 16-10

By Matthew Shutt

In a game featuring more turnovers than scores and a steady rain that turned the field into a puddle of mud, it seemed only appropriate for the defense to decide the outcome of Pittston Area’s game Friday night in Hanover.

Backed up to its own 10-yard line with 2:35 left in the fourth quarter, Hanover’s defense stopped PA tailback Chris Price for no gain on fourth down, taking back possession and allowing the offense to run out the clock on a 16-10 win at Gayewski Memorial Stadium.

Price had been having a great game up to that point with 135 yards on 35 carries.

Hanover’s defense provided opportunities for the offense throughout the first half, including the play that led to its first points.

After forcing the Patriots to punt from inside their own 20-yard line, Hanover (4-4) blocked Dylan Prescott’s punt attempt and recovered at the Patriot 32-yard line.

The Hawkeyes picked up 24 yards on their next play, thanks to Brando Colorusso scampering 16 yards and taking a hit after going out of bounds.

The personal foul set Hanover at Pittston’s 8-yard line, giving Mike Redick enough room for a 25-yard field goal as time expired in the half, giving Hanover a 3-0 lead.

Pittston Area (2-6) started the second half by stealing a play from Hanover’s book, using its defense to put some points on the board.

With Hanover positioned at its own 5-yard line after intercepting Patriot quarterback R.J. Emmett, the Patriots defensive line forced Colorusso into a panic. The Hawkeyes quarterback attempted to avoid the rush that backed him into his own end zone by throwing the ball away, but tossed the ball to his side out of the end zone, warranting an intentional grounding call. The penalty gave Pittston a safety, cutting the lead to 3-2

The Patriots took the ensuing kick and after a 5-yard Hanover penalty, Price ran for 43 yards to a touchdown and a 10-3 lead.

Hanover used the exact opposite of that approach on its following possession. After softening up the Patriots defensive line with Redick’s hard-nosed running, Tomas Cabrera flashed his big play ability. The elusive senior ran a counter play out of the Wildcat formation 42 yards to daylight, tying the game at 10-10 with 1:29 to go in the third quarter.

The Hawkeyes defense accounted for the game’s tie-breaking score in the fourth quarter. Hanover had to punt the ball away with eight minutes remaining, but the Patriots’ Mike Capone coughed up the punt, giving the ball back to the Hawkeyes at the Pittston 20-yard line.

Cabrera and Redick churned out all 20 yards of the drive before Redick bulled his way in from 1-yard out for the final margin with 6:18 remaining. Cabrera set up Redick on the prior play, keeping the drive from stalling with an 11-yard run on fourth-and-one from the 12-yard line.

“In this kind of game, in this kind of weather, you can’t really pass,” said Hummer. “We just put it on our offensive line to get us some yards, and they did.”

The Patriots, now 2-6, play the Meyers Mohawks (3-4) at Charley Trippi on Friday.

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING – PA – Price 35-135, Boney 2-2, Castellino 1-1, Smigiel 1-1, Emmett 1-(-3). HA – Redick 25-89, Cabrera 10-81, Colorusso 1-16, Kaufer 3-12, Suda 1-1.

PASSING – PA – Emmet 3-6-1-39, Castellino 0-2-1-0. HA – Suda 1-3-1-19, Colorusso 0-1-0-0, Cabrera 0-1-0-0.

RECEIVING – PA – Houseman 2-22, Smigiel 1-17. HA – Cabrera 1-19.

INTS – PA – Smigiel. HA – Goyne, Balas.