Sports

af2

The Times Leader staff

MANCHESTER, N.H. – The Pioneers must have slept well last night.

Wilkes-Barre/Scranton took care of business on Friday, defeating Manchester 63-38 to complete the four-game season sweep of the Wolves and wrap up home-field advantage throughout the American Conference playoffs, which begin Aug. 1 at Wachovia Arena.

Had the Pioneers (13-3) lost, they would have had to wait until Iowa’s game against Oklahoma City ended tonight to figure out the top seed for the playoffs.

Wilkes-Barre/Scranton’s opponent for the first playoff game will be either Florida or Manchester.

Manchester (7-9) has clinched a playoff berth but will have to wait to see how Florida fares tonight against Kentucky to see if they get the No. 7 or No. 8 seed. A win for Florida (6-9) will push the Firecats up to the seventh seed, while the Wolves will fall to eighth.

The most well-known Pioneers – Ryan Vena, David Davis and J.J. Outlaw – all set records in the win, while fan favorite Rich Musinski had a big game receiving.

Vena, the quarterback, became the af2’s all-time leader in rushing touchdowns for a career when he scored on a 2-yard run late in the first quarter to give the Pioneers a 21-7 lead. It was his 89th career rushing score, breaking a tie with Bossier City’s Sherard Poteete.

Vena was just getting started.

The QB out of Colgate also threw for eight touchdowns. Two of those touchdowns went to Outlaw, who broke the Pioneers’ team-record for TD receptions in a season with 34. Rocco Forgione held the previous mark of 33 in 2005.

Outlaw’s first score was a 25-yard bomb from Vena in the third quarter, as the Pioneers opened a 49-26 lead.

His record-breaking score was from 11-yards out with less than a minute left in the game to cap off the scoring.

Davis, the kicker out of USC who already holds the af2 record for most career PATs with 573, went 9-for-9 on Friday to set the league’s single-season mark with 129. The previous record was 121 set by Quad City’s Brion Hurley in 2000.

Vena’s favorite target on the evening was Musinski, who hauled in four touchdown passes to tie his season-best mark.

Vena also connected with Antwun Williams and Larry Kendrick on scoring plays.

GAR and Penn State grad Paul Jefferson, who is also a former Wilkes-Barre/Scranton running back, scored three of Manchester’s six touchdowns. He had TD runs of 4, 1 and 3 yards.

He now has a team-high 10 rushing scores on the season, including four against his former team. He also has one receiving TD on the season, which also came against the Pioneers.