Sports

By Tom Robinson
Go Lackawanna sports correspondent

PECKVILLE – Chris Murphy ran for two touchdowns and passed for another Friday night but the Wyoming Area junior quarterback made some of his most important plays in a drive that did not produce any points.

Murphy managed the clock and the chains, running or passing for three of the four third-down conversions that helped the Warriors run out most of the time in the fourth quarter of a 21-20 non-league victory over host Valley View.

“That last drive we were slowing it down, trying to get the play clock to one,” Murphy said after helping Wyoming Area run 17 plays in a 66-yard drive that took the clock from 9:57 down to 34 seconds. “It wasn’t about scoring.

“It was about pinning them close to the end zone and wasting clock.”

That drive came after Murphy gave Wyoming Area the lead with a two-yard rush for a touchdown with 5:37 left in the third quarter.

Valley View quarterback Shane Gensiak finished off a 209-yard, three-touchdown passing effort with three completions to move the Cougars to the Wyoming Area 27 before running out of time.

After the Cougars managed to stop the clock with three-tenths of a second remaining, Stanley Timinski rushed Gensiak into a Nicholas Perugini interception at the 8 to clinch the win.

“That last drive they had was probably the key to the game,” Valley View coach George Howanitz said.

Murphy had given Wyoming Area the lead with a two-yard rush for a touchdown with 5:37 left in the third quarter.

And in the fourth quarter, the goal was to take time off the clock. With the Warriors losing players to injuries during the game, Wyoming Area coach Randy Spencer said it was essential to hold on to the ball as long as possible.

“We needed that drive,” Spencer said. “It was a gut check there.

“Our leaders stepped up. We had a lot of young kids in there because we had first-teamers down.”

Murphy led the way with some help from freshman back-up running back Nicholas O’Brien.

O’Brien was 9-for-39 in the final drive to finish with 13 carries for 58 yards.

“Our freshman had to do a little more than we’d like,” Spencer said. “He’s not that big but he’s one of those special kids.”

Murphy ran five times for 29 yards in the drive to finish with 16 carries for 75 yards. He also hit eight of 15 passes for 116 yards.

“Our leader was Chris Murphy to be able to control everything like he did in that last drive,” Spencer said.

The Warriors did not look like they would need such fourth-quarter efforts when they jumped to a 14-0 lead in the first quarter.

Murphy ran for a score, then found Aidan Marich on a crossing pattern for a 47-yard touchdown less than two minutes later. Bret Davis recovered a fumble to make the second score possible.

“We made some nice plays and got into a little rhythm,” Howanitz said. “The first quarter was a mess.

“We hardly had the ball and when we did, it was bad field position.”